Passport Deadline Nears, Few Americans Prepared

by Dan Schlossberg, ConsumerAffairs.Com

Fewer than two months remain before arriving international passengers at U.S. airports will be required to show passports as the only acceptable proof of citizenship. The rule applies to American citizens too, even though only about one in four has a valid passport. With the holiday shopping season, winter weather, and the $97 fee standing in the way, the betting line on people meeting the deadline is not favorable. Making matters more difficult is that the usual six-week waiting period will coincide with the holiday-card crush for those who prefer to acquire passports by mail. Even arrivals from Canada, Bermuda, and Mexico will be subject to the new regulations. According to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, strengthening the rules reduces the chances of a terrorist entering the country. "We're always better off when we build higher levels of security," he said. "The ability to misuse travel documents to enter this country opens the door for a terrorist. "None of these steps is foolproof and none of them is perfect. But each of them raises the bar to an attack."

Chertoff said more than 8,000 different state and local agencies issue birth certificates and driver's licenses - the forms of personal ID most prevalent in travel today. Deciphering each one, and determining which ones could be fraudulent, has placed an enormous burden on customs, immigration, and border officials, he said. Land and sea arrivals will be covered by a separate program, Chertoff noted. Starting in January 2008, they will also have to show passports or proposed alternative security identity cards. The new passport rules will not apply to Americans returning from Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, or other territories. But the North American Travel Journalists Association, whose members fly often, recommends that passengers carry them anyway to avoid potential airport problems. Several members of Congress have long urged tougher implementation of rules regarding security documents - a recommendation of the Sept. 11 Commission created in the wake of terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

First Step to Helping Skilled Immigrants

by Ian Urquhart (iurquha@thestar.ca)

Every year about 20,000 foreign-trained professionals immigrate to this province. Back home, they were doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, nurses, teachers, and so on. But, more often than not, here they end up driving cabs or serving fast food — and becoming more bitter by the day. In extreme cases, they kill themselves. Two suicides in the Chinese Canadian community over the past two years have been linked to underemployment. The Liberal government at Queen's Park is taking aim at this problem with Bill 124 — legislation that would create a "fairness commissioner." The commissioner would oversee the 34 regulatory bodies governing the professions in Ontario and make sure their accreditation practices do not discriminate against the foreign-trained. The bill, which is now going through committee, has met with a decidedly mixed reaction. In the immigrant community, the legislation has been welcomed, although some groups have argued that it does not go far enough. Some of the regulatory bodies — notably those for accountants and engineers — have also supported the legislation because they believe their practices would withstand scrutiny by the fairness commissioner. However, other regulatory bodies, mostly those for the health-care professions but also for the teachers, have expressed grave concerns that the legislation would erode their independence and undermine their mandate to protect the public.

The health-care bodies have also suggested the fairness commissioner would be redundant because they are already subject to oversight by the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board. Politically, reaction to the bill has also been divided. The Liberals, of course, are trumpeting it as a vehicle to ensure that foreign-trained professionals get "a fair shot at working in their chosen field here in Ontario." The New Democrats say Bill 124 doesn't go far enough. Specifically, they want an appeals body created for the non-health-care regulatory bodies, as recommended in an advisory report on the issue. But it is the Conservatives whose response to Bill 124 has been most interesting. In second reading debate, while they were careful to say they supported the "intent" of the bill, the Conservatives attacked the proposed fairness commissioner as "a new layer of bureaucracy." They also approvingly quoted from a column in the National Post by George Jonas (ironically, himself an immigrant) deriding the fairness commissioner as a "fairness fairy" whose chief concern will be "political correctness." At committee hearings, when one spokesperson for immigrants testified strongly in support of Bill 124, Frank Klees, the lead Conservative critic on the committee chastised him: "You sound like an apologist for the government."

