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To: Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup <heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>, Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup 2 <heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Subject: News of Interest: 2/14/99 - 3/6/1999
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 15:42:07 -0800
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From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: News of Interest

News of Interest
February 14 to March 6, 1999

DROUGHT IN ISRAEL

ISRAEL: CONCERNS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE SEA OF GALILEE
International Christian Embassy Jerusalem & Ha'aretz 3/5/99

Officials at Israel's Mekorot water authority have warned that
the country's fresh water resources are in a worse shape than
previously thought, Ha'aretz reports. They have proposed that
only 120 million cubic meters of water be pumped from the
Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) this year, 100 million less than the
amount suggested by Israel's Water Commission, which makes the
final decision.

Some hydrologists have warned that if too much water is pumped
from the Kinneret, and its level drops below the "red line" of
212 meters, the lake could become salinized because of layers of
salty water at the bottom. Should this occur, the water would
not longer be suitable even for irrigation, let alone for
drinking. "Other experts warn that a lowering of the water level
could accelerate the growth of poisonous seaweed that could bring
about the lake's 'biological death'," the report said. On the other
hand, if less water is pumped from the Kinneret, this will mean a
serious water shortage throughout the country.

Mekorot therefore is recommending that more water be pumped from
Israel's main underground aquifers, but at the same time warns
that all of Israel's water reservoirs are in danger of going
below their "red lines" because of the water shortage and extra
pumping needed to meet the needs. The year 2000 is cause for
particular concern, especially if it turns out another "dry
year".

Mekorot has called on the public to save water and is urging the
government to push ahead immediately with a desalination project. This
Sunday, the government will consider a proposal by National
Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon and Agricultural Minister Rafael
Eitan to launch a desalination project immediately, with the initial
aim of processing 50-100 million cubic meters of sea water a year.

APOSTASY AND ECUMENISM

ARCHBISHOP CAREY AND POPE SEEK BIG PUSH FOR UNION
By Victoria Combe and Bruce Johnston London Telegraph 2/15/99

The stalemate in talks between the Anglican and Roman Catholic
Churches was abandoned this weekend after negotiations between
the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope.

At a meeting in the Vatican on Saturday, they agreed that
something dramatic was needed if the Churches were to obey the
Biblical imperative to be one in the next Millennium. They
decided on an international conference in Canada in May 2000 of
all Anglican and Catholic archbishops, the first time the entire
hierarchies will have met to discuss healing their
four-century-old rift. The leaders hope that the conference will
revive unity talks which broke down after the Church of England's
ordination of women in 1992.

The archbishop's spokesman said the details of the conference had
not been decided, but the agenda would examine an "overall
strategy for future work together. The conference will not avoid
difficult matters, such as shared communion and mixed marriages.
Representatives travelling with him said that the Canada meeting
would be headed by Dr Carey and Cardinal Edward Cassidy, the
president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity.

The Canada meeting follows a Common Declaration in favour of
further dialogue made by Dr Carey and the Pope, after they last
met in 1996, and an "overwhelming response" to the idea by
Anglican primates and presidents of Catholic Bishops'
Conferences.

Dr Carey later met members of the Curia, including Cardinal
Cassidy. He told reporters that there had been major long-term
progress between the Churches, although women's ordination had
been a stumbling block. However, preaching later the same day
for the first time in a Catholic Church in Rome, the basilica of
Santa Maria in Trastevere, Dr Carey asked Catholics to be "more
patient" about divisions among Christians.

The Rev Mark Santer, Bishop of Birmingham, chairman of the
Anglican Centre and co-chairman of the Inter-Church Commission on
dialogue, said that in the talks, which had laid the way for the
Canada meeting, there had been "very close agreement, except on
the ordination of women". The question of authority remained the
area where there was least agreement, "and you can't talk about
communion without talking about authority".

POPE JOHN PAUL SET TO STRENGTHEN DIALOGUE WITH EUROPE'S MUSLIMS
Warsaw (Ecumenical News Intl) 2/23/99

Pope John Paul II is scheduled to hold his first-ever meeting
with Muslim leaders from Eastern Europe during a visit to Poland
in June this year. According to Bishop Wladyslaw Miziolek, a
member of the Catholic Church in Poland's ecumenical council, the
talks are intended to encourage Christians and Muslims to recall
their "common spiritual roots" by promoting closer inter-faith
co-operation throughout Europe.

