Even though the fascination with the identity of the Antichrist has been a major aspect of bible prophecy for hundreds of years, the twentieth and twenty first century has witnessed more focus on the end time Antichrist debate more than any other time primarily because the rise of the internet has created more exposure and access to information related to the development of the new world order than at any other time in history.

The “New World Order” whilst a political term used by the likes of Barack Obama, Henry Kissinger and George Bush Senior, is a term with a more sinister meaning which at the heart involves the creation of a final socialist world government system that will full the biblical prophecy of a final world empire dictatorship that will enslave mankind into a demonic economic system called the Mark of the Beast.

Whilst there are literally countless interpretations of Daniel and Revelation’s end time prophecies there are 5 major categories of belief which have had a significant influence over biblical eschatology.

1. A EUROPEAN SUPER STATE

The traditional and classical view is that this final world empire will be a european super state, arising out of the European Union. Some of the world’s greatest prophecy scholars such as Dave Hunt, David Breese and the late John F Walvoord and Dwight Pentecost believed that this final empire would be a Revived Roman Empire according to the prophecies of Daniel.

David Breese one of the most respected end time researchers in decades comments on Europe’s plans to protect her interests. He says “Europe will immediately realise the necessity of developing a strong military establishment, an all European army to guard their overflowing coffers……The second mission of a European military establishment must also be to protect the energy routes from the Middle East. A high percentage..nearly 100%…of the oil that heats and energises Europe comes from the oil rich lands of the countries surrounding the Persian Gulf. Should these supplies be threatened, all other considerations would need to be set aside in favour of guaranteeing the uninterrupted flow of Mid East oil. Without this, homes would become cold, automobiles would be parked by the curb, and the airplanes would no longer fly. The pipeline from the Middle East must always be held as a major consideration by the planners of Europe’s future.”. It is thus interesting to see that in July 2008, French president, Nicholas Sarkozy led the inauguration of the Mediterranean Union; an economic and trade union between the southern hemisphere nations of the European Union and the nations of North Africa and the Western side of the Middle East basin.

2. THE CLUB OF ROME MODEL

The modernist viewpoint is that the final world empire will consist of 10 bio regions (known as the Club of Rome model) in that the earth has been divided into blocs where the idea is that the national sovereignty of nations will be subject to a regional union. The 10 bioregions governed by 10 political leaders would then report to a supreme world leader as alluded to in Revelation 17:12-13.

Some of these regions it is believed already have been formed such as the European Union, the South American Union, the African Union and the Arab League. There is also presently recent controversy regarding the North American Union which is a supposed planned union between the United States, Canada and Mexico which will surpass the previous NAFTA agreements. Reports even suggest that there are plans to create a centralised currency across these 3 countries called the Amero which will replace all 3 national currencies.

3. AMERICA: GUARDIAN OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER

An alternative modernist view point is that America is the final world empire. Adherents of this viewpoint believe that the traditional view which places Europe as the primary power in the last days, has significant failings. They believe that the power of Freemasonry migrated from England to the United States and that the symbology on the American Dollar bill justifies this. Much of this view is also tied in with the interpretation of Revelation 18 description of a last days end time commercial Babylon which bears the hallmarks of the United States because of its military, political and commercial strength on the world stage.

Jack Van Impe, Stan Deyo, Tim Mchyde and others have championed this view that the last days commercial Babylon is not applicable to a literal rebuilding of the ancient city in Iraq as championed by Dr Charles Dwyer or the seven hilled city of Rome as mentioned by Dave Hunt in his book “A Woman Rides the Beast”, but symbolic of the world greatest super power, the United States.

4. AN ISLAMIC ECONOMIC AND MILITARY ALLIANCE

A more recent view which is enjoying a significant amount of coverage is the belief that the Antichrist and his empire will be a confederation of Islamic nations led by the long awaited Islamic Madhi. This view championed by Rodrigo Silva and Joel Richardson author of “Antichrist: Islam’s Awaited Messiah” is based on reviewing Islamic prophetical teachings known as “hadith” which refer to the final coming of the Al-Madhi (a return of Jesus Christ) to overthrow the Al-Dajaal (a Syrian/Jewish Antichrist) and establish a new world Islamic order. Scholars who hold to the islamic view believe that the biblical final world empire will be an Islamic confederation which will use its significant oil reserves as a secret weapon to bring the world economy crashing down under Islamic domination.

5. THE VATICAN AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Finally, there is the traditional medieval view that the Antichrist is linked to the Roman Catholic Church and Jesuit order. This view which was born out of the persecution of the early reformers by Rome even today has significant appeal. Malachi Martins book the “The Keys to this Blood” is one of the best documented insights into the Vatican’s struggle for world supremacy and the internal state of the Roman Catholic Church with a specific split amongst high ranking clergy between those holding onto the historical teachings of the apostles and the early church fathers, and those who wish for many of the church’s teachings to be changed under new liberal new age philosophies which encompass a universalist religion unification ideal.

The discussion over the Antichrist identity is even more heated with the outright bizarre of beliefs to the most sophisticated. History has seen many labelled the Antichrist such as Roman Emperor Nero, Charlemagne King of the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and within in recent times, Henry Kissinger, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pope John Paul II, Saddam Hussein, Vladimir Putin, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Karl Von Habsburg of the Habsburg Dynasty, Javier Solana of the European Union, Prince Charles of Wales and more recently and controversially, Barack Obama.

