FLASH: Russia confirms Iran missile contract

UPDATE: Netanyahu wants coalition by deadline — Sunday at 3pm — still wooing Barak and Labor — “On Wednesday morning Netanyahu’s office released an announcement urging the Labor Party to join a national unity government: ‘The Labor Party has many leading and experienced individuals whoc ould contribute greatly in areas such as defense, diplomacy, finance, and social affairs. Bringing them into thegovernment will greatly strengthen the current leadership and aid with Israel’s challenges ahead’….Barak responded with a statement: “The diplomatic, security, economic and social challenges facing Israel make it imperative the Labor Party’s hierarchy seriously consider [Netanyahu’s invitation].”

* UPDATE: Barak — Nation wants us to join government; Defense minister says most citizens, party voters interested in seeing Labor entering coalition — but some in Likud fear Netanyahu’s generous offer could leave Likud in a minority position in its own government
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Amidst the global economic crisis in which upwards of 45% of the world’s wealth has been lost in the last 18 months, talk of radically restructuring the global economic system is growing. In recent weeks, leaders in Europe, Africa and the Middle East have proposed scrapping the current economic order and going to a single common currency.

A story in this morning’s Moscow Times — and featured prominently on the Drudge Report — is creating quite a stir in particular. At the April 2nd meeting of world leaders in London (the G20), the Kremlin is  reportedly set to propose a new global common currency system that will replace the U.S. dollar as the international currency of choice.

The story notes that “the Kremlin’s call for a common currency is not the first in recent days. Speaking at an economic conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, last week, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed a global currency called the ‘acmetal’ — a conflation of the words ‘acme’ and ‘capital.’ He also suggested that the Eurasian Economic Community, a loose group of five former Soviet republics including Kazakhstan and Russia, adopt a single noncash currency — the yevraz — to insulate itself from the global economic crisis….Nazarbayev’s proposal did, however, garner support from at least one prominent source — Columbia University professor Robert Mundell, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1999 for his role in creating the euro. Speaking at the same conference with Nazarbayev, he said the idea had ‘great promise.’ The Kremlin document also called for national banks and international financial institutions to diversify their foreign currency reserves. It said the global financial system should be restructured to prevent future crises and proposed holding an international conference after the G20 summit to adopt conventions on a new global financial structure.”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week called for a single currency for 400 million Muslims in the Middle East. “The process of obtaining one single currency in the trade and exchanges among members, and in the next stages with other countries and neighbors, should be designed,” the Iranian leader said March 11th.

Libyan leader Muammar Ghadafi, recently elected leader of the African Union of states, is calling for a single currency for all of Africa and has persuaded 200 tribal leaders to call him the “King of kings.” The BBC reported in February that Ghadafi “envisages a single African military force, a single currency and a single passport for Africans to move freely around the continent.”

Europe, of course, was the leader in creating a single regional currency. Last year, the EU celebrated the 10 year anniversary of the creation of the “euro,” a move that has been widely considered a success and a model for other regions.

These are curious developments given that scholars of Bible prophecy have long noted that according to the Scriptures, in the “last days” the world will see the emergence of an entirely new international financial architecture, complete with a single global currency created and mandated by the leaders of Europe. The Bible indicates that eventually no one will be able to engage in commerce without “buying in” to the new cashless system. The prophecy is found in Revelation 13:16-17, which reads: “And he [the world leader that emerges from a revived Europe] causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one can buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.”

Cynics and skeptics have long dismissed such talk as the province of “religious nuts” and “prophecy buffs.” But the discussion has suddenly blown past the realm of Bible scholars and is now the discussion of major world leaders. It’s too soon to say where this will all lead, but these are certainly developments worth watching.

HEADLINES TO TRACK:

• Moscow Times: Kremlin “calling for the creation of a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international institutions as part of a reform of the global financial system”
• Reuters: Ahmadinejad says “the process of obtaining one single currency in the trade and exchanges among members, and in the next stages with other countries and neighbors, should be designed.
• World News Australia: World needs single currency, says Kazakh leader
• BBC: Libya’s Gaddafi “envisages a single African military force, a single currency and a single passport for Africans to move freely around the continent.”
• IMF study: A Single Currency For Africa?
• Asian Development Bank report: “A Single Currency for Asia? East Asia should start addressing the challenges of adopting a single currency”
  

WEDNESDAY INTERVIEW SCHEDULE (all times eastern and subject to change):

• 9:30am — Pinnacle Forum conference call with evangelical business leaders
• 12:15pm – TFC radio network, Georgia andsoutheast U.S.
• 1:30pm – KRN radio, Minnesota and Iowa
• 3:00-4:00pm – “Chris Faby Live,” Moody Radio Network, nationally syndicated
• 6:15-7:15pm – WKCT, Bowling Green, KY