RABBIS FROM ALL JEWISH BRANCHES CREATE UNITED ORGANIZATION
February 23, 1999 By Richard N. Ostling, Associated Press

Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis in
the United States and Canada have formed the first religious
organization to encompass all branches of Judaism since the
Synagogue Council of America fell apart five years ago. Orthodox
involvement is especially significant because in recent years the
most traditional branch of Judaism has generally backed away from
cooperation with more liberal Jews. The other pan-Jewish
organizations in North America deal with secular and communal
matters rather than religion.

The new North American Boards of Rabbis is a federation of local
rabbinical boards, which usually include Orthodox rabbis. The
Synagogue Council was a loose coalition of rabbinical and
synagogue associations that disbanded because of apathy and
separatist trends among the Orthodox. Not all Orthodox rabbis
will be involved in NABOR; some hard-line Orthodox are not part
of the rabbinical boards

VATICAN ENVOY: ISRAEL, PALESTINIANS SHOULD SPREAD 2000 WEALTH
February 24, 1999 By Ron Kampeas, Associated Press Jerusalem (AP)

Any commercial benefits from an anticipated mass pilgrimage to
the Holy Land for the millennium should be equally divided
between Israel and the Palestinians, the Vatican envoy to the
region said Wednesday. Monsignor Pietro Sambi, addressing a
meeting of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel,
said the Roman Catholic Church has been coordinating with other
churches on the anticipated influx of visitors. "The churches
hope that commercial benefits will be evenly distributed among
all sectors of the community, both in Israel and in the
Palestinian Territories,'' Sambi said. '' ... Such benefits
should also reach the poor.''

IRAQ TO SEND ISLAMIC-CHRISTIAN DELEGATION TO VATICAN
Copyright 1999 by Agence France-Presse Baghdad, Feb 22 (AFP)

President Saddam Hussein is to send an Islamic-Christian
delegation to the Vatican to thank the pope for his support of
Iraq, a Christian leader here said Monday. Chaldean patriarch
Raphael I Bidawid said the visit could take place in early March. He
will lead the delegation which will also comprise two Moslem clerics
and a foreign ministry official.

"This visit reflects the appreciation of the Iraqi state for Pope John
Paul II. His holiness always calls for an end to injustice towards
the people of the world, and especially the Iraqi people," he said.
The pope has consistently spoken out against embargoes, arguing that
such measures only harm the population of the country targeted,
especially the poor. The pope also branded the US-British missile
strikes on Iraq in December, operation Desert Fox, as an "aggression."

Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano in December said the
pope still wants to visit Iraq to mark the new millennium. The
pope wants to visit Ur, which, according to the Bible, was
Abraham's homeland. Last June, the Vatican sent papal envoy
Cardinal Roger Etchegaray at the head of a delegation to take
part in a Christian congress in Baghdad.

Y2K PROBLEM

WHITE HOUSE FEARS Y2K PANIC
by Declan McCullagh Wired News 18.Feb.99.PST

White House officials fear federal agencies that advise employees
to begin personal Y2K preparations could unduly alarm the public.

The problem of what to tell workers has quickly become a thorny
one for government officials who are trying to balance candor
with discretion. The Central Intelligence Agency last May told
employees to prepare for Y2K by paying bills early and
stockpiling cash, and some private firms have offered similar
advice.

At a closed-door meeting of the White House's Y2K council in
January, council members debated what agencies should tell their
workers. John Koskinen, the council's chairman, warned the
audience of about 30 officials that they should expect any advice
offered internally will fall into the hands of the media. A
representative from the State Department cautioned against
"double standards," saying the agency as a rule doesn't withhold
information given to employees from the public. One member of
the council, who spoke with Wired News on condition of anonymity,
said it's too early to determine how significant -- or
insignificant -- Y2K problems will be.

Fear of public overreaction to the Year 2000 problem is
commanding an increasing amount of attention from government and
corporate officials, some of whom now say any computer glitches
will amount to only minor disruptions. Koskinen has entered into
discussions with a public relations firm to devise a media
strategy designed to thwart overreactions to Y2K, including the
possibility of bank runs and stockpiling-sparked shortages.

