Terrorist Outrage in India: Crazed Muslim Jihadists Create Chaos in India

 

Here’s a good succinct update from the Debka File that sums up the mess in India. 

Jerusal_   Mumbai Terror Attack Updates Day 2 November 27, 2008, 2:04 PM (GMT+02:00) - Indian forces poised to storm two hotels and Chabad center where terrorists are holding hostages, including Israelis. - Israel-India flights continue on schedule. One carried a group of Israeli doctors for Mumbai. - The Islamist terrorists attacking Mumbai for the second day came from outside the country. - Indian security sources report many Israeli hostages in the Oberoi Hotel, which the terrorists still control amid sustained gunfire in the lobby. - Heavy battles resume in the Taj Palace Hotel. - Indian naval troops board the MV Alpha freighter suspected of having sailed the terrorists to Mumbai’s shore from Karachi, Pakistan. - Anti-tanks missiles handed out to Indian commando force battling terrorists at Taj Palace hotel. - Indian general: Four or five terrorists inside Chabad Center. - Islamist shooting attacks and blasts spread to southern Mumbai away from the hotel district — - Terrorists hurl grenades at Indian forces surrounding Chabad Center and the Oberoi hotel. - Fighting flares up anew in the Taj Palace Hotel said to have been cleared Thursday. Some hostages escaped and many bodies were found in guests’ rooms. - Terrorists are still holed up at the Oberoi Hotel and Chabad Center with hostages, including Israelis, under police-commando siege. - A loud explosion at the Oberoi Hotel as some of the hundreds of hostages escape. - A woman and child held at Chabad center came out of the building. - The Mumbai stock exchange stays shut. - Police sappers defuse bombs containing RDX strewn across the town. - International airlines cancel flights to the beleaguered Indian town. -The terrorists wear elite military unit uniforms. Each has an automatic rifle, grenades and military-style kit

al Qaeda’s Target May Be Penn Station: Congressman King Calls Threat Serious, Significant and Plausible

Consider the following report from CBS News that seems to put a bit more meat on the bones of the potential USA terrorist attack on rail traffic on the east coast.  Here is the first mention I’ve seen that suggests Penn Statation as the possible target and the idea that a successful attack could cripple a transite hub.  In addition it would seem that police and federal agents are on patrol sporting M16 assault rifles in key areas with no end in sight. The link to al Qaeda is described as “definite” and the authoritys are making a show of force in Penn Station and throughout the rail system.  The CBS story is below and here is the URL: http://wcbstv.com/national/nyc.subway.terror.2.874830.html

 

Al Qaeda’s Goal: Cripple Amtrak’s N’east Corridor

Heightened Security In Place At Penn Station; Attack Could Paralyze Transit Between Boston, Washington

Cops, Feds Armed With M16s On Patrol For Forseeable Future

 CBS News Interactive: America On Guard

Marcia Kramer

NEW YORK (CBS) ― The world’s economic fears were violently pushed aside on Wednesday by another global threat — terrorism.

A massive coordinated attack was launched in Mumbai, India just hours after the FBI warned that Al Qaeda may be targeting New York’s subways and railroads.

If Al Qaeda terrorists have their way there will be chaos and mayhem here this holiday season, a mass transit bomb plot that would probably affect all the subway and train lines at Penn and Grand Central stations.

“The threat is serious, the threat is significant, and it is plausible,” said Congressman Peter King, R-Long Island, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Uniformed officers, including this NYPD Counter Terrorism Squad members and Amtrak cops with M-16s, flooded Penn Station Wednesday after the FBI said it had received a “plausible but unsubstantiated” report that Al Qaeda operatives discussed a plan two months ago to bomb New York City’s mass transit system.

The report said: “These discussions reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers or explosives placed on subway/passenger rail systems.”

Sources told CBS 2 HD the plot involved the Long Island Rail Road. If the explosion went off in Penn Station, the source said, it would affect transportation of Amtrak’s northeast corridor between Boston and Washington, LIRR service and New York City subway service.

“This is definitely linked to Al Qaeda and they had very significant details about exactly how they would carry out the attack, where they would carry it out — that’s what makes it sound so plausible,” Rep. King said.

The NYPD and Metropolitan Transportation Authority said they were on high alert and adding extra manpower. Even before the threat became public Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said he was adding more cops.

