RU-TU:160908:(25-SEP-16):Gazprom's Turkish Stream Gains First Turkish Permits 1

RU-TU:160908:(25-SEP-16):Gazprom's Turkish Stream Gains First Turkish Permits 1

UKB:160919:(25-SEP-16):Nicola Sturgeon 'has abandoned 2014 referendum lies to argue for independence at any cost' 1

UKB-EU:160923:(25-SEP-16):‘Not worth it anymore!’ HAMMER BLOW for Juncker as nations dump EU trade deals post-Brexit 2

UKB-EU:160923:(25-SEP-16):Bratislava Summit: the future of the European project without the UK looks bleak 3

IS-UK:160923:(25-SEP-16):Bank Hapoalim Signs MOU with London Stock Exchange 4

CV-CO:160923:(25-SEP-16):Pope Francis’ Canon Law Change Strengthens Evangelism With Eastern Churches 4

CV-IS:160922:(25-SEP-16):Pope’s potential masterstroke takes charge in the Holy Land 5

EGE:160920:(25-SEP-16):The Inevitable Decline of Merkel’s Popularity 6

BIBLE:160923:(25-SEP-16):Latest Dead Sea Scroll Deciphered 8

FC:160923:(25-SEP-16):UN fears third leg of the global financial crisis - with prospect of epic debt defaults 8

UK-EU:160918:(25-SEP-16):Britain to block EU army. Nato rival will not happen, vows defence secretary 9

RU:160919:(25-SEP-16):Vladimir Putin's Big Win 10

MEG:160923:(25-SEP-16):Egypt Approaches Self-Sufficiency 11

IS-UK:160924:(25-SEP-16):British PM hails UK-Israel ties in greeting for Jewish New Year 13

UKB:160925:(25-SEP-16):Liam Fox: Britain will be great again after Brexit 14

IS:160925:(25-SEP-16):Export Institute: Israel's goods exports hit 6-year low 14

THA-IS:160925:(25-SEP-16):Israeli official: Gaza underground wall to be done in months 15

RU-TU:160908:(25-SEP-16):Gazprom's Turkish Stream Gains First Turkish Permits

Natural Gas Europe 08-Sep-16

Turkey has awarded Russian gas exporter Gazprom the first permits it requires for the development of the 31.5bn m³/yr Turkish Stream gas pipeline via Turkey, Gazprom announced late September 7.

According to the statement Gazprom has received the permits "through appropriate diplomatic channels" following a meeting last week between Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Turkish energy minister Berat Albayrak.

Gazprom referred to the meeting as having seen the two sides reach an agreement to finalise quickly all the necessary procedures for initiating the project and quoted Miller as stating:

“The issuance of first permits is good news for Gazprom. This move of the Turkish side reflects the interest of Turkey's government in the Turkish Stream project and marks the transition to its practical implementation," Gazprom said.

https://joom.ag/b1DQ

Following last week's meeting Gazprom announced that the two sides had reached an agreement on the "earliest possible completion of the procedure for issuing authorizations" to enable the work on Turkish Stream to start.

Both Gazprom's Turkish representative and Turkish energy ministry officials were unavailable September 8 to confirm exactly what sort of permits had been issued.

However they are likely to relate to the conducting of feasibility studies for the final section of pipeline running through Turkey's European Black Sea Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and territorial waters and the section running overland through Turkey's European province of Thrace.

The main part of the offshore section of the line running through Turkey's Black Sea EEZ was previously approved under Gazprom's now abandoned project for a 63bn m³/yr South Stream pipeline across the Black Sea and through Bulgaria.

Gazprom last year completed an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report for the offshore and landfall sections of the new Turkish Stream project which was submitted to Turkey's environment ministry for vetting.

Turkish Stream route (Credit: Gazprom)

http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/international-open-tender-for-a-framework-agreement-under-the-clean-cooking-for-africa-program-31698

Although the ministry web site indicates that the public consultation process for the project has been completed, as yet the EIA report has not received official approval.

No EIA report has yet been submitted for the overland section of the line owing to a succession of bureaucratic and political delays, stemming from the need for the two countries to conclude an intergovernmental agreement for the line before they finalise the overland route. Turkish media reported recently that Gazprom has started surveying land in Thrace.

