ISRAEL
Whose Promised Land? Psalm 78:54-55 (ISRAELS)
54 And He brought them to His holy border, This mountain which His right hand had acquired.
55 He also drove out the nations before them,Allotted them an inheritance by survey, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded
DEUTERONOMY 7:7-8
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people;(ISRAEL) for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you,(ISRAEL) and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
ZECHARIAH 2:8
8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
JEREMIAH 3:14
14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you:(ISRAEL) and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
ISAIAH 42:1
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect,(ISRAEL) in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
ISAIAH 45:4
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
ISAIAH 65:9,22
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
ISAIAH 56:5
5 Even unto them (ISRAELIS) will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name,(ISRAEL) that shall not be cut off.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
2ND DAY OF ROSH HASHANA IN ISRAEL TODAY AT 6PM.
ISRAEL HAS A RIGHT TO BUILD ON THEIR OWN LAND.THIS AMAZES ME HOW THE WORLD DEMAND ISRAEL QUIT BUILDING ON THEIR OWN LAND.
Israel rejects criticism of new Jerusalem housing
APBy IAN DEITCH - Associated Press | AP – SEPT 28,11
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli government on Wednesday rejected international criticism of its decision to build 1,100 new Jewish housing units in east Jerusalem, claiming the plans do not hinder peace efforts with the Palestinians.Israel announced Tuesday that it had given the green light for the new construction in the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo in southeast Jerusalem. The Palestinians condemned the plan, and the U.S., European Union and United Nations all swiftly expressed their disappointment over the settlements, which raised already heightened tensions after last week's Palestinian move to seek U.N. membership.In every peace plan that has been put on the table over the last 18 years, Gilo remains an integral part of Jewish Jerusalem, said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There is no contradiction between this planning decision and the government's desire to move forward in peace toward two states for two peoples.Gilo is not a settlement, nor is it an outpost, Gilo is a neighborhood in the very heart of Jerusalem, only about a 5 minute drive from the very center of town.The Palestinians have demanded that Israel halt all settlement construction in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as their future capital, and the adjacent West Bank — territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — as a condition for resuming peace talks.
Since capturing east Jerusalem, Israel has annexed the area and ringed it with about 10 Jewish enclaves that are meant to solidify its control. Gilo, which is close to the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, is among the largest, with about 50,000 residents. Israel's annexation of east Jerusalem has not been internationally recognized.Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said Tuesday after the Israeli housing announcement that the decision amounted to 1,100 no's to the resumption of peace talks.With peace negotiations stalled for the past three years, the Palestinians last week asked the U.N. Security Council to recognize an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.The U.S. has vowed to veto the Palestinian request in the Security Council. Both Israel and the U.S. say a Palestinian state can be established only through negotiations.
The fate of east Jerusalem is the most explosive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The sector is home to Jerusalem's Old City, which houses sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites.Netanyahu says he will never relinquish east Jerusalem, which Israel considers an integral part of its capital. The Palestinian leadership has vowed it will not accept a state without key parts of east Jerusalem as its capital.In all, about 200,000 Jews live in east Jerusalem areas that Israel calls neighborhoods and the Palestinians call settlements. Squeezed between them are Arab neighborhoods that are home to some 250,000 Palestinians.Also Wednesday, Israeli authorities said that Palestinian assailants are to blame for a car crash that killed an Israeli father and his infant son in the West Bank last week on the eve of the Palestinian bid for recognition at the United Nations.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the investigation found that the Israeli man lost control of his car after he was hit in the head by a stone. Palestinian youths regularly throw stones at Israeli cars in the West Bank.The crash was initially thought to have been an accident.
