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Demeter
Demeter's Journal
Demeter's Journal
October 8, 2015
...As Vladimir Putin said at the UN, “We [meaning Russia] can no longer tolerate the state of affairs in the world.” Putin does not lie. When he says something, he means it.
Somebody in Washington had better listen to this man, because Washington is no longer The Unipower. There are now three superpowers—Russia, China, and the US—and probably in that order.
In America all forms of evil and corruption have become routine. Bob Dylan told us that vice and corruption have become routine: “People’s lives today are filled on so many levels with vice and the trappings of it. Ambition, greed and selfishness all have to do with vice. . . . We don’t see the people that vice destroys. We just see the glamour of vice on a daily basis—everywhere we look, from billboard signs to movies, to newspapers, to magazines. We see the destruction of human life and the mockery of it, everywhere we look.” Vice is Washington’s signature. A fish rots from the head, and Washington has led our country into vice, greed, selfishness and the mockery and destruction of human life.
The Golden Rule is to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Allegedly, America is a Christian country. This means that Christian America is following Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in a masochistic way. Do we really want other countries to bomb and invade us, to reduce our towns and cities to rubble, to destroy our social and economic infrastructure, to kill millions of us and make most of the rest of us into refugees? This is what America has done to the world. This is why Vladimir Putin said Russia can no longer tolerate the state of affairs in the world and why he asked America, “Do you realize what you have done?”
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.
This Has Become Routine By Paul Craig Roberts
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43060.htm...As Vladimir Putin said at the UN, “We [meaning Russia] can no longer tolerate the state of affairs in the world.” Putin does not lie. When he says something, he means it.
Somebody in Washington had better listen to this man, because Washington is no longer The Unipower. There are now three superpowers—Russia, China, and the US—and probably in that order.
In America all forms of evil and corruption have become routine. Bob Dylan told us that vice and corruption have become routine: “People’s lives today are filled on so many levels with vice and the trappings of it. Ambition, greed and selfishness all have to do with vice. . . . We don’t see the people that vice destroys. We just see the glamour of vice on a daily basis—everywhere we look, from billboard signs to movies, to newspapers, to magazines. We see the destruction of human life and the mockery of it, everywhere we look.” Vice is Washington’s signature. A fish rots from the head, and Washington has led our country into vice, greed, selfishness and the mockery and destruction of human life.
The Golden Rule is to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Allegedly, America is a Christian country. This means that Christian America is following Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in a masochistic way. Do we really want other countries to bomb and invade us, to reduce our towns and cities to rubble, to destroy our social and economic infrastructure, to kill millions of us and make most of the rest of us into refugees? This is what America has done to the world. This is why Vladimir Putin said Russia can no longer tolerate the state of affairs in the world and why he asked America, “Do you realize what you have done?”
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.
October 7, 2015
...The reason Putin will succeed where the US failed in its war on ISIS, is because the Russian air-strikes are going to be accompanied by a formidable mop-up operation that will overpower the jihadi groups on the ground. This is already happening as we speak. The Russian Air Force has been pounding terrorist targets across the Idlib Governorate for the last few days as well as ISIS strongholds in the East at Raffa. On Sunday, according to a report filed by South Front, roughly 700 militants surrendered to members of the 147th Syrian tank brigade shortly after bombers had attacked nearly cities of Mardeij, Ma’arat Al-Nu’man, Jisr Al-Shughour, Saraqib and Sarmeen. This is the pattern we expect to see in the weeks ahead. Russian bombers will soften targets on the frontlines, ground troops will move into position, and untold numbers of jihadis will either flee, surrender or get cut down where they stand. Bottom line: Syria is not going to be a quagmire as the media has predicted. To the contrary, Putin is going to cut through these guys like crap through a goose...The Russian air-base at Latakia is perfectly situated for providing air cover or bombing terrorist targets across the country. The Russian airforce will also make every effort to cut off supply lines and escape routes so that as many jihadis as possible are liquidated within Syria’s borders. This is why ISIS positions along the main highway to Iraq were destroyed on Sunday. The jihadi thugs will be given every chance to die in battle as they wish, but getting out alive is not going to be so easy.