Does the Bible as well as the secular New World Order publications shed any light on who the Antichrist will be? What will be his lineage? European, Muslim, Jewish, Merovingian stock etc.

The understanding and interpretation of prophecy can be be enhanced with the analysis of secular documentation such as the new age bible “The Keys of Enoch” and other heavy weight illuminati inspired epistles such as Alice Bailey’s “Externalisation of the Hierarchy” and the Masonic writings of Albert Pike in “Morals and Dogma” .

It is within these materials that the true nature of the coming final world empire will be revealed which will provide significant clarity to the debate.

Watch the video related to Socialist Scholar

University of Iceland on the Tyranny of the Status Quo. He participated in a lively television debate on August 31, 1984 with leading socialist intellectuals, including President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. When they complained that a fee was charged for attending his lecture at the University and that hitherto, lectures by visiting scholars had been free-of-charge, Friedman replied that previous lectures had not been free-of-charge in a meaningful sense: Lectures always have related costs. …

Help answer the question about Socialist Scholar

Radical and Socialist Influences:

Saul Alinsky
Bill Ayers
Carl Davidson
Frank Marshall Davis
Democratic Socialists of America
Bernardine Dohrn
Gamaliel Foundation
New Party
Socialist Scholars Conference

Political Allies and Advisors:

Ali Abunimah
Mohamed Salim Al-Churbaji
David Axelrod
Gregg Craig
Jim Johnson
Marilyn Katz
Anthony Lake
Robert Malley
Alice Palmer
Eli Pariser
George Soros
Cass Sunstein
Dorothy Tillman
Joyce Wheeler
Tim Wheeler

Religious Affiliations:

Louis Farrakan
Rev. Joseph Lowery
James Meeks
Rev. Otis Moss
Rev. Michael Pfleger
Rev. Al Sharpton
Jim Wallis
Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Organizational Affiliations:

ACORN
Arab American Action Network
Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C.
International Crisis Group
MoveOn
National Council of La Raza
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Project Vote
Sojourners

Academic Affiliations:

Rashid Khalidi
Edward Said
Cornel West

Foundations:

Joyce Foundation
Woods Fund of Chicago

Money Scandals:

Nadhmi Auchi
Robert Blackwell, Jr.
Tony Rezko

Family:

Michelle Obama
Raila Odinga
mr_cj_jr: Wow ruffle your feathers? All of those on the list support and endorse Obama, does the truth hurt?
Mr. CJ: "Edit: No you didn't. But, you made yourself look foolish by turning my question into something negative." So you are finally admitting that those names on the list are negative, thanks for agreeing

About Author

Reece Woodstock was one of the main researchers who contributed to the release of the Antichrist Identity Report in 2008. http://www.theantichristidentity.com

What is art? There exists not one but hundreds of definitions of art offered by renowned artists, scholars, and philosophers throughout the ages. Considered literally, art refers to any specialized skill, or human activities encompassing a wide range of fields like literature, music, painting, or sculpting. It’s the end but not the means that constitutes the success of art. A lot many artists believe in the cult of art for art’s sake. However, this function of art has been subjected to severe criticism by some of the noted scholars of the late 19th century who believed in the instructional quality of art. To them, art existed not just for aesthetic pleasure but was also associated with the purpose of converting the mind into a particular trend of thought.

Theories abound as to the true purpose of art. Whether didactic or aesthetic, there is no denying that art casts its influence on the observer’s mind. Times have changed and with it, artistry has undergone multiple changes too. If Romanticism and Classicism influenced art works of yester years, it is Realism, Impressionism, Fauvism, Dadaism, and Surrealism that have laid their impact on contemporary art. No wonder, contemporary art is distinctly different from the art works of earlier generations.

The fields encompassing contemporary art remains the same even today but its essence has been infused with modernity. As in earlier times, contemporary art too covers the fields of music, painting, sculpting, literature, to name a few. New styles along with an eagerness for experimentation have found greater expression in contemporary art works. However in case of paintings, there often crops up a dilemma as to symbols represented on the canvas. Contemporary paintings often appear complex to the common eye, a fact often relished by some of the distinguished artists.

Nevertheless, the revival of some of the Asian art forms of China and Vietnam has breathed a fresh lease of life into the contemporary art scenario. Contemporary art exhibitions featuring some of the masterpieces of Oriental art are being widely appreciated by art connoisseurs across the world. The impact of Socialist Realism and the New Culture Movement is pretty evident in the oil paintings by Chinese artists. Not just China, but Vietnam too, has soaked up the western influence of Impressionism into its cultural fabric. A lot many of Vietnamese paintings depict the daily, simple world of the villages as observed through the human eye. The Vietnamese painter, Nguyen Thanh Binh, is renowned for using human element in all his canvases. Nonetheless, the influence of the Romantics does not lag behind. Paintings portraying the beauty of autumn, the green fields, the lotus pool abound.

Notwithstanding the influence of Oriental art on its western counterpart, there can be no denying the impact of the latter on the former. In fact, both these diverse art forms have imbibed features of each other. The French Impressionist and Viennese art nouveau have been chiefly influenced by Japanese prints. The history of Japan post 19th century, has cast an impression not only on visual arts but on European ceramics as well.