“We always have to be concerned when we have large gatherings like on Thanksgiving,” Kelly said. “We always have to have sufficient deployment of police officers.”

New Yorkers had this reaction to the new threats.

“I’ve got to get on a train, but that’s horrible,” commuter Carolyn Tobin said. “I mean … the memory … but just like after 9/11, we just kept going on.”

Added Ryan Barreiro: “I’m not too worried about it. That’s exactly what they want. If they’re gonna get you, they’re gonna get you.”

“I’m not afraid,” Rick Hendrickson said. “I’ve lived here my whole life, in Manhattan, so has my wife and we just take life as it comes along.”

Riders can expect a heightened law enforcement presence — cops, federal agents, canine teams and inspectors.

Muslim Terror Attacks in India: American Targets There May Be a Prelude to Attacks Here During the Holidays

 

As you may recall, the process of transferring power and the vetting of cabinet appointments and potential White House Staffers began before the presidential election occurred and has been in high gear ever since.  The reason given was the idea that there would be a potential terror attack during the interregnum between the Bush and Obama administrations.  Recall also that Joe Biden made the famous statement that Obama would be sorely tested within the first six months and that people may not like what he’s called on to do in response to such a crisis. 

Now we have the holidays beginning in earnest with Thanksgiving tomorrow, and the major shopping day of the year, black Friday, the next day and we have threats made against the subways. 

Later in the day we have attacks in India against “western targets” in that the area attacked tends to have lots of foreigners around, especially westerners and Americans.  Here are some additional tidbits from Fox News about other attacks in India in recent days:

Raw Data: Recent Attacks on Americans or American Interests in India

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Bombing — Aug. 16, 2006:

Five people were killed and 50 injured, including five Americans, in an explosion at an International Society for Krishna Consciousness temple in Imphal. The bombing was timed to the celebration of Janmasthami, which honors the appearance or birthday of Krishna, so a large crowd of devotees were gathered at the temple.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. In the days after the attack, major militant groups in the region released statements denying their invovlement. Among these groups were the Kanglei Yawol Kanba Lup, the Kangleipak Communist Party, the People’s United Liberation Front and the Peoples Liberation

Bombing — May 13, 2002:

Three bombs were thrown at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Bihar. Two exploded, and the third was defused. No injuries were reported. Pamphlets left at the site condemned foreign goods. Police say that the bombing may be related to an extortion scheme.

The attack was reportedly blamed on “miscreants,” but People’s War Group and the Maoist Communist Center are active in Bihar.

Armed attack — Jan. 22, 2002:

Five security officers were killed and 20 injured when four gunmen on two motorcycles opened fire on the American Center in Calcutta.

The American Center houses the U.S. Information Service, the Embassy’s Public Affairs and Press Offices and a Cultural Center. Two groups, Harakat-ul-Jehad Islami and Asif Raza Commandos, have each claimed responsibility.

On April 26, 2005, a court in Kolkata found seven people, including Aftab Ansari, the main accused, guilty of murder, conspiracy and waging war against the country.

Source: Lawson Terrorism Information Center

Remember also that the major hub of Islamic Terror activities are on the Pakistan Boarder, the lawless areas by Afghanistan where every known terror operation in recent days has had some ties in recruiting from the region, funding tied to the region or training conducted in the region.  Even President Elect Obama has expressed his ire about the terror bases in Pakistan and the US has been far more aggressive in attacking recently.  Missile strikes, air strikes, even a few shooting events between Pakistan and the US forces in Afghanistan have made the news recently.

It’s possible that this major attack in India is just an appetizer to demonstrate to us that we can’t control terrorists in other countries and we can’t control them here, if they attack our homeland and this India thing is an appetizer or a diversion.  Major attacks against the USA and its interests have been a long time coming and given the world financial crisis a major attack in New York would be a homerun for the terrorists.  This holiday season would be perfect given the transition, the financial crisis, state and city budgets being cut, it’s a very tempting target if the terrorists can actually stage something.

They did in India.

Is it our turn next?

Terrorism in America Update 5: Round 2 over the 2008 Holidays???

 

 

The Following report is from an article I did on November 18, 2008.  There’s been some additional chatter on the news wires and networks indicating that the Feds know something’s coming our way and they want to get ahead of things.  I hope this is not the attack but if it is I hope that the cops are closing in on the jihadists as we speak. 