Making life more difficult for executives and bureaucrats is
their desire to be frank with employees -- though not necessarily
the public -- a problem compounded by uncertainty about Y2K's
impact and what preparations, if any, are necessary. The Federal
Emergency Management Agency says Americans should prepare for
minor disruptions and store three days worth of water, food, and
gas. "Based on what we know today, we should prepare for Y2K as
we would prudently prepare for a potential winter storm. What
these preparations entail will be one of the subjects of our
breakout sessions today and tomorrow," FEMA Deputy Director Mike
Walker said at an Atlanta workshop Wednesday.

BANKS TRY TO EXTERMINATE FEARS THAT Y2K BUG THREATENS DEPOSITS
The Chicago Tribune February 21, 1999

Still, questions persist about how prepared banks are to face the
Millennium Bug. Preliminary results from a survey by Weiss
Ratings Inc. in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., show that 32 percent
of about 900 banks missed a December regulatory deadline for
having "internal mission critical systems" ready, a good
indication that the industry is not as prepared as its proponents
claim, said Chairman Martin Weiss.

However, it is worth noting that the same research firm also said
42 percent of information technology professionals plan to
withdraw enough cash before New Year's Eve 1999 to get them
through two to six weeks without access to their funds.

FEDERAL RESERVE WILL HAVE EXTRA CASH ON HAND FOR YEAR 2000
February 23, 1999 Washington (AP)

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has a word of advice for
Americans wondering whether they should withdraw a wad of cash on
the eve of New Year's Day 2000: Don't. "The most sensible thing
is to leave it where it is,'' he told the Senate Banking
Committee on Tuesday. But just in case, the Fed plans to
stockpile an extra $200 billion in cash, about one third more
than usual. "We know we have enough currency to meet any
conceivable demand,'' he said.

Greenspan said Americans' money will be safe in financial
institutions. "There's almost no conceivable way ... that
computers will break down and records of people's savings
accounts would disappear,'' he said. "There's, fortunately, so
many checks and balances that if it's knocked out one place, it's
available in 20 others.''

Greenspan said the "overwhelming majority'' of U.S. banks have
made "impressive progress'' in ensuring their computer systems
are rid of codes that would read the year '00 as 1900 rather than
2000. Regulators are following up with the small minority who
have fallen behind, he said.

Although the Fed will make cash available, he urged people to
think twice before "taking it out and waving it around.''
"Walking around with a lot of $100 bills is not the safest
thing,'' he said. "There's going to be an awful lot of people
who are going to be pretty interested in that.''

SENATE REPORT: Y2K DISRUPTIONS ALMOST CERTAIN
Knight Ridder News Service February 23, 1999 Washington

After almost a year of systematic investigation, a special Senate
committee warns in a report to be released within days that all
segments of the U.S. economy -- from hospitals to electric power
plants -- remain ``at risk'' from the year 2000 computer problem
that looms less than one year away.

The sober study -- a draft was obtained by Knight Ridder
Newspapers -- concludes that while both government and business
have worked hard to correct the Y2K problem, their efforts began
late, remain insufficient and consequently some incalculable
level of economic disruption is inevitable. ``Make no mistake,''
the Senate panel's co-chairmen warn in a letter to their
colleagues at the report's front, ``this problem will affect us
all individually and collectively in very profound ways. ... It
will indeed impact individual businesses and the global economy.
In some cases, lives could even be at stake.''

The authors of the carefully low-key report take care to avoid
either undue alarm or unfounded optimism. For example, they
conclude that while local electricity blackouts are likely, a
national power breakdown is not. The study notes that most small
to midsize businesses have yet to make Y2K repairs. And many of
America's trade partners are far behind in taking corrective
steps, posing risks of worldwide ripple effects. Banks and other
financial-service firms are well-prepared, the Senate panel
finds. Social Security checks should not face interruption. And
air-traffic control should be able to avoid major disruptions to
air travel, although some ``flight rationing'' may be necessary.