There was an article in the Guardian on Sunday that caused quiet a stir among people who are following events in Syria. Here’s a clip:
Saudi Arabia poses no real threat to Putin’s operation in Syria. The Saudis may talk tough, but they already have their hands full with a crashing economy (due to plunging oil prices) and a war in Yemen they have no chance of winning. They’re certainly not going to get more deeply involved in Syria.
It is possible, however, that the Obama administration is planning to use the Saudis as cover for shoring up their support for opposition groups within Syria. There is a high probability that that will happen. Even so, there’s not an endless pool of crackpot mercenaries who want to face a modern airforce with precision-guided munitions for a couple hundred bucks a week. That’s not what you’d call “a job with a future”. Keep in mind, the various Intel agencies have already called in their chits and attracted as many of these dead-enders as they possibly could from far-flung places like Chechnya, Kosovo, Somalia, Afghanistan etc. And while I’m sure Langley keeps a lengthy file of potential candidates for future assignments, I’m also sure that there are a limited number of people who are willing to meet their Maker just so they can belong to some renegade organization and die with a machine gun in their hands. In fact, we may have already reached “peak terrorist” after which there could be a steady falloff following the downward trajectory of US power in the Middle East and around the world. As we shall undoubtedly see in the months ahead, Syria could very well be the straw that broke the Empire’s back...Also, it would have helpful if he had mentioned that arming, funding and training disparate jihadi organizations to effect regime change in a sovereign nation is a violation of international law and the UN Charter. Of course, maybe the author thought that would have made his article too stuffy or pedantic? In any event, the idea that the enfeebled Saudis are going to derail the Russia-Iran-Syria-Hezbollah alliance in their drive to annihilate ISIS and al-Qaida-linked groups is a pipe-dream. The only country that could make a difference in the outcome, is the United States. And, the fact is, Washington’s neocons don’t have the cojones to take on Moscow mano-a-mano, so Putin’s clean-up operation is going to continue on schedule.
By the way, the pundits were wrong about the way the Russian people would react to Moscow’s involvement in Syria, too. As it happens, they’re quite proud of the way their forces have been conducting themselves. Of course, who wouldn’t be? They’ve been kicking ass and taking names since Day 1. Check out this report from CBS News:
So the Russian people are proud of the way Putin is fighting the war on terror. Is there something wrong with that? Many Americans are old enough to remember a time when they were proud of their own country too, when it actually stood up for the principles it espouses in its founding documents. That was quite a while ago though, sometime back in the “pre-Gitmo” era”... Putin is not going to stop for anything or anyone. He’s going to nail these guys while he has them in his gun-sights, then he’s going to wrap it up and go home. By the time the Obama crew gets its act together and realizes that they have to stop the bombing pronto or their whole regime change operation is going to go up in smoke, Putin’s going to be blowing kisses from atop a float ambling through Red Square in Moscow’s first tickertape parade since the end of WW2.
Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition. He can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com.
How Putin Will Win in Syria By Mike Whitney
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/06/how-putin-will-win-in-syria/...The reason Putin will succeed where the US failed in its war on ISIS, is because the Russian air-strikes are going to be accompanied by a formidable mop-up operation that will overpower the jihadi groups on the ground. This is already happening as we speak. The Russian Air Force has been pounding terrorist targets across the Idlib Governorate for the last few days as well as ISIS strongholds in the East at Raffa. On Sunday, according to a report filed by South Front, roughly 700 militants surrendered to members of the 147th Syrian tank brigade shortly after bombers had attacked nearly cities of Mardeij, Ma’arat Al-Nu’man, Jisr Al-Shughour, Saraqib and Sarmeen. This is the pattern we expect to see in the weeks ahead. Russian bombers will soften targets on the frontlines, ground troops will move into position, and untold numbers of jihadis will either flee, surrender or get cut down where they stand. Bottom line: Syria is not going to be a quagmire as the media has predicted. To the contrary, Putin is going to cut through these guys like crap through a goose...The Russian air-base at Latakia is perfectly situated for providing air cover or bombing terrorist targets across the country. The Russian airforce will also make every effort to cut off supply lines and escape routes so that as many jihadis as possible are liquidated within Syria’s borders. This is why ISIS positions along the main highway to Iraq were destroyed on Sunday. The jihadi thugs will be given every chance to die in battle as they wish, but getting out alive is not going to be so easy.