UN Council buys time on Palestine membership bid
AFPAFP – SEPT 28,11
The UN Security Council on Wednesday pushed back a decision on the Palestinian bid to join the United Nations in a move that will give more time to international efforts to revive direct talks.But UN envoys for the two foes wrangled over who is to blame for the latest year-old negotiations deadlock, with diplomats warning both sides are hardening their positions.The 15-member Security Council sent the bid made by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas last Friday to a special membershp committee to give its verdict.A full session of the council met for barely two minutes in the first public discussion of the bid that the United States has vowed to veto when it comes to a vote.Unless I hear a proposal to the contrary I shall send the application of Palestine to the committee on new members, said Lebanon's UN ambassador Nawaf Salam, president of the council for September. No comments were made and Salam hurriedly brought the gavel down to get the meeting over.The membership committee, made up of all 15 council nations, will hold its first meeting on Friday.Abbas was given a standing ovation in the UN General Assembly last Friday after making the historic application.The United States and Israel, strongly opposing the bid, say only direct Israel-Palestinian talks can create a Palestinian state.The diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East -- the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations -- has since launched a new campaign to get the two sides back into talks with a set timetable.Palestinians ended US-brokered talks one year ago when Israel ended a moratorium on settlement construction in the occupied territories. Israel's approval of another 1,100 homes in East Jerusalem has further infuriated the Palestinian leadership.
Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, called the construction offensive, provocative and illegal and 1,100 answers to thwart the efforts to revive talks.He said it was a clear answer by the Israeli government to the Quartet, to negotiation and to the refusal to abide by the global consensus on the fact that settlements are an illegal obstacle to peace.Ron Prosor, Israel's UN ambassador, said the Palestinians are using every pretext in order not to find a reason not to go into negotiations.Is it easy, the answer is no. Is it frustrating -- yes. Do we have sleepless nights, yes. But at the end of the day that is the only way forward,he said of the talks process.When asked about the approval of new settlements, Prosor said Israel was ready to negotiate on Jerusalem with other final status topics.
Israeli officials have signalled a hardline on East Jerusalem however and Prosor told reporters: Jerusalem, I would like to stress, that is the capital of the Jewish people. This is our heart. Jerusalem, if I may say so, was the capital of the Jewish people when London was still a swamp.The ambassador acknowledged that Israel is working with the United States to get Security Council members to oppose or abstain in any vote on Palestinian membership.Yes we are both working, and truthfully, on both sides to have a bloc of countries that basically would say ladies and gentlemen go back to direct negotiations, sit down and talk this thing with each other,the ambassador told reporters.The Palestinians are also sending high level delegations to council members such as Gabon, Bosnia and Nigeria.
Ashton shows pro-Palestinian side at EU parliament
Today SEPT 28,11 @ 09:16 By Andrew Rettman
EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton showed her pro-Palestinian sympathies at the European Parliament on Tuesday (27 September) as MEPs get set to back the UN upgrade.She began the meeting in Strasbourg with a formal statement against Israel's new decision to build 1,100 Jewish housing units on Palestinian land at its Gilo settlement.This plan should be reversed. Settlement activity threatens the viability of an agreed two-state solution and runs contrary to the Israeli stated commitment to resume negotiations, she said.She later added on a personal note: I have condemned settlement activity every time it was announced - I have made six statements this year, plus one Quartet [a joint EU, Russia, UN and US body] statement plus the comment today ... Each time I have met him [Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu] I have told him settlements are illegal under international law.
She also praised Palestinian leaders Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad: They are people who hold the values we hold dear in their hearts. They believe in the values we hold ... I believe Israel could do no better than negotiate with them.Pro-Israeli countries such as the Netherlands have said Ashton is not a neutral broker in talks on whether the EU should back Palestine's bid to join the UN. Her own officials say she was deeply affected by Palestinian hardships on recent visits to Gaza and the West Bank.MEPs will on Thursday vote on a draft resolution which says the EU assembly: Supports and calls on member states to be united in addressing the legitimate demand of the Palestinian people to be represented as a state at the United Nations.The text already has the backing of the socialist, liberal, green and far-left groups. The language is designed to accommodate various opinions - socialists say Palestine should get full UN membership, while liberals say they should become a non-member state.The biggest group, the centre-right EPP, is still making up its mind. But senior EPP figures, such as German deputy Hans-Gert Poettering and Dutch member Ria Oomen-Ruijten, spoke up for Palestine in the plenary debate.Meanwhile, EU countries have voiced clear divisions at the UN in New York over the past week. Ten (Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) are on the pro-upgrade side. Five (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Romania and the UK) have indicated they would vote No. The rest are keeping quiet.Provocative of Israel to announce new settlements in East Jerusalem now. Clearly contrary to Middle East peace Quartet demand, Swedish foreign minister Carl Bldt tweeted on Tuesday.For his part, Netanyahu in an interview with the Jerusalem Post the same day showed little interest in what the EU thinks. We plan in Jerusalem. We build in Jerusalem. Period. The same way Israeli governments have been doing for years - since the end of the 1967 war,he said.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD REGIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Parliament approves economic governance six-pack
Today SEPT 28,11 @ 17:43 By Leigh Phillips
After almost a year since the European Commission first proposed a package of laws radically centralising economic decision-making in the European Union, the legislative process approving the so-called ‘six-pack’ of bills has finally come to an end with the European Parliament giving its assent on Wednesday (28 September).