RUSSIA, OTHERS FACE MAJOR Y2K PROBLEMS, CIA SAYS
February 24, 1999 Washington (AP)

Russian missiles, Chinese power systems and Mideast shipping
could all face breakdowns because many foreign countries are
failing to face up to the seriousness of the Year 2000 computer
problem, the CIA told Congress on Wednesday. Air Force Gen.
John Gordon, CIA deputy director, told a Senate Armed Services
Committee hearing that Russia appears particularly vulnerable,
raising concerns about the safety of its missiles, nuclear plants
and gas pipelines.

"We do not see a problem in terms of Russian or Chinese missiles
automatically being launched'' because of Y2K-related problems.
But computer glitches could cause local accidents if temperature
or humidity monitors malfunction, or Russian missile early
warning systems might put out incorrect information about foreign
missile launches, Gordon said. He said the Pentagon has been
consulting with the Russians on how to avoid that danger.

BANKS STOCKPILE BILLIONS TO MEET MILLENNIUM PANIC
by Tom Robbins Sunday London Times 2/14/99

HIGH-STREET banks are ordering 8 billion of extra cash in time
for December amid fears that the millennium bug will prompt
widespread hoarding of money. The figure is equivalent to a
third of the total cash currently in circulation. The banks know
there will be a huge surge in demand over millennium week as
customers withdraw unprecedented amounts to pay for parties and
presents.

The big question, however, is whether customers withdraw large
amounts of money - perhaps even their entire savings - for fear
the millennium bug will disable bank computers or wipe out
accounts.

In America, the Red Cross is advising people to stockpile money
alongside basic supplies of non-perishable food, bottled water
and medications in case computer failures cripple the country.
American banks are amassing an extra $50 billion (=9C30.5 billion)
to deal with the situation.

In Britain, banks are confident their computer systems will not
crash but could still face huge problems caused by nervous
account-holders stockpiling cash. Dr Jane Horton, lecturer in
accounting and finance at the London School of Economics, said:
"If one person starts taking out money, then more and more will
follow. The banks may have problems matching that outflow of
cash with their own investments. "It depends on the solvency of
the bank - if 80% of the clients start taking their money out of
one of the weaker banks, then it could go bankrupt."

CAMERAS WATCH LOS ANGELES STREETS, SECRET UNDERGROUND BUNKER
HOUSES COMMAND CENTER Drudge Report 3/5/99 **Exclusive**

Under L.A., ready for Y2K! Five stories below the Federal
Building in downtown Los Angeles there is a secret computer
command center -- a command center that has enough power, food
and water to sustain 50 people for two years! The DRUDGE REPORT
has learned, the bunker, named ATSAC [Automated Traffic Signal
And Control], would become a high-tech command center used to
monitor any civil unrest during a Y2K breakdown! The compound is
reached by a secret elevator located on the parking level of the
Federal Building.

In order to gain access to the ATSAC area you must pass through 4
bank-style vault doors. The city's high-tech bunker has been designed
to survive a San Andreas rip and a nuclear explosion. The main area of
the complex is a large space with one 180 degree semi-circular wall
stretching along one half of the room. Feeling and looking like a STAR
TREK set, the lower work area has dozens of computer consoles, which
will be powered by diesel fuel generators if power is cut. The upper
wall is filled with two rows of 40 large flat panel display screens --
screens that monitor views from remote controlled cameras placed
throughout the Los Angeles area.

"These cameras are our eyes," one government source tells the
DRUDGE REPORT. One camera pans across the infamous Florence and
Normandy intersection. One camera is mounted on the South East
corner of the MTA building; another is on the North West. One
camera is at the corner of Caesar Chavez and Vignes looking out
on the intersection by the new city jail. One camera placed on
the roof of a 28-story building has demonstrated dramatic zoom
capabilities. With the camera, you could spot a pimple on
someone's face on street level. The DRUDGE REPORT has not been
able to learn how many cameras have been placed throughout the
city, but most appear to be mounted on public buildings.

The city council and the mayor would ride out a social breakdown
episode inside of ATSAC, according to one emergency plan.
Suggestions that officials should be moved to the bunker before
New Years Day Y2K, so far, have been met with complete
resistance. "Nobody in their right mind wants to watch the dawn
of a new century from five floors below Los Angeles," laughed one
well-placed City Hall source.

The bunker, built with local and federal tax revenue, is strictly off
limits to the general public.

