World News Through the Third Lens

SECRETARY CLINTON : IRAN BECOMING MILITARY DICTATORSHIP. (AP 2/16/10): US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Obama administration believes Iran is becoming a military dictatorship. In remarks to Arab University students in Qatar, Clinton said the Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran appears to have gained so much power it is effectively supplanting the government. Last week the US Treasury Department announced it was freezing the assets in U.S. jurisdictions of a Revolutionary Guard general and four subsidiaries of a previously penalized construction company he runs because of their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction. Clinton urged Iran on Sunday to reconsider its "dangerous" nuclear policy, saying Teheran's stance leaves the world community little choice but to impose "greater costs." Meanwhile, Netanyahu told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday he would push for crippling sanctions on Iran during his meetings with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev and PM Vladimir Putin this week.

BIBLICAL (THIRD LENS) PERSPECTIVE: Concerning the continued rhetoric from the west, aimed at Iran: "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No' "No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. (Matthew 5:37) Concerning the threats aimed at Israel: "O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, both now and forever more." (Psalm 131:3) Concerning the plans of dictators and nations: "He (God) rules forever by His power, His eyes watch the nations." Psalm 66:7)

BATTLE OF THE VEEPS: Cheney says Biden WRONG that new attack unlikely. (Matt Spetalnick, Worth Reading, 2/15/10): Vice President Joe Biden rejected rejected assertions by Dick Cheney on Sunday that the Obama Administration was soft on terrorism and waterboarding should have been an option for the suspect in an attempted Christmas Day Airline bombing.

In an unusual round of dueling interviews played out across Sunday morning television talkshows, Biden said his Republican predecessor "either is misinformed or is misinforming" and accused him of trying to "rewrite history." Cheney, a chief architect of former President George W. Bush's counterterrorism policy and a harsh critic of President Barak Obama's approach, said Biden was "dead wrong" to have recently deemed another September 11-style attack on the United States to be unlikely. (more)

A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE: To the nation that turns away from the Word of God, the Lord says: "In then morning you will say, 'If only it were evening!' and in the evening, 'If only it were morning!' - because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see." (Deuteronomy 28:67) Regarding the exchange of hot air: "He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin." (Proverbs 13:3). "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire and is itself set on fire by hell." (James 3:6)