Anyone on the East Coast taking a train would be well advised to be observant and report anything out of place to the cops.  Its been a long time since they hit us and with the presidential transition and the major holidays this is prime time for terrorists. 

Here is the Nov 18 article:

 

Al Qaeda Terrorists May Implement a Major USA Attack: Obama Vs. Osama Round 1

November 18, 2008 · No Comments

 

It would seem that the ever despicable Osama Bin Laden is planning a congratulatory outrage for the incoming American President.  Learning from his tape recorded threats delivered in the closing days of the 2004 election; Bin Laden has adopted silence in the 2008 race and some suspect that a new recording could surface any time between now and Inauguration Day.  Its well known that Osama threats help Republicans but the next one we receive will be calculated to intimidate Obama, with an attack to underline the point.  I’ve seen reports of this sort of thing in several trusted news outlets but here are some snippets from what the Debka File had to say recently:

 

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that US president-elect Barack Obama, European and Russian heads of state in Washington for the G20 conference over the weekend were briefed about a probable early al Qaeda attack.

Obama and his team have been advised that a new al Qaeda strike is highly probable in the United States or against a key US target in Europe, North Africa or the Middle East.

Most of the reports I’ve seen indicate that the attack is to be on a mainland American target and may be some kind of nuclear devise.  We know that the Terrorists seem to like taking on New York and I would suspect that some symbolic targets in Wall Street would make the most sense.  Naturally the attacks could occur anywhere but the threat is quite real.  Most of our intelligence people know an attack on the USA is brewing out there somewhere but reports deny that we have a definite location, time or method of attack. Again from the Debka File:

…al Qaeda’s Yemen base, a reliable barometer for Osama bin Laden’s schemes, issued a Directive to All Fighters in Arabia on Nov. 9 presaging a major operation in the United States that will “change the political and economic world” and be “far bigger than 9/11.”

The day after the new president’s election, al Qaeda issued a little-noticed statement declaring Barack Obama a murtad, i.e. an apostate whose betrayal of Islam is judged the most heinous. Believers have the duty to execute a murtad unlike other non-believers whose death sentence is optional.

 

Given the fact that Al Qaeda’s been unable or unwilling to so much as set off a firecracker in Times Square since the Twin Towers we have every reason to be hopeful that if they are planning a large complex operation in the USA they’ll tip their hand at some point.  On the other hand they’ve been getting their tail kicked from pillar to post in Iraq and they have nothing to lose by attacking the USA since even Obama won’t be likely to stop hunting them anytime soon. 

If I were the Pakistani’s I would be concerned because the incoming president seems to have a real bug in his ear about the lawless regions of Pakistan where terror continues to flourish unabated.  If they were able to pull off some outrage in the USA I would expect a very forceful Obama response aimed at this region regardless of the Pakistan Governments feeling about such an attack.  The CIA Director has recently suggested that every major terror plot has ties to the region in training, harboring, financing etc. the terrorists involved.  It all comes back to that region and Obama’s been talking about doing something in that region since early in his primary campaign. 

Senator Joe Biden’s notorious observation that new presidents tend to get tested early and that this president was likely to be tested within his first six months seems to be verified by the recent reports from high ranking administration, intelligence and even Obama Campaign staff.  We’ve been hearing that it’s just a matter of time since the Twin Towers were destroyed and it’s been as quiet as a graveyard in the American homeland.  This time I suspect that we’re going to see some kind of attack, successful or not, that will serve to take the measure of Barak Obama and the will of the American people in the post Bush era.

Categories: Europe & New Roman Empire · Muslims in last days · Terrorism · fall of america
Tagged: al-Qaida, fall of america, Obama, Terrorism, War on Terror

New York Thanksgiving Terror Attack: Update 4

The Following is from the Debka File and contains a bit more of the history, potentially, of this event if the terrorists are able to pull it off.  Here is the URL for this story: http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5738

 

FBI: Al Qaeda may target New York City subway over Thanksgiving

DEBKAfile Special Report

November 26, 2008, 6:26 PM (GMT+02:00)

 

New York subway

An internal FBI memo to law enforcement personnel obtained by the Associated Press speaks of a “plausible but unsubstantiated” report that in late September, al Qaeda may have discussed attacking the subway systems in an around New York City during the coming holiday season. “Suicide bombers or explosives,” are mentioned in the document dated Tuesday, Nov. 25, which says: “We have no specific details to confirm that this plot has developed beyond aspirational planning.”