MARK OF THE BEAST

SMILE, YOU'RE ON 300 CANDID CAMERAS . . .
by Dipesh Gadher London Times 2/14/99

Privacy outside the home is almost extinct. The number of
closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in Britain's public
places has now passed 1m, according to industry figures.

So dense is the network that in many urban areas people may be
monitored from the moment they step out of their front door and
be kept under observation on their way to work, in the office and
even in a restaurant if they choose to dine out. Over the course
of a day they could be filmed by 300 cameras.

The increased use of such technology has been praised for
reducing crime but some fear that the growing ease of
surveillance will tempt the police and other agencies to invade
privacy and infringe civil liberties.

Its spread may, however, be unstoppable, especially because the
price of the technology is falling sharply, enabling even private
householders to install cameras. CCTV is often used in families
by jealous spouses and by parents wanting to check the behavior
of their offspring or nannies.

Barbara Morgan, director of the CCTV User Group, said: "There are
more cameras here in proportion to the population than anywhere
else, including the United States. The UK is the largest user of
CCTV in the world."

NEW COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY: FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY?
Weekend News Today By Kelly Pagatpatan Source: Lompoc Record Sun
Feb 14, 1999

Al DiMora, who made a name for himself as the head of a
now-defunct Carpinteria company that made custom cars for the
rich, has founded a business in Utah that is promising to
revolutionize computers and electronics in ways that will be felt
at all levels of society.

Star Bridge Systems says its HAL-4rW1 hypercomputer is three
times faster than the most powerful supercomputers now in use,
and will be available for $26 million--about one-quarter of the
cost of bigger, slower competitors. But the hypercomputer--which
its creator says may be capable of attaining self-consciousness
-- is just the beginning. HAL was built to demonstrate the
enormous potential of a new way of using computer chips that, if
the company's claims are true, will be embraced by companies
making everything from toaster ovens to automobiles to
satellites.

The company's claims do sound plausible when explained by HAL's
inventor and company co-founder, Kent Gilson, a 33-year-old high
school dropout. Gilson, who has spent the last 15 years working
in a discipline known as reconfigurable computing, says he's
found a way to get the most out of the concept.

Al Dimora's brother, Frank, a long-time Lompoc resident, prophecy
expert and author, sees HAL's capabilities and its potential use
as a tool for increasing mankind's knowledge as another sign that
the return of Christ to Earth will happen sooner than some were
expecting. HAL is "fulfilling part of Daniel's prophecy that
knowledge will increase before the Lord returns. They were'nt
expecting this kind of computer to hit the scene for 10, 20, 50
years."

MILLENNIUM PILGRIMS TO VATICAN WILL GET MICROCHIP IDS, WEB SITES
Copyright 1999 Nando Media 1999 Associated Press By Ellen
Knickmeyer
Vatican City February 26, 1999

Hurtling into the third millennium, the Vatican promised Friday
to provide the anticipated 30 million visitors for Christianity's
2000 Jubilee with pilgrim microchip IDs, a pilgrim database and a
pilgrim Web site. The high-tech measures will help keep next
year's influx to Rome from becoming an unholy mess - allowing the
faithful from all over the world to set aside worries about
language differences, reservations and bus routes and concentrate
on the spiritual.

"The pilgrim can live in the spiritual moment in a serene and
sure manner, without running the risk of finding himself tossed
around by the thousand situations," said Archbishop Crescenzio
Sepe, who is overseeing the debut of the microchip-equipped
Pilgrim Card. Organizers plan to issue at least 12 million of
the cards, expected to cost users between $5 and $28, depending
on what services they opt for.

Using the card will assure pilgrims a spot in papal audiences,
church services or other events in the yearlong calendar of
celebrations for the start of Christianity's third millennium.
The faithful won't have to have a card to get into any of the
church events, organizers stressed - it will just make doing so
more convenient.

The microchip will also carry any key health data of the bearer,
easing worries about attacks of anything from allergies to
pacemaker trouble in a foreign land. Other bonuses of the
higher-cost cards are free use of subway, buses and other
transport, cut rates for phone calls, and discounts throughout
the Jubilee Year. The travel-minded among the faithful can use
the card in conjunction with the new Jubilee Web page - at
http://www.Jubil2000.org - to choose and reserve spots in the
millennium events.