Aiming to prevent future sovereign debt crises, the six-pack gives the European Commission new powers to slap fines on countries that flout rules on racking up high public debts and deficits.The parliament emerged largely victorious in its battle with the member states, and in particular France, to give the EU executive the power to impose sanctions that can only be blocked by a majority of votes amongst eurozone states.A majority of MEPs in the conservative-dominated chamber worried that requiring approval by the Council before warnings could be issued to a country would lead to back-room deals in which countries needing to reform their budgetary policies would be let off the hook.In the end, a country warning will be issued if a vote in the Council is not taken within 10 days of a commission notice. If the Council decides to overturn the commission’s decision, they will now have to appear before the European Parliament and defend their rejection in public.The chamber also won the right to request the presence of finance ministers from countries that have received a warning to a dressing down in the parliament.The vote in the full sitting of the chamber however was close, as parties on the left voted against or abstained on some aspects of the package, believing there to be insufficient balance between market requirements and social needs.The left however did win a victory via the parliament’s insistence that the commission consider not merely countries with high trade deficits, but also those running current-account surpluses.Germany and the Netherlands have crowed that such imbalances result from their successful economic management and should not need investigation. However, some economists argue that the core of Europe has engaged in mercantilist policies that are the flip-side of heavy debts in the eurozone periphery and are every bit as dangerous.
The president of the parliament, conservative Polish MEP Jerzy Buzek cheered the result, declaring: We have developed a powerful and resistant armour against any future crisis,Liberal MEP Sylvie Goulard, one of the deputies to shepherd the legislation through the house, said that the bloc needed to go further still in terms of economic integration.This is not the end of the story. We will need to take further steps. But we have built a new system with this package today which will allow the EU institutions to work better together and will increase transparency, she said.The Socialists spokesman for economic affairs, Udo Bullmann, said that the vote today would have drastic consequences for European citizens.We think there exists another path out of the crisis. The reform is an austerity pact ... that leaves no margin of manoeuvre for EU states for intelligent spending and targeted investment. Some 78 civil society organisations including anti-poverty NGOs and trade unions issued an open letter on Wednesday denouncing the moves as anti-democratic.The proposals will enable EU institutions to make decisions on member states' budgets, economic policy priorities as well as on labour and social rights with little democratic debate, or accountability, the signatories, including France’s CGT union, UK-based Tax Justice Network and Attac Denmark, to the letter said.
EU hushes talk of multi-trillion bail-out ahead of German vote Today SEPT 28,11 @ 09:29 By Leigh Phillips
European politicians are trying to avoid too much talk of a multi-trillion-euro revamp of the eurozone’s crisis strategy ahead of a crunch vote in the German parliament, with the German finance minister denying plans for such an increase to the bail-out fund and French ministers saying it is necessary to stay quiet until after the vote.On Tuesday, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told N-TV: We do not intend to increase it, and separately called such moves stupid.I don't understand how anyone in the European Commission can have such a stupid idea. The result would be to endanger the AAA sovereign debt ratings of other member states. It makes no sense, he said.It is understood that European leaders are considering a plan to leverage the European Financial Stability Fund via the European Central Bank. The sums mentioned are in the range of €2 trillion, although sources have told EUobserver, the figures are still in flux and that more than one option is on the table.Meanwhile, changes strengthening the EFSF agreed by eurozone leaders in July have yet to be approved by the Bundestag. A vote is scheduled for Thursday.