This intermingling of existing art traditions has thus given way to further innovations in the contemporary art scenario. Herein crops up avenues for the birth of new art genres with fresh appeal. This would certainly not deter people from admiring the older art forms. As a matter of fact, contemporary art has been and will be constantly inspired by their masters.

Watch the video related to Socialist Scholar

University of Iceland on the Tyranny of the Status Quo. He participated in a lively television debate on August 31, 1984 with leading socialist intellectuals, including President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. When they complained that a fee was charged for attending his lecture at the University and that hitherto, lectures by visiting scholars had been free-of-charge, Friedman replied that previous lectures had not been free-of-charge in a meaningful sense: Lectures always have related costs. …

Help answer the question about Socialist Scholar

Radical and Socialist Influences:

Saul Alinsky
Bill Ayers
Carl Davidson
Frank Marshall Davis
Democratic Socialists of America
Bernardine Dohrn
Gamaliel Foundation
New Party
Socialist Scholars Conference

Political Allies and Advisors:

Ali Abunimah
Mohamed Salim Al-Churbaji
David Axelrod
Gregg Craig
Jim Johnson
Marilyn Katz
Anthony Lake
Robert Malley
Alice Palmer
Eli Pariser
George Soros
Cass Sunstein
Dorothy Tillman
Joyce Wheeler
Tim Wheeler

Religious Affiliations:

Louis Farrakan
Rev. Joseph Lowery
James Meeks
Rev. Otis Moss
Rev. Michael Pfleger
Rev. Al Sharpton
Jim Wallis
Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Organizational Affiliations:

ACORN
Arab American Action Network
Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C.
International Crisis Group
MoveOn
National Council of La Raza
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Project Vote
Sojourners

Academic Affiliations:

Rashid Khalidi
Edward Said
Cornel West

Foundations:

Joyce Foundation
Woods Fund of Chicago

Money Scandals:

Nadhmi Auchi
Robert Blackwell, Jr.
Tony Rezko

Proof???

GOOGLE +Obama [any of the above]

I know it's the internet, and there are a lot of toolbag bloggers out there. But open your eyes! This guy is Mr Socialist to a T! Throw in some racism and anti-Americanism and pro-terrorism and it is a bad combination.

No wonder Bush won twice with the losers the Dems come up with!
I predict this question will not last a day before the Lib censors get it pulled to protect their chosen one.

About Author

Suzanne Macguire is an Internet marketing professional with keen interest in contemporary art and the role of the renowned Vietnam artist Do Duy Tuan in the field of Vietnamese painting.

In painting world there are so many styles that are very popular. But before giving an account of different popular styles we need to know what the term “style” means. In fact, there is not any certain definition of “style”. It may be understood in the aesthetic terms as what to paint or which physical technique implied in painting. Aesthetic movements like realism, romanticism and impressionism belong to this explanation of style. To further understand it, we may say that style is said to be the ways an artist paints and applies colors and texture. The perspective and the way in which an artist looks at the things visible and invisible characterize his or her style.

Scholarly discourse on style has given more technical term “movement” or “school” to which an artist can be associated with. Inclusion of an artist to certain school or movement may be done by the deliberate affiliation of the artist to such movement or by the art historians.

Some of the popular painting styles are discussed under following heads:

Constructivism: This movement had started in Russia in the wake of socialism. It was not purely an art but was a fusion of art and architecture. This movement was principal inspiration in raising many socialist establishments in Russia after the October revolution. Constructivism was on high in the period between 1919 to 1934. The chief proponents of this style of art were Alexander Rodcheckno, Liubov Popava, Vladimir Tatlin and Olga rozanova.

Fauvism: This is painting style in which proponents believed in the use of color as a massive emotional force. This style was marked by expression of feelings in colors with severe roughness and clumsiness. The use of simplified lines to expressively reveal the subject and theme of the painting was also used to be the attempt of the artists. They preferred spontaneity and freshness over the finish in any work of art. Pioneer of this art style was Gustave Moreau.

Classicism: This term refers to the paintings style employed by the ancient Roman and Greek painters. Classicism is characterized by the simplicity and adherence to the basic rules and principles of painting. This art style is refined and elegant, disciplined by order and symmetry. Classicism is unique style which does not encourage self expression and individuality. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Mantegna were the painters who tried to imitate this ancient style of art.

Besides, there are so many other styles and schools which are significant and have expressed different thoughts and subjects of the self and society in a unique way. Noteworthy of them are- abstract art, aboriginal art, aestheticism, art brut, art nouveau, baroque, Byzantine art, cubism, dada, dragging, encaustic, paintings, expressionism, gothic paintings, impressionism, mannerism, marbling, minimalism, modernism, neoclassicism, orientalism, primitivism, ragging & stippling, realism, spattering, surrealism, symbolism, theorem paintings and wood graining.

To have more comprehensive idea about Popular Painting Styles please visit Ethnic Paintings

Watch the video related to Socialist Scholar

US Embassy in Bolivia Tells Fulbright Scholar and Peace Corps Volunteers to Spy on Venezuelans and Cubans in BoliviaAn American Fulbright scholar and Peace Corps volunteers in Bolivia say the US embassy told them to spy on Venezuelans and Cubans in Bolivia. We go to Bolivia to speak with the Fulbright scholar Alexander van Schaick and Jean Friedman-Rudovsky, the reporter who broke the story for ABC News. [includes rush transcript] … bolivia venezuela us bush oil chavez socialism democracy now …

Help answer the question about Socialist Scholar

Today, the Democrat National Party is stuck with nothing more than a leftist ideologue politician who uses empty words to astound those who sought after him.
Obama has lost his "Angel of Light" status, and he will never get it back. Today we see the Senator for what he is, a Marxist socialist with ties to highly questionable people. By November he will not be electable.