How does this reaction square with Conservative Leader John Tory, who this week held a press conference to promote his own ideas for helping skilled immigrants? "We have permitted far too many people who we invited to come to Canada to become marginalized, to fall between the cracks," said Tory. "We must not let that become some sort of permanent fact of life because it is not acceptable and it isn't consistent in any way with the pride we take in embracing diversity." Asked at the press conference whether regulatory bodies were part of the problem, Tory agreed that they have "not demonstrated the sense of urgency they should." Asked whether his party will support Bill 124 on third reading, Tory replied: "I expect we probably will," subject to how proposed Conservative amendments are dealt with by the government. We shall see. Back to Bill 124: Will it solve the problem of underemployed immigrants? Probably just on the margins, for the real source of the problem is not foot-dragging by regulatory bodies at this end of the immigration process. Rather, it is at the other end, where immigrants are first screened for entry into Canada. This fact was acknowledged in the Legislature last month by Mike Colle, the minister who introduced Bill 124. He noted that there are some 15,000 foreign-trained engineers coming here every year and competing for jobs with 5,000 engineering graduates from Ontario schools. "There's no connection with the reality of the job market," said Colle. But, of course, screening of immigrants is a federal responsibility. It is the subject of discussions between the two levels of government, but it will take time to fix. Meanwhile, Bill 124 may be the best the province has to offer foreign-trained professionals. It is not enough, of course, but it is an important first step.

Accredit Immigrants Before They Come

by CANADIAN PRESS

Most skilled immigrants would get accredited to work in their field before they move to Canada and foreign-trained doctors would be able to perform basic services under a plan unveiled today by Ontario’s Opposition Conservatives. Conservative Leader John Tory said the program would allow skilled immigrants to start working on their Canadian accreditation while they are outside the country, waiting for their visa applications to be processed. The province is facing a labour shortage and needs to better harness the knowledge of newcomers, Tory said at a campaign-style event that suggests the Conservatives are aggressively planning their strategy for next year’s provincial election. “The status quo is unacceptable,” Tory said. “This is a serious problem both because we’re badly letting these people down and short-changing them. We need, as part of building a strong economy, to make full use of the talents these people brought with them to Canada.”

While not all professions could be fully accredited before an immigrant arrives in Canada, Tory said foreign-trained doctors could gain more experience by doing basic medical services under the supervision of a qualified doctor. The government could also expand the provincial student loans program to include new Canadians who want to go back to school, he added. The whole plan would cost about $26 million, Tory said. “We have permitted far too many people who we invite to come to Canada to become marginalized,” Tory said. “We must not let that become some sort of permanent fact of life.” Mike Colle, Ontario’s minister of citizenship and immigration, said he was pleasantly surprised to hear the Conservatives talk about the plight of immigrants. “I’m glad to see the party that was bashing immigrants for the last 50 years is finally recognizing that they should be given a fair chance,” Colle said. Colle said the Liberal government is working to dismantle the barriers facing new Canadians, citing as an example a new Liberal bill that would require Ontario’s 34 regulated professions to ensure their licensing process is fair.

If passed, the legislation would also be require those professions to assess credentials more quickly, said Colle, who expressed doubt that the Conservative plan would work. “If we can’t get the accreditation done here, I don’t know how they’re going to do it overseas,” Colle said. “It’s like putting the cart before the horse.” New Canadians, meanwhile, agree something has to change. It took Tarek Zaid, a biochemist from the United Arab Emirates, three years to immigrate to Canada. Once here, Zaid said he found his 15 years of experience meant very little. If he had known the hurdles he would face, Zaid said he wouldn’t have come to Canada. “The processing is too much,” he said. Homa Nikmanesh was a chemistry teacher in Iran for over a decade but found herself working as a cleaning lady in Canada while her chemical engineer husband worked as a general labourer. They now own a successful chain of optical stores. But she said the government should do a better job of informing people about credential requirements before they immigrate to Canada. If people knew they had to wait for years to work in their field, Nikmanesh said they might think twice. “They may refuse to come here.”

The government has already established a program which allows foreign-trained doctors to shadow qualified doctors, Colle added. The Liberals have poured money into helping new Canadians acclimatize, Colle said. Whether you do accreditation before they come here or not, there are still 150,000 people who come to Ontario every year,” he said. “There’s always a process of getting people acclimatized to the conditions here and that takes money and resources.” But New Democrat critic Peter Tabuns said both the federal and provincial government have waited far too long to help those doctors and engineers who find themselves driving taxi cabs in Canada. The government should be putting more money into English-as-a-second-language programs and should be honest with prospective immigrants before they try to come to Canada, he added. “This problem has been going on for over half a century,” Tabuns said. “We’re coming at it very late in the game. Right now, we need to have action taken that will make a big difference.”