There was an article in the Guardian on Sunday that caused quiet a stir among people who are following events in Syria. Here’s a clip:
“Regional powers have quietly, but effectively, channeled funds, weapons and other support to rebel groups making the biggest inroads against the forces from Damascus…..In a week when Russia made dozens of bombing raids, those countries have made it clear that they remain at least as committed to removing Assad as Moscow is to preserving him.
“There is no future for Assad in Syria,” Saudi foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir warned, a few hours before the first Russian bombing sorties began. If that was not blunt enough, he spelled out that if the president did not step down as part of a political transition, his country would embrace a military option, “which also would end with the removal of Bashar al-Assad from power”. With at least 39 civilians reported dead in the first bombing raids, the prospect of an escalation between backers of Assad and his opponents is likely to spell more misery for ordinary Syrians.
“The Russian intervention is a massive setback for those states backing the opposition, particularly within the region – Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – and is likely to elicit a strong response in terms of a counter-escalation,” said Julien Barnes-Dacey, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.” (“Gulf states plan military response as Putin raises the stakes in Syria“, Guardian)
“There is no future for Assad in Syria,” Saudi foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir warned, a few hours before the first Russian bombing sorties began. If that was not blunt enough, he spelled out that if the president did not step down as part of a political transition, his country would embrace a military option, “which also would end with the removal of Bashar al-Assad from power”. With at least 39 civilians reported dead in the first bombing raids, the prospect of an escalation between backers of Assad and his opponents is likely to spell more misery for ordinary Syrians.
“The Russian intervention is a massive setback for those states backing the opposition, particularly within the region – Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – and is likely to elicit a strong response in terms of a counter-escalation,” said Julien Barnes-Dacey, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.” (“Gulf states plan military response as Putin raises the stakes in Syria“, Guardian)
Saudi Arabia poses no real threat to Putin’s operation in Syria. The Saudis may talk tough, but they already have their hands full with a crashing economy (due to plunging oil prices) and a war in Yemen they have no chance of winning. They’re certainly not going to get more deeply involved in Syria.
It is possible, however, that the Obama administration is planning to use the Saudis as cover for shoring up their support for opposition groups within Syria. There is a high probability that that will happen. Even so, there’s not an endless pool of crackpot mercenaries who want to face a modern airforce with precision-guided munitions for a couple hundred bucks a week. That’s not what you’d call “a job with a future”. Keep in mind, the various Intel agencies have already called in their chits and attracted as many of these dead-enders as they possibly could from far-flung places like Chechnya, Kosovo, Somalia, Afghanistan etc. And while I’m sure Langley keeps a lengthy file of potential candidates for future assignments, I’m also sure that there are a limited number of people who are willing to meet their Maker just so they can belong to some renegade organization and die with a machine gun in their hands. In fact, we may have already reached “peak terrorist” after which there could be a steady falloff following the downward trajectory of US power in the Middle East and around the world. As we shall undoubtedly see in the months ahead, Syria could very well be the straw that broke the Empire’s back...Also, it would have helpful if he had mentioned that arming, funding and training disparate jihadi organizations to effect regime change in a sovereign nation is a violation of international law and the UN Charter. Of course, maybe the author thought that would have made his article too stuffy or pedantic? In any event, the idea that the enfeebled Saudis are going to derail the Russia-Iran-Syria-Hezbollah alliance in their drive to annihilate ISIS and al-Qaida-linked groups is a pipe-dream. The only country that could make a difference in the outcome, is the United States. And, the fact is, Washington’s neocons don’t have the cojones to take on Moscow mano-a-mano, so Putin’s clean-up operation is going to continue on schedule.