It is obvious that Obama welcomed Rev. Jeremiah Wright into his personal and professional life as long as it was politically expedient. Indeed, he sought to have him there. Americans are not so naive as to fail to notice that certain cast members in the Obama drama life were Wright's doing. The Reverend knows who is who in Chicago, and he opened doors for his highly-talented prodigy.

Obama's close business affiliation with Tony Rezko, now on trial for corruption, is just the tip of the iceberg. Then there is William Ayers "I don't regret setting the bombs" In a most perverse twist of fate, we have a radical home grown terrorist who should be behind prison bars to this day. Instead, he is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Amazing! Yet Obama claims to know less about Ayers than he did Wright.

During the campaign we've become privy to quite a few things we did not know about Obama. It is enough to conclude that he is not made of presidential timber. Americans ought to be opened-minded, but we must be informed as well.

Mr. Goodbar (in this case, Mr. Obama) had people fainting at his campaign events. What happened to their messianic figure? Looking for the wrong kinda love in the wrong places; like in the movie, Democrats have wound up dancing with the devil.

Barack Obama's image was created by the media and based solely on his charisma. We have now seen enough of this elitist counterfeit to draw an educated conclusion: The real Obama can be known through the words of his bigoted, anti-American ex-pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Wright did us all a huge favor by making appearances throughout this past week. He provided us insight into the mind of Barack Obama. Through the personage of Wright, Americans have come face-to-face with the man who wants to become President. There is nothing left to ponder. America gets it. The heart of the suave, charming and well-spoken senator from Chicago is as twisted as the man who spiritually damaged Obama (and countless others) beyond repair.

In the midst of all this political disarray, Hillary Clinton will be tossed aside to satisfy the base of the Democrat Party. If Obama does not emerge the winner at the DNC Convention, Al Sharpton will conduct another Million Man March. Heaven forbid…

Be warned, however! Do not forget Rev. Wright's words: He will heckle and dog Obama throughout the entire campaign; should he win the Oval Office in November, Wright has promised to make matters even worse.

Obama betrayed his followers, clinging to the worst side of human nature, harboring hate and bigotry behind the facade of an attractive, promising personality. He can denounce Wright to Kingdom Come, but people will never trust the man again.

For 20 years, Barack Obama sat in a church were Black Liberation theology was preached and practiced. It is not Christianity, but Marxism with Holy Scripture tossed in here and there to make hate speech sound like the language of a noble mission.

"The goals of BT are to turn religion into sociology, Christianity into a political agenda, Jesus into a black Marxist rebel, and the gospel into violent revolution. They are more interested in politics than preaching the gospel."

From The Truth About Black Liberal Theology — Dr. Robert A. Morey, an internationally-recognized scholar in the fields of theology and apologetics, 1994.

Obama stayed at Trinity United Church for two decades without denouncing what he heard and witnessed. By doing and saying nothing, he allowed Rev. Wright's demeaning and tragic conduct to continue before his little girls and wife, the latter of whom adopted notions that America was a bad country.

Where, is this man who would take on the ultimate responsibility for all of America's citizens, was the protection and concern for his own precious family? If Obama had been a dutiful father and husband, he would have sheltered them from such bitterness and corruptive hatred.

Why did Obama permit Wright to taint the spirit of his immediate family and fill their minds with hateful thoughts regarding people who were not of color? Obama's cold and calculating actions (and inactions) were rites of passage within Chicago's left

About Author

Rajneesh Dubey is Content Coordinator for http://ethnicpaintings.com . This website gives you comprehensive informations on painting history, development, trends, popular painting styles, great painters, famous paintings, painting galleries and museums, painting tips, painting classes. In other words, this website is a treat to painting freaks.

This summer, concert goers will get a chance to save the world by rocking out to loud music and buying Earth-friendly cotton t-shirts. The Live Earth concert for our “climate in crisis” will surely raise the profile of environmentalism, but will it actually drive its audience to understand the root causes of the problem? After all, it’s been nearly two years since ten simultaneous Live 8 concerts were held across the world to raise awareness for African poverty, and if that event is any indicator, we shouldn’t expect much beyond the hype and sparkle that does more for aging rockers than the designated cause du jour.

Timed to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of his original Live Aid concert, Bob Geldof hoped the Live 8 event would pressure leaders of the G8 countries (U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Japan, U.S., Canada and Russia) into canceling the debt of the world’s most impoverished nations. Though it has never been easy to get politicians to do anything for the poor, Geldof felt his chances were good since he had the ear of the G8’s new president, U.K. prime minister Tony Blair.