On Nov. 16, DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources reported that president-elect Barack Obama and his transition team had received an intelligence briefing warning them that al Qaeda may be plotting a major attack against a US target in America, Europe, North Africa or the Middle East in the early days of his presidency. On Nov. 14, DEBKA-Net-Weekly 372 disclosed a Directive to All Fighters in Arabia issued by al Qaeda’s Yemen headquarters on Nov. 9 presaging a major operation in the United States that will “change the political and economic world” and be “far bigger than 9/11.”

The notice said “the operation is very near” and “precise instructions” were in the hands of “the fighters, who are already on their way to America.”

The warning comes as hundreds of thousands of tourists arrive in New York for the long holiday weekend, marked by the huge Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Thursday, Nov. 27.

New York Terror Alert: Update 3

November 26th, 2008

Feds wary of NYC transit plot

Posted: 10:44 AM ET

From Kelli Arena and Mike Ahlers
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Federal authorities have received a “plausible but unsubstantiated” report that al Qaeda may have discussed targeting transit systems in or around New York City, the Department of Homeland Security said.

“These discussions reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers or explosives” on subway or passenger rail trains, according to a joint DHS and FBI statement issued Tuesday.

“We have no specific details to confirm that this plot has developed beyond aspirational planning, but we are issuing this warning out of concern that such an attack could possibly be conducted during the forthcoming holiday season.”

Update on NY Terror Alert

 

 

Feds Warn Of Terror Plot Against NYC Subways

 CBS News Interactive: America On Guard

NEW YORK (AP) ― Federal authorities are warning law enforcement personnel of a possible terror plot against the New York City subway system during the holiday season.

An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press says the FBI has received a “plausible but unsubstantiated” report that al-Qaida terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the warning was issued as a routine matter, but added that there may be an increased police presence in New York and other large metropolitan areas.

The report indicates that al-Qaida terrorists “in late September may have discussed targeting transit systems in and around New York City. These discussions reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers or explosives placed on subway/passenger rail systems,” according to the document.

“We have no specific details to confirm that this plot has developed beyond aspirational planning, but we are issuing this warning out of concern that such an attack could possibly be conducted during the forthcoming holiday season,” states the warning, which is dated Tuesday.

While federal agencies regularly issue all sorts of advisory warnings, the language of this one is particularly blunt.

Intelligence and homeland security officials are working with local authorities to try to corroborate the information “and will continue to investigate every possible lead,” the memo says.

Knocke, the DHS spokesman, said the warning was issued “out of an abundance of caution going into this holiday season.”

No changes are being made to the nation’s threat level, or for transit systems at this time, he said.

“However, transit passengers in larger metropolitan areas like New York may see an increased security presence in the coming days. This includes uniformed and plain clothed behavior detection officers, federal air marshals, canine teams, and security inspectors,” Knocke said.

 

http://wcbstv.com/breakingnewsalerts/subway.terror.plot.2.874410.html

“Plausible “Terror Attack: East Coast Subways May be Imminent Terror Target

 

 

Fox News is reporting that the government has uncovered a “plausible” terror attack plan against East Coast Subway Systems.  It’s not just New York it’s said to be broader than that.  The wording of the warning issued is said to be unusually strong. Nothing on the website yet but it was reported on Fox News.

Keep your eyes open today folks.

KGB Putin gets Economic Root Canal: Economic Prosperity is the Cornerstone of Power

 

 

             Vladimir Putin who until recently was riding high on the tidal wave of rising petroleum prices has fallen into the abyss of being an international pariah which has exacerbated the economic problems confronting Russian Federation.  Putin has had an amazing approval rating from Russians because he’s made the trains run on time and he’s used his petrodollars to remake the Russian Economy from the ground up.  The Russians suffered under the hapless Yeltsin who never managed to get a handle on economic policy and until recently the economy was booming and the stores had goods to sell.  Not so today.