UKB:160919:(25-SEP-16):Nicola Sturgeon 'has abandoned 2014 referendum lies to argue for independence at any cost'

Daily Telegraph 19-Sep-16

Nicola Sturgeon has argued that Scottish independence transcends national wealth

Ruth Davidson has accused Nicola Sturgeon of abandoning the economic “tissue of lies” she tried to sell Scots in the 2014 referendum after the First Minister argued that national wealth is less important than being independent.

Speaking on the second anniversary of the historic vote to save the Union, the Scottish Conservative leader said “fantasy figures” on a separate Scotland’s wealth, oil revenues and deficit had formed an integral part of the SNP’s independence white paper.

But Ms Sturgeon used an article marking the anniversary to downplay their importance, instead arguing that the case for independence “transcends” all these factors and Brexit.

Ms Davidson said the SNP’s 2014 prospectus had been replaced with a “new mantra” that the economy does not matter and “people should just shut up about them and wrap themselves in a flag instead.”

David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary, said it was now clear that the SNP’s stance was “independence at any cost.” Recent Scottish Government figures showed Scotland has a £15 billion annual deficit, higher as a proportion of GDP than even Greece’s, following a collapse in oil revenues.

Both senior Tories also highlighted a new opinion poll showing two-thirds of Scots oppose a second independence referendum being staged before Britain leaves the EU.

John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister, ruled out a snap referendum by stating its timing would depend on how the Brexit negotiations proceed. However, he insisted that a rerun remained “highly likely” if Scotland’s links to the EU are not protected.

Both nationalists and Unionists marked the second anniversary of the 2014 vote, with Alex Salmond among the speakers at a rally in Glasgow and the Tories setting up stalls on high streets across the country to call on the SNP to rule out another referendum.

Ms Sturgeon promised Scots an oil boom if they voted Yes in the last referendum but, writing in the SNP-supporting Sunday Herald, she said: “Two years on from the historic vote of 2014, the fundamental case for Scotland’s independence remains as it was.

“The case for full self-government ultimately transcends the issues of Brexit, of oil, of national wealth and balance sheets and of passing political fads and trends.”

She argued that Scotland being pulled out of the EU against the will of 62 per cent of Scots was “probably the most striking and significant instance ever” of the UK’s democratic deficit and “should be of concern to everyone.”

But Ms Davidson said: “The economic case for independence two years ago was a tissue of lies. Fantasy figures on oil and our national wealth concocted to fool people and which fell apart under scrutiny. Now everyone can see Nicola Sturgeon's sums don't add up, she's decided to abandon them altogether.

“Instead of trying to explain what would happen to our economy and how we fund our public services under independence, the new mantra is that none of these things matter anymore and people should just shut up about them and wrap themselves in a flag instead.”

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme in Scotland, Mr Mundell said: “I think it's quite clear now that the SNP position is independence at any cost. The pretence that we had two years ago that somehow independence would be economically beneficial, that it would lead to prosperity in Scotland has been abandoned.”

Ian Murray, Scottish Labour’s Westminster spokesman, said Ms Sturgeon appears to have “learned all the wrong lessons” from the Leave campaign during the EU referendum by dismissing the need for economic details. He added: “What we're talking about are people's lives, livelihoods and the money they have in their pocket.”

Alex Salmond predicted on Friday that a second independence referendum would be staged in autumn 2018 but a Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times found only 33 per cent of Scots want a rerun before the Brexit negotiations have concluded.

It put support for independence at 48 per cent, three points higher than in the 2014 referendum but four points down on a similar poll conducted in the immediate aftermath of June’s Brexit vote.

This is also far below the level of support where Ms Sturgeon could be assured of victory, her previous litmus test for demanding a rerun, but Mr Salmond intensified his pressure on her to drop her cautious stance and press ahead anyway.

The former First Minister told Scotland on Sunday: “If I was willing to call an independence referendum in 2012 for 2014 on 27 per cent support, I’m not certain that Nicola will be too concerned about starting off with an average of 48 per cent.”

UKB-EU:160923:(25-SEP-16):‘Not worth it anymore!’ HAMMER BLOW for Juncker as nations dump EU trade deals post-Brexit

The Express 23-Sep-16

DEVELOPING countries are set to dump controversial trade agreements with the European Union en masse following the Brexit vote, leading economists have said.

The EU's trade policy is in chaos

Up and coming nations in Africa and the Caribbean will no longer see any worth in being tied to dictatorial Brussels policies now that the UK is no longer part of the bloc.

And they could be about to torpedo the EU’s roll-out of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA), which are designed to create a free-trade zone between Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

That is the view of top academics Christopher Stevens and Jane Kennan, from the Overseas Development Institute, who say Brexit has given many governments an excuse to pull out of the deeply unpopular scheme.