Back in 1985, when he was still an aspiring socialist and junior member of the British Labour party, Tony Blair attended Live Aid. Years later, he told Geldof that the experience had shaped his vision of African policy and so, in 2004, Geldof persuaded Blair to head an examination of African poverty and the role the international community has played in its tragic history. The study was titled the Blair Commission for Africa and focused on debt relief and increased aid as the most direct means of alleviating the “living wound” of Africa’s plight. The next step, Blair and Geldof decided, would be to convince the leaders of the world’s seven richest nations (G7 plus Russia = G8) to commit to the Blair Commission program. And what better way to force these politicians into a deal than to get a billion people involved in the process. So, as Blair got set to host the G8 summit at a golf course in Scotland, Geldof called Bono, Madonna and Pink Floyd, trucked his speakers into London’s Hyde Park and invited the world to the show.

I sat among “thousands of millions,” as Bob Geldof put it, watching the concerts from their homes. Switching between MTV and AOL’s live-to-net broadcast of the concerts in London, Paris, Berlin, Toronto, Philly, Rome, I hummed along with a roster of stars that, as much as they tried, just couldn’t muster the earnest save-the-world insurgent spirit that had made Live Aid such a global phenomenon. Watching Kate Moss’ then-boyfriend Pete Doherty wander deliriously onto the stage and then barely get through a shrill rendition of T-Rex’s classic Children of the Revolution seemed like the symbolic moment. For a generation that has the world at its fingertips, which truly lives in a virtual global village, they have less sensitivity and connection to the plight of starving Africans than the kids did 20 years ago.

Sure, everyone wore their white wristbands, cosmetic evidence of their unity with the campaign to Make Poverty History. But in a development that was symbolic of the disconnect between the glossy, star-driven first world campaign and the soul-draining struggle of the global poor, it was later reported that millions of the bands were produced in Chinese sweatshops where workers are paid 25 cents an hour. As usual, the intentions were good, but you know what they say about the road to hell. And the irony wasn’t lost on many in the Western media. When Geldof announced the concerts on CNN, declaring they were “dealing with the roots of that poverty,” critics assailed him for assembling a “hideously white” roster that only included two African-born performers. Many saw it as a ploy to raise the sagging profile of old, unfashionable rock stars like The Who, Paul McCartney and Duran Duran, while others charged that it was the rock stars who were being used by the G8 politicians.

Bono brushed off the latter criticism, saying “Is there some degree of being used here? Yes. But I am not a cheap date, and neither is Bob Geldof.” Which may well be true. As a result of the Live 8 and Make Poverty History campaigns, the G8 agreed to cancel the debt of the world’s eighteen poorest nations and double 2004 levels of aid to Africa from U.S.$25 to U.S.$50 billion by the year 2010. But when this failed to impress the very Africans Live 8 was created to benefit, neither Bono nor Geldof had any snappy comebacks.

“One should not be surprised,” wrote the African scholar Samir Amin in his Liberal Virus, “that at the very moment when capitalism appears to be completely victorious, ‘the fight against poverty’ has become an unavoidable obligation of the rhetoric of the dominant groups.”

It’s something that the Western media missed entirely. Here we were, fifteen years after end of the Cold War, long after capitalism has been declared the world’s ideological victor, still focused on world poverty. And, with a situation in Africa no better than twenty years ago when the last world aid music event was held. Now, of course, many would say that it is not the fault of liberalism that African countries have not been able to institute sustainable fiscal policies. And that would be true if there wasn’t a long legacy of liberal economic intervention on the continent of Africa, much of it designed around the goal of relieving poverty. So what’s wrong with this picture?

Samir Amin claims that for representatives of the World Bank, IMF and rock stars like Bono and Bob Geldof, poverty is only ever seen as an empirical measurement, one that can be conquered through mathematical reasoning. Increase aid, remove the debt… problem solved. But this is just rock star economics. The reason nothing has changed for Africans since the last time Geldof and Bono beamed their message into hundreds of millions of homes worldwide is that they have been sucked into playing the game of the G8 leaders. They discuss poverty without challenging the methods and mechanisms that generate it.

Now, for Amin the Marxist, the foundations of African poverty are deep and advancement is a treacherous road, obstructed by the evils of capitalism. But it wasn’t just the far left that was questioning Live 8. Two weeks after the concerts, the New York Times published an op-ed by Cameroonian journalist Jean-Claude Shanda Tonme which essentially built on Amin’s criticism, but from a different perspective.

“Our anger is all the greater because,” Tonme wrote, “we didn’t hear anyone at Live 8 raise a cry for democracy in Africa. Africa’s real problem is the lack of freedom of expression, the usurpation of power, the brutal oppression… Don’t they understand that fighting poverty is fruitless if dictatorships remain in place?”

At a time when the armies of America and Britain are supposedly fighting anti-democratic insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, these words should have stung the eyes of pro-war liberals who applauded the debt relief program as a crucial step toward ending poverty.

“Neither debt relief nor huge amounts of food aid nor an invasion of experts will change anything,” wrote Tonme in the Times. “Those will merely prop up the continent’s dictators… We would have preferred for the musicians in Philadelphia and London to have marched and sung for political revolution.”

But revolution is hardly the kind of thing that Geldof’s government-friendly spectacle was designed to inspire. The closest anyone got was a Versace-clad Madonna singing “Music makes the people come together. Music makes the bourgeoisie and the rebels come together.” And there’s good reason for that. Because revolution in countries like Cameroon, Chad and Togo would demand overthrowing leaders who have a long relationship with the IMF and World Bank. Leaders who, according to John Perkins, the “Economic Hit Man” turned best-selling author, are given huge sums of money that are never expected to be repaid “because the nonpayment is what gives us our leverage, our pound of flesh.”