By the way, the pundits were wrong about the way the Russian people would react to Moscow’s involvement in Syria, too. As it happens, they’re quite proud of the way their forces have been conducting themselves. Of course, who wouldn’t be? They’ve been kicking ass and taking names since Day 1. Check out this report from CBS News:
“Whatever effect Russia’s airstrikes are having on the ground in Syria, their impact at home is clear: They prove to Russians that their country is showing up the United States and reclaiming its rightful place as a global power….
Channel One’s evening news program on Saturday opened with dramatic cockpit videos of Russian jets making what were described as direct hits on terrorist training camps and weapons stores. The bombs were never off by more than five meters, a military spokesman said, because of the jets’ advanced targeting capabilities.
This was followed by a report of the disastrous airstrike in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz that destroyed a hospital and killed at least 19 people, including international medical staff. U.S. responsibility for the airstrike had not been proven, but Russian viewers were left with little doubt of who was to blame or of whose military capabilities were superior.” (“Russia’s airstrikes in Syria are playing well at home”, CBS News)
Channel One’s evening news program on Saturday opened with dramatic cockpit videos of Russian jets making what were described as direct hits on terrorist training camps and weapons stores. The bombs were never off by more than five meters, a military spokesman said, because of the jets’ advanced targeting capabilities.
This was followed by a report of the disastrous airstrike in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz that destroyed a hospital and killed at least 19 people, including international medical staff. U.S. responsibility for the airstrike had not been proven, but Russian viewers were left with little doubt of who was to blame or of whose military capabilities were superior.” (“Russia’s airstrikes in Syria are playing well at home”, CBS News)
So the Russian people are proud of the way Putin is fighting the war on terror. Is there something wrong with that? Many Americans are old enough to remember a time when they were proud of their own country too, when it actually stood up for the principles it espouses in its founding documents. That was quite a while ago though, sometime back in the “pre-Gitmo” era”... Putin is not going to stop for anything or anyone. He’s going to nail these guys while he has them in his gun-sights, then he’s going to wrap it up and go home. By the time the Obama crew gets its act together and realizes that they have to stop the bombing pronto or their whole regime change operation is going to go up in smoke, Putin’s going to be blowing kisses from atop a float ambling through Red Square in Moscow’s first tickertape parade since the end of WW2.
Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition. He can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com.
October 6, 2015
Stepping back from details, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the biggest trade deal in a generation and part of the same 'new generation' of trade deals as TTIP. There are 12 countries involved across the Pacific Rim, including the USA, Japan, Canada and Australia.
All this has made TPP very controversial, especially amongst the Democrats. And that means that there is fertile ground to also sow the seeds of doubt about TTIP. But it’s not over and we shouldn’t lose hope! TPP needs to go to the US Congress in coming months. Once they read the actual text (which has been secret until now) more will turn against It. They can defeat it - but they can’t amend it. Both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have voiced their opposition to the deal, which shows what a political tightrope the deal would be walking in order to be passed.
The Canadian elections are coming up, and the opposition party says it won't feel bound to sign it. So it can still be stopped, and the agreement today will galvanise opposition against it. While ratification would strengthen the hand of those pushing for TTIP, failure would threaten it. There’s still everything to play for!
EDUCATE YOUR FRIENDS TPP IS THE ULTIMATE CORPORATE TAKEOVER, AND MUST BE DEFEATED!
Nine Thoughts On the TPP Agreement Being Reached Today(last weekend) By Nick Dearden
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/blog/2015/oct/5/nine-thoughts-tpp-agreement-being-reached-todayStepping back from details, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the biggest trade deal in a generation and part of the same 'new generation' of trade deals as TTIP. There are 12 countries involved across the Pacific Rim, including the USA, Japan, Canada and Australia.
- Like TTIP, it goes well beyond 'trade' in the narrow sense – its primary purpose is to rewrite global economic rules in favour of capital - and not just for the countries involved. Other countries already want to come on board. This is a less democratic version of the World Trade Organization and affects everyone. So it's a very big deal. Campaigns against it have been huge and countries themselves have had serious political difficulties in getting to this point. So it shows that there’s a big battle now to stop it from being ratified.
- It's also about power and geopolitics between countries. The US is trying to curtail China's power and make sure that it’s the US that sets rules. TPP 'contains' China.