French finance minister Francois Baroin for his part said that a public discussion of the issue could not happen before Germany votes
It is out of the question to put forward, three days from the Bundestag (lower house) vote, the issue of whether we should increase the fund, he said.Let's not open Pandora's box on something that is a red flag for Germany.Meanwhile, Prime Minister Francois Fillon told the French parliament that plans to tackle speculative attacks would be unveiled after the German vote.A straw poll amongst MPs from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU and sister party in the CSU group in the chamber showed how tight the vote could be.Some 11 MPs voted against moves to alter the EFSF’s rules, according to a report from Reuters, while two abstained. The news agency quoted unnamed sources that predicted between two and five nays from the coalition’s Free Democrat junior partner and a further six abstentions. If 19 deputies vote against or abstain, Merkel will have to depend on opposition Social Democrat and Green votes, a development that could fatally wound the Merkel administration.Separately, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou travelled to Berlin to meet with his German counterpart and delivered a rousing speech to German industrial leaders in an attempt to rally spirits in the key European economy.I promise you, we Greeks will soon fight our way back to growth and prosperity after this period of pain,he told the Federation of German Industries.The eurozone must now take bold steps toward fiscal integration to stabilise the monetary union. Let's not allow those who are betting against the euro to succeed,he said.Merkel for her part stressed that Berlin will not abandon Athens: We will provide all the help desired from the German side so that Greece regains trust.If the stability of the euro is at stake - and the experience of the last few years shows that the difficulties of one country endanger our common currency – then that obliges us to show solidarity within the common currency.We want a strong Greece in the eurozone… Germany is ready to give all the help that is required.
WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
WW3 COMPLETE HAPPENINGS
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/questions-ww3-whats-coming.html
NUKES WILL BE USED IN WW3
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2011/09/ww3-will-be-fought-with-nuclear-weapons.html
AMOS 9:10
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
The Third and Final Wave of WW3 is when all Nations march to Jerusalem, but JESUS bodily returns to earth and destroys them,sets up his KINGDOM OF RULE FOR 1000 YEARS THEN FOREVER.
Iran plans to send ships close to US waters: report
AFPAFP – Tue, Sep 27, 2011
Iran's navy is going to deploy ships close to US territorial waters, its commander in chief was quoted as saying on Tuesday.As the global oppression (the US) is present not far from our maritime border ... our navy is going to have a strong presence not far from US territorial waters, the Irna news agency quoted Admiral Habibollah Sayyari as saying.On July 19 Sayyari also said that Iran was going to send a flotilla into the Atlantic.The remarks come as another high-ranking Iranian appeared to reject a recent US request to establish a red phone link between the countries to avoid unwanted confrontation between their armed forces in the Gulf region.When we are in the Gulf of Mexico, we will establish direct contact with the United States, Ali Fadavi, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, was quoted in press reports as saying.In the view of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the presence of the US in the Persian Gulf is illegitimate and makes no sense.The Iranian navy has been developing its presence in international waters since last year, regularly launching vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates operating in the area.Iran also sent two ships into the Mediterranean for the first time in February, via the Suez Canal, to the annoyance of Israel and the United States.And in July, leaders announced that a Kilo class submarine had completed an inaugural mission in the southern Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
Iran says it delivers new cruise missiles to navy
APBy ALI AKBAR DAREINI - Associated Press | AP – SEPT 28,11
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran said Wednesday it has begun large-scale production of a domestically-developed cruise missile designed for sea-based targets and capable of destroying warships.Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi said an unspecified number of the missiles, called Ghader, or Capable in Farsi, were delivered to the Iranian military and the powerful Revolutionary Guard's naval division, which is assigned to protect Iran's sea borders.Vahidi said the missile, which has a range of 124 miles (200 kilometers), can travel at low altitudes and "can sink giant warships. The comments appeared to suggest that the new missile could potentially counter the U.S. naval presence in the Persian Gulf.The West is already concerned about Iran's military capabilities, especially the implications of the country's disputed nuclear program. The U.S. and some of its allies, and as the U.N. nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, fear that Iran is trying to produce a nuclear weapon. Tehran denies the charges.Iran's growing arsenal includes short and medium range ballistic missiles that are capable of hitting targets in the region such as Israel and U.S. military bases in the Gulf.Iran frequently makes announcements about new advances in military technology that cannot be independently verified.Iran began a military self-sufficiency program in 1992, under which it produces a large range of weapons, including tanks, missiles, jet fighters, unmanned drone aircraft and torpedoes.