Working for the international consulting firm of Chas T. Main, Perkins’ job was to create optimistic financial projections for developing countries that would justify huge IMF and World Bank loans. Though the money was supposedly lent to recipient nations for infrastructural development, much of it never left the United States since it went directly to Main or other U.S. construction and engineering companies like Bechtel or Halliburton which were contracted to do the work. More importantly, Perkins writes in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, he would bring in such high loans that it would drive the countries bankrupt and they would be “forever beholden to their creditors, and… would present easy targets when they needed favors, including military bases, U.N. votes, or access to oil and other natural resources.”

“It’s a sham, it’s a subterfuge,” he says solemnly.

Perkins views the recent pledges by the G8 to Make Poverty History as the latest chapter in this legacy of economic entrapment.

“This program to forgive debt in eighteen nations, with another twenty-two on the back burner, that’s an amazing tool of economic hit men. I believe totally in debt forgiveness, but this is not about debt forgiveness. Every one of those countries is being asked to allow American corporations or international corporations to privatize their electric and water systems and many of their other resources. They are asked to accept the trade barriers we have in the United States and the other G8 countries and yet not keep their own trade barriers to protect their markets from our products. So we are using this debt forgiveness ploy as a way to get them more entrenched in the empire. It’s a very, very subtle and effective economic hit man tool and yet, most people don’t seem to realize that.”

Just one month after the G8 leaders made their highly publicized vow to cancel debt for the poorest eighteen countries, a document leaked from the World Bank severely undermined the credibility of their promise. Penned by Geoff Lamb, the bank’s vice president for concessional finance, the document explained that “most countries receiving 100 per cent debt cancellation would be classified as ‘green light’ and therefore become eligible for new borrowing.” Even more damning is Lamb’s reference to a G8 document instructing that those nations receiving debt relief should be “eased into new borrowing.” According to Perkins, this borrowing will then funnel right back into projects earmarked for Western companies.

Commenting on the leak, Dave Timms of the World Development Movement (WDM) said the World Bank was essentially “asking the executive directors how quickly they can get the countries that receive debt relief back into patterns of borrowing and back into debt.” A World Bank spokesman dismissed the controversy, describing the document as “an informal and preliminary presentation.”

But what about Perkins’ assertion that, as a condition of the debt relief, these countries would be forced into privatizing their resources and lowering trade barriers? A quick glance at the Blair Commission report, the U.K. government’s analysis of African poverty that formed the basis for Bob Geldof’s partnership with Tony Blair in Live 8, is telling. Its opening line states that, “for its part, Africa must accelerate reform.” Reform, of course, is a code word for privatize. Clearly, despite all the nice talk, this is still the modus operandi for the neoliberal forces of globalization. In September 2005, a report published by WDM showed that of the I.M.F. and World Bank’s official poverty reduction strategies (P.R.S.P.’s), which enforce conditions for debt relief, loans and aid on a country-to-country basis, “90 per cent contain privatisation measures… and over 70 per cent include trade liberalisation.” Trade liberalization is another euphemism for lowering of trade barriers.

A report from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs explained the G8 “debt relief” scheme this way: “Candidates seeking debt relief are caught in a classic Catch-22 dilemma: in order to relieve poverty they must institutionalize the circumstances that created it in the first place. This compromise does not end when external debts are finally relieved. Rather, countries must continue to conform to IMF/World Bank expectations in order to win the good credit ratings that are the password for attracting foreign investments.”

Finally, I decided to do a random check on one African country that was scheduled for debt relief – the New York Times op-ed writer Jean-Claude Shanda Tonme’s beloved Cameroon. In October 2005, just four months after Live 8, Cameroon announced that it “plans to privatise its state airline, water utility and telecommunications company as part of an IMF-backed economic reform programme aimed at obtaining debt relief.”

Copyright © 2007 Stephen Marshall from the book Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing by Stephen Marshall Published by The Disinformation Company, Ltd.; April 2007;$16.95US; 978-1932857-42-9

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University of Iceland on the Tyranny of the Status Quo. He participated in a lively television debate on August 31, 1984 with leading socialist intellectuals, including President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. When they complained that a fee was charged for attending his lecture at the University and that hitherto, lectures by visiting scholars had been free-of-charge, Friedman replied that previous lectures had not been free-of-charge in a meaningful sense: Lectures always have related costs. …

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It was like you saw Michael Jackson molesting a boy, then Michael tells you what you saw didn't happen. Huh?

Make no mistake, Obama is from the same ideology that thinks civil rights is "getting even", like Jessie and Al and Rev Wright and all the other race baiters who pervert Dr King's message, to incite racial hatred as a means to gain power. The last people who want racism to end are these same people.

So, Obama's handlers polled and focus grouped, with the results suggesting he bring the cop and the unjustly arrested man, to the WH, to talk through their issues. The whole stunt ended in a disagreement. Now, the messiah's spinners are saying "Mission Accomplished", praising Obama for his wisdom and sense of justice.

Many think Obama made the situation worse for himself.

Have you noticed how many people on YA are complaining about liberals and their "Jessie Jackson" style of civil rights- getting even?