- Of particular worry is the corporate court system – the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) that will lead to a massive increase in governments being sued by corporations. Campaigns on TPP means that it looks like the tobacco sector has been excluded from ISDS, but that's just a symbol. Corporations would be able to threaten governments across 40% of global economy now.
- Big Pharma has played a big role in pushing for TPP. They’re desperate to extend monopoly power over drugs by extending patents to US standards, which would make them unaffordable for millions of people. It's been beaten back - but still looks likely to make things worse in most countries.
- Corporations are also trying to expand power over the Internet and use of your data by setting global rules to their advantage. The data rights movement have been up in arms about it.
- Farming standards – TPP would make it more difficult for small farmers to stand up to big agrobusiness as they have to compete directly.
- Despite talk of improving labour standards, like most trade agreements TPP would send work to where it can be done cheaper, resulting in a classic ‘race to the bottom’ and offshoring jobs
All this has made TPP very controversial, especially amongst the Democrats. And that means that there is fertile ground to also sow the seeds of doubt about TTIP. But it’s not over and we shouldn’t lose hope! TPP needs to go to the US Congress in coming months. Once they read the actual text (which has been secret until now) more will turn against It. They can defeat it - but they can’t amend it. Both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have voiced their opposition to the deal, which shows what a political tightrope the deal would be walking in order to be passed.
The Canadian elections are coming up, and the opposition party says it won't feel bound to sign it. So it can still be stopped, and the agreement today will galvanise opposition against it. While ratification would strengthen the hand of those pushing for TTIP, failure would threaten it. There’s still everything to play for!
EDUCATE YOUR FRIENDS TPP IS THE ULTIMATE CORPORATE TAKEOVER, AND MUST BE DEFEATED!
October 4, 2015
Berkeley geologists have uncovered compelling evidence that an asteroid impact on Earth 66 million years ago accelerated the eruptions of volcanoes in India for hundreds of thousands of years, and that together these planet-wide catastrophes caused the extinction of many land and marine animals, including the dinosaurs.
For 35 years, paleontologists and geologists have debated the role these two global events played in the last mass extinction, with one side claiming the eruptions were irrelevant, and the other side claiming the impact was a blip in a long-term die-off. The new evidence includes the most accurate dates yet for the volcanic eruptions before and after the impact. The new dates show that the Deccan Traps lava flows, which at the time were erupting at a slower pace, doubled in output within 50,000 years of the asteroid or comet impact that is thought to have initiated the last mass extinction on Earth. Both the impact and the volcanism would have blanketed the planet with dust and noxious fumes, drastically changing the climate and sending many species to an early grave.
The geologists argue that the impact abruptly changed the volcanoes' plumbing system, which produced major changes in the chemistry and frequency of the eruptions. After this change, long-term volcanic eruptions likely delayed recovery of life for 500,000 years after the KT boundary, the term for the end of the Cretaceous and the beginning of the Tertiary period when large land animals and many small sea creatures disappeared from the fossil record...
MORE
Asteroid impact, volcanism were one-two punch for dinosaurs
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/uoc--aiv092315.phpBerkeley geologists have uncovered compelling evidence that an asteroid impact on Earth 66 million years ago accelerated the eruptions of volcanoes in India for hundreds of thousands of years, and that together these planet-wide catastrophes caused the extinction of many land and marine animals, including the dinosaurs.
For 35 years, paleontologists and geologists have debated the role these two global events played in the last mass extinction, with one side claiming the eruptions were irrelevant, and the other side claiming the impact was a blip in a long-term die-off. The new evidence includes the most accurate dates yet for the volcanic eruptions before and after the impact. The new dates show that the Deccan Traps lava flows, which at the time were erupting at a slower pace, doubled in output within 50,000 years of the asteroid or comet impact that is thought to have initiated the last mass extinction on Earth. Both the impact and the volcanism would have blanketed the planet with dust and noxious fumes, drastically changing the climate and sending many species to an early grave.