For stay-at-homes, though, it'll be just like they were here -
thanks to the new Jubilee Web page, showed off by programmers
Friday in a building near St. Peter's Square. "Then we can
`click' on our father ... " said Sister Evelyn, clicking her
computer mouse on the Web page to draw forth the rumbling voice
of Pope John Paul II, reciting a prayer in Latin. "And we can
pray together with our father!" Not counting Latin, the Web site
offers Jubilee information in seven languages - Italian, French,
English, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Polish - and is expected
to add Russian, Chinese and Arabic.

DRUMBEATS OF WAR

NORTH KOREA A 'HUGE THREAT,' SAYS ALBRIGHT
February 25, 1999 By George Gedda, Associated Press Washington
(AP)

Calling North Korea a "huge threat'' to the United States,
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Thursday there can be
no improvement in relations until American concerns about a
suspected nuclear construction site are eased. She also
expressed deep concern about North Korea's missile development
program.

Albright commented in testimony before the House International
Relations Committee as President Clinton prepared for a meeting
Friday on North Korea with former Defense Secretary William
Perry, who is reviewing U.S. policy on the issue. Key committee
Republicans also expressed uneasiness about the North Korean military
buildup, including a program to develop missiles capable of reaching
U.S. territory.

REVEALED: RUSSIA'S SECRET DEAL TO REARM SADDAM
By Con Coughlin, London Sunday Telegraph 14 February 1999

Russia has signed arms deals worth more than 100 million with
Saddam Hussein to reinforce Iraq's air defences. The move will
pose a serious threat to British and American planes enforcing
Iraq's nofly zone. In a blatant breach of the UN arms embargo,
the Russians have agreed to upgrade and overhaul Iraq's ageing
squadrons of MiG jet fighters and restore Iraq's air defences to
combat readiness, diplomatic sources in Moscow have told The
Telegraph.

The arms deals constitute a serious challenge to British and
American attempts to force Baghdad to honour its commitment to
dismantle Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. It will also
strain Moscow's relations with Britain and the US at a time when
President Boris Yeltsin is desperately seeking international
assistance for Russia's beleaguered economy.

CHINA STRENGTHENS POSITION NEAR TAIWAN
By Bill Gertz the Washington Times 2/26/99

China's buildup of new missiles and other high-technology weapons in
areas near Taiwan is shifting the balance of power in favor of
Beijing, according to a Pentagon report released Thursday by Congress.
Chinese military strategy is now focusing on "preparing for military
contingencies along its southeastern flank, especially in the Taiwan
Strait and the South China Sea," the 27-page report said.

"This report is a wake-up call to Congress that the military
balance is shifting away from Taiwan and in favor of China," said
Michael Pillsbury, a former Reagan and Bush administration defense
official who specializes in China. The report said China's military
buildup is aimed at preparing to fight regional conflicts with
high-technology precision weapons, primarily missiles, against better
equipped adversaries. "By 2005, [China's People's Liberation Army]
will possess the capability to attack Taiwan with air and missile
strikes which would degrade key military facilities and damage the
island's economic infrastructure," the report said.

China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province, also is
outpacing Taiwan in developing anti-submarine weapons. "China
will retain the capability to interdict Taiwan's [sea lanes of
communication] and blockade the island's principle maritime
ports," the report said. "Should China invade Taiwan, such an
operation would require a major commitment of civilian air and
maritime transport assets, would be prolonged in duration, and
would not be automatically guaranteed to succeed," it said.

CHINA SAYS U.S. MISSILE DEFENSE PLAN 'LAST STRAW'
Reuters March 5, 1999 Beijing

A senior Chinese official warned the United States Friday that
offering to shelter Taiwan under a missile defense umbrella would be
the "last straw'' and lead to serious consequences. The official,
speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said such a move
would mean a direct U.S. military presence in Taiwan and encourage
independence for the Nationalist-ruled island. He said the Theater
Missile Defense plan amounted to missile proliferation since the
technologies were related.

The United States is discussing the plan with several Asian
countries, including Japan and South Korea, and there have been
calls by the U.S. Congress for the system to embrace Taiwan as
well. Washington has cited North Korea's ballistic missile
threat to support its missile defense plan, which will take many
years to get off the ground.

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