 

            The ill-advised invasion of Georgia while a military success managed to arouse the suspicion of NATO, Frighten the oil markets at a time of runaway prices, unify some opposition from former client states and recreate the cold war while making Russia look like an unstable business partner.  Many people credit the machinations of Russia, for attempting to control the entire world’s oil, as key in the petroleum crisis that touched off the subprime crisis in America.  That in turn impacted the whole world but it hit the Russians particularly hard.  The Russian Stock Market has been taken off the line for days at a time because of volatility and the banking system and the currency itself has been revealed as shockingly weak.

 

            The Russian Federation was growing the biggest crop of millionaires and billionaires on the planet and during this time Putin could do no wrong.  Life was good and when it came time to make a play for Georgia the Russian People stood with Putin, who had changed their lives for the better in so many ways.  Now the economy is in the toilet and the newly rich are watching their dreams drain away while thinking dark thoughts about Vladimir Putin.  He scared off a lot of investment dollars that are sorely needed now and he has presided over a catastrophic drop in oil revenue that fueled Russian prosperity.  Needless to say these newly rich/ newly impoverished people are not going to stay with him forever unless he fixes the economy again.  I dare say they’ll be concerned about any further military adventures that have the potential to cut into their bottom line.  An Old World totalitarian like Putin may be sadly out of place in the global economy of the twenty-first century

 

            Europe looks at Russia and wants to engage diplomatically while digesting the Russian adventurism in Georgia and once again it may come to the conclusion that Russia is still not ready for membership in the community of civilized nations.  Putin tipped his hand and even the French and the Germans must realize that he intends to reconstitute the old soviet empire with all the client states of old.  There will be economic and social consequences to be paid in the years to come as a newly wary Europe tries to come to terms with Putin’s Russia.  I suspect that the Russians and the global economic crisis will be the triggers to elevate Europe, once again, into world leadership and that this elevation will annoy the Russians.  For now the world has the USA to bemoan and cry about but on every continent the realization is spreading that America is in steep decline and that her days of world domination are coming to an end.  A Europe without American to resent, and to defend them and subsidized their lobotomizing socialism, is a Europe that will be forced to make changes for the better even as the USA undergoes its own adventure into socialism.  Europe will rise quickly, its beginning now, because if it doesn’t than the Russians will be content to squeeze the economic life out of them, and they know it.

 

           Europe, like Russia will rise again, because nature abhors a vacuum.  In the post American world the fate of many will be determined by the ancient rivalry of Europe and the Russians.  What’s old is new again.  Consider some clips from an article on Reuters:

 

UPDATE 3-Crisis will not sink Russian economy – Putin

“They allow us to preserve macroeconomic stability and therefore they will help us prevent a surge in inflation and a sharp change in the rouble rate,” he said.

Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:39am EST

By Gleb Bryanski and Denis Dyomkin

MOSCOW, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Vladimir Putin assured Russians on Thursday he would guide them through the global financial crisis without the economic convulsions of the past, but acknowledged there would be pain.

Putin unveiled a $20 billion economic stimulus package and help for people hurt in the slowdown as he set out a long-term response to a crisis that has cut more than 70 percent from the value of Russian markets since May and hammered the rouble.

The crisis has dented confidence in the Russian economy and raised the prospect that popular discontent could, for the first time, seriously undermine the ruling double act of Putin and his protege, President Dmitry Medvedev.

“We will do everything, everything in our power … so that the collapses of the past years should never be repeated in our country. We will do everything in our power to defend the deposits of our citizens in banks,” he said.

BUDGET DEFICIT NEXT YEAR?

The fiscal stimulus package will include a cut in profit tax, which accounts for 8.5 percent of budget revenues, to 20 percent from 24 now, and a new depreciation mechanism that will allow firms to reduce the profit tax further.

The announcement came as official data for October industrial output growth was revised downwards, to 0.6 percent year-on-year from the 1.6 percent released earlier, in new evidence of an economic slowdown.

Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Russia could next year have its first budget deficit in a decade but the deficit would be covered by transferring cash from a rainy day fund, not from borrowing. He said the 2009 deficit may equal 1 percent of GDP.

Putin said he believed Russia’s large gold and foreign exchange reserves and the funds it had accumulated during years of high oil prices put it in good stead to weather the crisis.