"Based on our dating of the lavas, we can be pretty certain that the volcanism and the impact occurred within 50,000 years of the extinction, so it becomes somewhat artificial to distinguish between them as killing mechanisms: both phenomena were clearly at work at the same time," said lead researcher Paul Renne, a UC Berkeley professor-in-residence of earth and planetary science and director of the Berkeley Geochronology Center. "It is going to be basically impossible to ascribe actual atmospheric effects to one or the other. They both happened at the same time."
The geologists argue that the impact abruptly changed the volcanoes' plumbing system, which produced major changes in the chemistry and frequency of the eruptions. After this change, long-term volcanic eruptions likely delayed recovery of life for 500,000 years after the KT boundary, the term for the end of the Cretaceous and the beginning of the Tertiary period when large land animals and many small sea creatures disappeared from the fossil record...
MORE
October 3, 2015
A farmer digging in his field near Chelsea, Mich. was digging when he made a mammoth discovery.
James Bristle was digging in the soy field with his friend, when he found the remains of a woolly mammoth.
The animal, which is part of Michigan's history, has been extinct for more than 10,000 years.
Bristle called researchers from the University of Michigan, who came and helped get the skull and other remains out.
Researchers said they believe the mammoth was killed by humans around 15,000 years ago.
Farmer finds woolly mammoth bones in Washtenaw County field
http://www.wxyz.com/news/farmer-finds-woolly-mammoth-bones-in-washtenaw-county-fieldA farmer digging in his field near Chelsea, Mich. was digging when he made a mammoth discovery.
James Bristle was digging in the soy field with his friend, when he found the remains of a woolly mammoth.
The animal, which is part of Michigan's history, has been extinct for more than 10,000 years.
Bristle called researchers from the University of Michigan, who came and helped get the skull and other remains out.
Researchers said they believe the mammoth was killed by humans around 15,000 years ago.
October 2, 2015
It's making my head hurt. Maybe we ought to stick to economics, where the outcomes are tangible, or at least, definable....
Weekend Economists Purvey a Potpourri of Popery October 2-4, 2015
I am VERY proud of that thread title, btw. It came to me in a flash upon reading mother earth's suggestion for a topic. Sheer poetry! Thanks, Mom!
The first question one ought to ask on the subject is: How Many Popes Are There?
That depends on who is counting, but my best answer is: 5, maybe 9 if you want to be technical about it. These are all the current leaders of affiliated churches derived from the "original" Christianity concept:
- Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, regarded as the "first among equals" and as the spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians and the 270th holder of the title.
- Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome, the 266th and current Pope of the Catholic Church, a title he holds ex officio as Bishop of Rome, and Sovereign of the Vatican City.
- Catholicos Karekin II (Armenian: Գարեգին Բ
the current Catholicos of All Armenians, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
- Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, the 123rd Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.
- Theodore (Theodoros) II, Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa. He is formally styled His Divine Beatitude the Pope and Patriarch of the Great City of Alexandria, Libya, Pentapolis, Ethiopia, All Egypt and All Africa, Father of Fathers, Pastor of Pastors, Prelate of Prelates, the Thirteenth of the Apostles and Judge of the Ecumene. He is the 124th leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Africa and Madagascar.
- Pope Tawadros II, the 118th and current Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
- Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II, 91st reigning Catholicos of the East and the Supreme Head of the Indian Orthodox Church, aka Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church centred in the Indian state of Kerala.
- Abune Antonios, Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, deposed by the secular government, 3rd patriarch since autocephaly was granted.
- Justin Welby, the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury, not called "pope", but as the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, he is the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury.
During the English Reformation the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church, at first temporarily under Henry VIII and Edward VI and later permanently during the reign of Elizabeth I. Since the English Reformation, the Church of England has been more explicitly a state church and the choice is legally that of the Crown; today it is made by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister, who receives a shortlist of two names from an "ad hoc" committee called the Crown Nominations Commission.
As spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop, although without legal authority outside England, is recognised by convention as primus inter pares (first among equals) of all Anglican primates worldwide. Since 1867 he has convened more or less decennial meetings of worldwide Anglican bishops, the Lambeth Conferences. He has an important ecumenical and interfaith role, speaking on behalf of Anglicans in England and worldwide.
It's making my head hurt. Maybe we ought to stick to economics, where the outcomes are tangible, or at least, definable....
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