Tanzania has already ditched a proposed deal between Brussels and the East Africa Community (ECA) countries, citing the “turmoil” engulfing the EU following the Brexit vote and the skewed terms of the agreement.

MEPs have warned the bloc is in danger of becoming irrelevant

The country’s Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Aziz Mlima blasted: “Our experts have established that the way it has been crafted, the EPA will not benefit local industries in East Africa. Instead it will lead to their destruction as developed countries are likely to dominate the market.”

And now the two trade experts have predicted that a number of other African and Caribbean countries will follow suit, because for most Commonwealth countries Britain is by far the biggest market for their exports.

In an essay on the future of Britain’s trade policy post-Brexit, the pair wrote: “Although some Africa, Caribbean and Pacific signatories have embraced the required policy changes, for many the whole EPA process remains deeply contentious.

“The post-Brexit announcement by Tanzania that it will not proceed with the East African EPA is merely the most recent example of delay and backtracking on implementation.”

A number of countries have been stalling on implementing the trade agreements, agreed as far back as 2008, over concerns about the power they will hand to Brussels to meddle in national affairs.

And the economists predicted that the Caribbean - held up as the ‘EPA poster boy’ by Brussels bureaucrats - could be the “first to split” and sink another key area of EU trade policy.

Even though Britain is no longer considered a “dominant EU importer” from Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries it does still “absorb a significant share” of the goods those countries sell, they added.

The news comes as Europe’s much-vaunted trade clout withers away, with Brussels staggering from crisis to crisis as it tries to close out a number of flagship deals.

Trade deals with both the US and Canada are on the verge of collapse following a groundswell of public opposition, whilst EU leaders have been visibly unnerved by the enthusiastic response of the international community to Britain’s pledge that it is open for business.

Member states including Germany are trying to slow down and block the Government from negotiating new free trade deals with global superpowers like the US and China before Britain formally leaves the bloc amid fears the UK may prove to be vastly more successful outside the Brussels club.

They fear that if Britain prospers as a free nation already rebellious populations could be tipped over the edge, with eurosceptic parties taking control across the continent and dismantling the federalist project.

UKB-EU:160923:(25-SEP-16):Bratislava Summit: the future of the European project without the UK looks bleak

American Enterprise Institute 23-Sep-16

The meeting was meant to show a united front in the face of common challenges. The effect was far from convincing given the refusal of Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to appear at the initially scheduled joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande. “I’m not one of those who [will] tell people after a summit that everything will be all right and that the roses are going to flourish,” Renzi said.

He is right to be disappointed. The summit’s conclusions are heavy with aspirational declarations but lighton specifics. This might come as a disappointment to those who argued that Brexit could provide an impetus for the EU’s much-needed reforms, which were supposedly held back by the UK’s uncomfortable position of never having been fully committed to the European project. More likely, the absence of the UK’s pragmatic, down-to-earth voice is already making compromises within the EU more difficult.

Obviously, the refugee crisis was high on the summit’s agenda. Yet besides affirming their willingness to assist Bulgaria with the protection of its border with Turkey, the 27 leaders did little besides stressing their commitment to the EU’s agreement with Turkey reached earlier this year. That deal, however, might already be crumbling, as refugee flows through the Eastern Mediterranean have intensified dramatically in recent weeks.

The Bratislava Roadmap expresses the intention to “broaden consensus on long-term migration policy,” which is necessary to preserve Schengen into the future. But the sad reality is that there is no consensus – in fact, member states are way apart, as the upcoming referendum in Hungary illustrates. Even if the idea of mandatory resettlement quotas, a major point of contention between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ Europe, is dropped, the bloc will not be anywhere closer to a common asylum policy.

A lot of attention in the document is spent, and rightly so, on issues of internal and external security and defence. Yet according to Walter Russell Mead at The American Interest, this mostly reflects the fact that, following the Brexit referendum, France has become the preeminent military power within the EU. An emphasis on military capacity plays to France’s strengths relative to Germany’s, and might herald a period of more assertive French leadership in the bloc on a whole range of issues. That is hardly good news for the EU’s reformist, lean government-friendly North.

More importantly, without the UK’s military, the EU’s common defence will always be something of a paper tiger. Should the EU take on a more assertive role, it will be necessary to work with the British anyway. But that has been made more complicated by the fact that the UK is on its way out of the bloc.