Morals, Market Meltdown, and the Pope: Secular Markets Can’t Function without Faith

 

The Founding Fathers knew that the kind of democracy they proposed for the United States would last only as long as the people were Christian because all the rights they gave us could only be balanced by a just and moral society in which responsibilities were as sacred as rights.  In a society that teaches the fallacy of absolute truth and that truth at best is social created is it any wonder that no one has any faith in government or Wall Street anymore?  How do we know that they’re telling us the truth?  Given that our entire economy is based on the “faith” that a dollar bill has value, that a bank is strong, that the government is not corrupt, when truth becomes elusive, even illusionary than faith becomes impossible.  Once you lose faith that a dollar has value, or that a bank is strong, or that a government is honest, all sense of morality leaves the equation and we’re left with a society in which self interest and personal security become the pervading behavior.  Ethics in a rigged game is seen as fool hardy and there’s no need to be fair in what’s degenerated to a free-for-all competition for survival recourses. 

               For years the Progressives in education and politics have railed about the imposition of Christian values on the people and how fundamentally exploitive that’s been.  Now that the Progressives have managed to impose their values on our society we begin to see that a truly free society is not a “values free zone” as progressives imagine but one in which there are rules.  When you throw out the rules you don’t get more freedom you get anarchy and no society at all.  Progressives wanted to use our tax dollars to be seen to help the poor with housing and so they created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to do just that.  These two quasi government organizations created a market for loans made to people who by any standard containing logic and reason should never have gotten a mortgage.  Nevertheless, such people were given mortgages and all these years later we have the subprime meltdown that is probably going to take the whole country down the dumper with it.  You ignore the truth that someone can’t pay and you’re amazed when, low and behold, they can’t pay the mortgage!  You ignore the truth that people have the right to private property and free will and then impose a bizarre equality of outcome, irrespective of personal conduct or initiative, that gives everyone houses, education and healthcare paid for by other taxpayers, in the name of fairness and social justice!  Progressives have imposed their will and their ethic of absolutely no ethics on our society and now no one knows where to park their money and everyone is terrified.  Equality at last!  We can all be equally terrified as the economy tanks, banks go bust, congress argues, and jobs are lost.

               Bloomberg had a fascinating piece concerning Pope Benedict the 16^th that hit home to this fundamental business truth?  Or is it just a bit of ‘”absolute truth”? It took the leader of the Roman Catholic Church to diagnose what economists, financiers, and Wall Street CEO’s lost track of in our brave new world of moral relativism:  You can’t have an economy where there is no faith.  You can’t have faith unless you know the truth.  You can’t know the truth if you pound your feet in the sand and insist that there’s no such thing as truth!  When the truth of things become so obscure that you can’t figure out a safe place to put your money your economy is dead.  Did Warren Buffet come up with this?  Nope.  Did Henry Paulson or Mr. Ben Bernanke come up with this basic key to the economy and indeed life?  Nope.  Did Barak the Beneficent proclaim this fundamental economic/life principle from the rooftops of Chicago and boldly proclaim it from the bully pulpit of the presidency elect?  Nope.  Who had the wisdom to see this basic truth and quietly state it in more than enough time; that if we had heeded his words we wouldn’t be such terrified twits today? 

               The Pope.  The Christian, Catholic, Wears Funny Robes, Carries a Great Stick, Pope in Rome.

               What’s up with that?

 

               Consider this small article in Bloomberg today:

 

 

Pope Had `Prophecy’ of Market Collapse in 1985, Tremonti Says

By Flavia Krause-Jackson and Lorenzo Totaro

Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) — Pope Benedict XVI was the first to predict the crisis in the global financial system, a “prophecy” dating to a paper he wrote when he was a cardinal, Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti said.

“The prediction that an undisciplined economy would collapse by its own rules can be found” in an article written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became pope in April 2005, Tremonti said yesterday at Milan’s Cattolica University.

German-born Ratzinger in 1985 presented a paper entitled “Market Economy and Ethics” at a Rome event dedicated to the Church and the economy. The future pope said a decline in ethics “can actually cause the laws of the market to collapse.”

Pope Benedict in an Oct. 7 speech reflected on crashing markets and concluded that “money vanishes, it is nothing” and warned that “the only solid reality is the word of God.”

The Vatican’s official newspaper, l’Osservatore Romano, on the same day criticized the free-market model for having “grown too much and badly in the past two decades.”