Do you think Obama made the mess worse? Did he start a backlash of people who are sick of race baiting, reverse racism and getting even?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090802/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_harvard_scholar_analysis

About Author

Stephen Marshall is a writer and award-winning filmmaker. A founder of Guerrilla News Network, he is coauthor of the book True Lies (Plume) with GNN colleague Anthony Lappé. He is the director of the feature film This Revolution, documentary features such as Battleground: 21 Days on the Empire’s Edge, and controversial, politicized music videos for the Beastie Boys, Eminem and 50 Cent. Over the span of his career, he has traveled and worked in more than 80 countries. He lives in New York City. Visit www.wolvesbook.com 

About The Disinformation Company:
Based in New York, The Disinformation Company www.disinfo.com is active in book publishing, film/DVD distribution and other home entertainment. Recent book releases include Graham Hancock’s Supernatural, Jim Marrs’ The Terror Conspiracy, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Beyond The Bleep. Identity Theft Inc., Circle of Six, and Scamorama. Disinformation books are distributed to the trade by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution (www.cbsd.com).

Chinese oil paintings and realist oil painting

Chinese oil paintings since the beginning of the fall, and “realism” and “realist painting” has a natural link, or from a certain sense, the beginning of the period of Chinese oil paintings is the “realist painting.” Chinese oil painting in the way of development, “realism” and “realist painting” has always been associated with it.

     Chinese oil paintings and the history of the development of China’s social and cultural development, changes in the history closely linked, it is accompanied by a knowledge of Western and other natural and cultural knowledge to enter China. The starting point for the development of Chinese oil paintings, is well documented from the Ming Dynasty in Ningbo, Zhejiang Jiajingnianjian the Portuguese in the establishment of the Hong Kong Trade Shuangyu base, the painting will bring this art form in China. Later in the Wanlinianjian (European Renaissance painting at this time is an important period in the history of the development), due to religious reasons, the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci to a painting of God, Our Lady of the paintings to China. According to records, the 1610 Tour Wen-hui’s “portrait of Matteo Ricci” has realistic approach, clearly the relationship between brightness, which can be deduced, You Wenhui of China earlier study and practice of European oil paintings. To the Qing Dynasty, many Western missionaries for the court is satisfied that, with the Qing Emperor Kangxi in Beijing between the missionaries and Gongtinghuashi Lang Shining as the representative, he worked in China, the life of 51, after Emperor Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong three dynasties . He used the Western oil painting concepts to the performance of the Chinese characters “Xiangfeirongzhuang map”, opened a real painting with Chinese content of the precedent. Some scholars believe that this also is China’s realist painting “The first map.” The development of early Chinese oil paintings are generally three ways, first missionary to preach the culture, and second, followed by the court to accommodate the culture of painting, and the third is in the cultural and economic exchanges in the “civil painting.” Chinese oil paintings start from the beginning with “realism” style. Some scholars from the Guangdong exported start painting on that Guangdong is the birthplace of Chinese oil paintings, where you can find Chinese realist painting at the initial start of the cultural and artistic works. Some scholars from the Shanghai Museum soil Hill Bay Exploration focus on painting, oil painting that China’s modern master Xu Yong-ching, Ding stunning, ZHOU Xiang, Zhang Hui charge, Zhang Yuguang, such as Ren Bonian, “have received here in Western art education . Territories Bay Hill painting in the Museum, is the court in the northern West painting interrupted,”the Guangzhou coastal export oil painting after painting”in the re-rise of China and Turkey. Although the time across a century, but the history of Shanghai has once again chosen to Western painting East wind of a historic turn for the better, but also laid the future Shanghai will become the basis of a major Chinese oil paintings. “Soil Bay Hill Museum paintings produced sculptures, practice painting, oil painting and home-made paints, specialized manual sketching, realistic atmosphere rich, To become “China’s cradle of Western painting.” Chinese oil painting in the process of development, Transocean Xunmeng, gains Western Modernist painting of the first practice, also gains the Lingqi realist painting, mechanical Moreover, the two can not be separated. “Westernization Movement” to promote Chinese painting in the spread of emerging art education has driven the rise of realism style. The rise of Western painting groups also promote the development of China’s realist painting. Founded in Shanghai in 1915’s “Oriental Art” in the form of groups to promote the spread of Western painting, to promote a scientific attitude to artistic creation, to stand as the main means of painting, drawing Dan Gaoxiang take into account indoor and outdoor paint, and actively promote outdoor Painting, further carry forward the style of realism. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Chinese oil paintings into a tortuous and difficult period of development. This “difficult” and the people’s suffering, linked to national survival. Is the most significant artists, in particular, a number of important artists in this period of adversity, in the baptism of war, inspired by passion, real life experience to the suffering and national disaster, in-depth, experience in the rear shoulder Anti-Japanese National Salvation of the great historical mission, this generation of artists in the blood flow to the country and the nation’s destiny, art and life of passion, and the development of Chinese oil paintings were integrated into the subjects of great practical and enhanced the art of profound practical significance.