EU pushes for global financial trading tax
APBy PAN PYLAS - AP Business Writer | AP – SEPT 28,11
LONDON (AP) — Taxing financial trades has been touted as a panacea for all kinds of global ills, a cash source to fight poverty and global warming. But the latest European attempt to introduce a worldwide standard 40 years after it was first conceived is facing stiff opposition from the U.S. and Britain.Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the EU's executive arm, on Wednesday threw his weight behind the tax that his office estimated could raise euro57 billion ($77 billion) a year in Europe to help combat a debt crisis that is threatening the euro currency.In the last three years, member states have granted aid and provided guarantees of euro4.6 trillion to the financial sector,Barroso said.It is time for the financial sector to make a contribution back to society.The tax would be a tiny percentage of the value of a trade in assets like stocks and bonds. Although some countries already have a minimal duty on share trading, the new proposal would not only increase the scope and size of the tax but also siphon off some revenue to Brussels.The European Commission has formally backed the tax to take effect from January 2014.As a result of the financial crisis in 2008 and the ensuing recession, debt levels across Europe, and not just in the bailed out countries of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, have risen sharply. Across the 27-nation EU, debt as a percentage of national income has spiked from below 60 percent in 2007 to 80 percent this year.
Though the tax could dent growth and employment, it has won a fair degree of support across the 17-country eurozone, including France and Germany, the EU's two biggest economies.Britain, however, has been adamantly against it unless it is used on a global basis. Its opinion carries weight in the debate because London is the continent's biggest financial center.The argument made by the likes of George Osborne, Britain's finance chief, and echoed last week by his counterpart in the U.S. Timothy Geithner is that the tax just won't work if it's not introduced globally. If it's not, investors can move money quickly to where the tax doesn't need to be paid, saving themselves potentially large sums of money in financial trades.Howard Wheeldon, a senior strategist at BGC Partners, said it's a bad idea to have a trades tax now, especially since many banks are still trying to meet new requirements to beef up capital buffers.The timing is inappropriate; it's something to look at in a few years time, Wheeldon said.Even if Britain and the U.S. decide to opt out, it is possible that the eurozone countries, or at least some of them, may go it alone.I think the eurozone or number of member states would go ahead and do it, and would start it at a low enough level to answer political objections,said Sony Kapoor, managing director of Re-Define, an economic think tank.Some activists campaigning for the tax worry the money may be used solely to fix the world's financial difficulties. They say a large chunk of the revenues should be used for other important issues, such as reducing poverty or fighting global warming.Oxfam International, a long-time proponent of the tax, lauded the European Commission's support ahead of the October 17-18 summit of EU leaders and the Group of 20 meeting of the leaders from the top industrial and developing nations.
The financial transaction tax is moving from rhetoric to reality but a significant part of the revenues should be used as Bill Gates suggested, to help poor countries facing chilling reductions in aid, trade, and investment — not just shore up the EU budget,said Nicolas Mombrial, Oxfam International's EU policy advisor. The multibillionaire Microsoft founder has been commissioned by the G-20 to produce a report on development financing and is considering the potential of the tax.Oxfam's Mombrial also argues that the rate of the tax should be higher than the 0.1 percent levy on shares and bonds proposed by the EU.It's clear that higher rates are perfectly feasible and would raise more money to tackle poverty, Mombrial said, noting that a 0.5 percent tax already applies to share trades in the U.K.The motivations behind the tax are a long way from the designs of Nobel Prize laureate James Tobin, who first made his proposal for the flat tax on currency transactions in the early 1970s when U.S. President Richard Nixon ended the dollar's convertibility to gold and effectively brought an end to the global currency system that had prevailed since World War II.Tobin said at the time that the tax would help limit instability arising from a world of floating exchange rates.Financial transaction taxes, appropriately designed, can not only raise substantial revenue but also enhance stability by discouraging destabilizing trading that serves little economic purpose,Re-Define's Kapoor said.