After new China was founded, the reality of the revolution consciously become the mainstream of Chinese painting art, artists, “as the keynote optimism to the revolution, depicting the revolutionary war and socialist construction in the history of life thriving scene. Uncertainties, accurate and powerful, many Painter common pursuit of the arts realm. “Realist realistic painting was exceptional conditions have been greatly developed. 1955, the Ministry of Culture decided to organize the Central Academy of Fine Arts oil painting courses, employing Soviet the teaching oil painting. courses taught sketching teaching system, students focus on improving the basis for sketching and modeling capability, that art comes from life, to encourage students observe the life and works of attention to the social function, the requirements reflect the fiery creation of real life, and guide students to Themes and topics of the master plot of concern. There is no doubt that this course actively promote the development of China’s realist painting, after training a group of Chinese oil painting industry active in the backbone. Of course, after training in the arts reflect on this practice, there are experts believe the other hand, sketching their teaching methods “and not a sketch of China’s experience in teaching the integration of China’s sketch of teaching methods and style of the sketch based on a single. “In subsequent years, advocates of revolution and revolutionary realism, the combination of romanticism, political and artistic standard, facing the reality of China through ups and realist painting, distort, to reflect on the years and rational thinking. During a return to the reality of the “native intelligence”, advocated by honest approach to the grim portrait of life, to the performance of simple theme Native revealed living in difficult environment in the people’s heat and warmth of the noble dignity. During a realist painting of China’s serious reflection, in summing up both positive and negative lessons for China on the basis of realistic painting of the new knowledge and new exploration. After the seemingly silent and variables, the Chinese contemporary realist painting is still active, being mature. “This door”origin”in the growing depletion of the art form has been dissolved in Chinese people’s aesthetic habits, renewable pleasing to the Chinese oil paintings. Realist painters who are not in order to make an example, it inadvertently to the contemporary Fufan Art presents a necessary accomplishment: To master a kind of art form, is bound to a long-term extraordinary efforts. ”

Realist painting walked all the way, hastened the birth of modern Western art of the genre, in the time of the birth of Chinese oil paintings, but also a realist deep zone de Patinagem de traces the art of oil painting. Or that Chinese oil paintings come out in time, undoubtedly have the impression of Western painting and after all the art schools affected, but in essence said that the Chinese oil painting at the starting time of the basic characteristics of a “realist painting.” China’s realist painting of Faren and foreign missionaries preaching the culture is closely linked to that of imported Western painting is not only oil paintings, watercolors, copper engraving, and other kinds of painting, the study of Chinese oil paintings of realism started to explore the introduction of Western art, Depend on a variety of types of art painting and its artistic spirit. The study of Chinese realist painting, but also explore the Westernization Movement, Restoration Reform Movement, the New Culture Movement and other Chinese political and cultural development background, when Kang Youwei Although the history of Western painting there were misreading, but the realism of the Western oil paintings still have problems Insights, in his “Travels 11 countries in Europe,” Rafael praised the painting as “T Yi Yi Miao, lively, more Rao Yun Xiang, Cheng Yi also God,” and “show its health-Yun, who must have independence “And” far from angry, Shenmiao forced true, the name is true also, “These kind words are” realistic. ” Kang Youwei respected realist “classic” and his words deep. Chen Duxiu in the “art of revolution – by Lu Zheng,” also said, “the painter must be realistic, and be able to play to their talent, painting their paintings, ancient Kejiu not charged.” Chen Duxiu on the “art revolution” And “realism” and “spirit of realism,” the idea of the May 4th Movement in the new culture of science, carry forward the spirit of democracy have had a profound impact. Chinese oil paintings in the development process, from time to time there are “local” and “outside,” the academic struggles and the “local” to the advent of Chinese oil paintings dating back over 2,000 years ago with Oil for painting pottery patterns. Academic issues can still explore. And the general sense, of “realism oil paintings and Chinese oil painting”, often starting in the cultural missionaries to preach. Of course, in recent years, there are writings discussed how the evolution of classical realist painting to contemporary “as a new” painting, which involves China should advance with the times realist painting of a problem.

http://www.oil-painting-china.com

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She earned her bachelor’s degree at University of Tennessee, a JD from Harvard Law School, and bachelors and masters degrees at Balliol College, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. She was the first woman to serve as president of the student body at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. … “rhodes scholar” “universal health care” communist commnism socialist socialism nationalization nau “north american union” cfr spp commmunist communism obama clinton bush globalist “nancy-ann min …

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Saul Alinsky
Bill Ayers
Carl Davidson
Frank Marshall Davis
Democratic Socialists of America
Bernardine Dohrn
Gamaliel Foundation
New Party
Socialist Scholars Conference

Political Allies and Advisors:

Ali Abunimah
Mohamed Salim Al-Churbaji
David Axelrod
Gregg Craig
Jim Johnson
Marilyn Katz
Anthony Lake
Robert Malley
Alice Palmer
Eli Pariser
George Soros
Cass Sunstein
Dorothy Tillman
Joyce Wheeler
Tim Wheeler

Religious Affiliations:

Louis Farrakan
Rev. Joseph Lowery
James Meeks
Rev. Otis Moss
Rev. Michael Pfleger
Rev. Al Sharpton
Jim Wallis
Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Organizational Affiliations:

ACORN
Arab American Action Network
Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C.
International Crisis Group
MoveOn
National Council of La Raza
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Project Vote
Sojourners

Academic Affiliations:

Rashid Khalidi
Edward Said
Cornel West

Foundations:

Joyce Foundation
Woods Fund of Chicago

Money Scandals:

Nadhmi Auchi
Robert Blackwell, Jr.
Tony Rezko

Family:

Michelle Obama
Raila Odinga

I wouldn't, I am voting for McCain the non-socialist, non-racist candidate of choice.

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oil painting