Newcomers Vote with their Feet

by: Rudyard Griffiths (rudyard@dominion.ca) is the director of the Dominion Institute

It is the quintessential Toronto experience. You get into a taxi and in the space of a few minutes your conversation with the driver goes from talking about the weather to sharing your life stories. One cabbie I recently met immigrated to Canada a decade ago. He took up taxi driving because his engineering degree was not recognized by Canadian employers. He and his wife had three children in Canada, but she decided to return to India to live with their extended family. With a bullish real estate market and good job prospects in Mumbai, his home country of India was starting to look more like the land of opportunity and Canada a dead-end. My cab ride hit home for me the scale of the challenge we face in terms of attracting and retaining immigrants in a fast-changing global economy. Let's face it, Canadians have a mile-wide blind spot when it comes to how we think potential and new immigrants perceive our country. We assume the world is clamouring to come to Canada. Longer-settled Canadians are also quick to believe that our "First World" status gives us the pick of skilled foreign workers. We know there are problems with the accreditation of skills learned and practised in other countries, but we think that our much vaunted health-care system and multiculturalism make Canada an irresistibly attractive place to settle and raise a family.

Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Canada is the second choice for the majority of new immigrants. Of the 250,000 people who acquired Canadian citizenship last year, only a quarter were skilled or professional workers. Yes, everyone appreciates our health-care system and the diversity of our big cities; yet fully one in three immigrants eventually leaves. It's hardly surprising that we are doing a lousy job retaining immigrants when you consider that a third of new citizens don't speak French or English, yet only 20 per cent of federal spending on immigration goes toward language training. It also doesn't help that, while Ontario receives almost half of all newcomers,the province receives only $1,500 per immigrant versus more than $3,000 in Quebec. Behind these numbers lie the reality that the children of low-income immigrants aren't climbing up the economic ladder and, instead, find themselves stuck in the same dead-end jobs as their parents. Our collective failure to provide new citizens with opportunities to succeed needs to be set against the new global reality. We live in an era typified by cheap global communication and travel. New citizens, compared with previous waves of immigrants, use satellite television, cellphones and charter flights to maintain close, if not seamless, connection with family and friends in their country of origin.

With one quarter of all immigrants to Canada hailing from China or India — two booming economies where property values are soaring and middle-class jobs are being created hand over fist — many new Canadians, such as the taxi driver I met, are questioning why they should stay when they can't use their hard-won skills. Why not return home and benefit from a fast-growing economy, extended family networks, and familiar culture and language? The free flow of information in our globalizing world has also created a two-way conversation. Potential immigrants, especially those with strong technical skills, are learning from contacts in Canada just how dysfunctional our immigration system is and the real hardships they could face here. Considering that in five years all of Canada's net labour force growth will come from immigration, what can we do to improve the system? We have to understand, deep down, that getting our immigration policy right is as important to our country's long-term well-being as addressing global warming, fighting terrorism or sustaining publicly funded health care.To this end, we have to wake up from our narcissistic delusions about what Canada offers newcomers beyond multiculturalism. Immigrants have never had more choice as to where and how they live their lives. If we don't start building a settlement system that really works — the $307 million in new federal funding being a step in the right direction — immigrants will vote with their feet and trigger an exodus that Canada simply can't afford.

Canadians Split on How Immigrants Should Adapt

Source: Environics Research Group / Trudeau Foundation. Methodology: Telephone interviews with 2,021 Canadian adults, conducted from Sept. 18 to Oct. 12, 2006. Margin of error is 2.2 per cent.

Adults in Canada are divided on the way immigrants should behave, according to a poll by Environics Research Group released by the Trudeau Foundation. 49 per cent of respondents think foreign-born residents should be free to maintain their religious and cultural practices in Canada, while 40 per cent believe they should blend into Canadian society. Multiculturalism was adopted as an official government policy in 1971, and ratified under the Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1988. Foreign-born residents account for almost 18 per cent of Canada’s total population of 32 million people. On Nov. 16, immigration minister Monte Solberg announced specific changes to existing regulations, saying, "There are going to be certain occupations under tremendous pressure where employers are having trouble finding workers. We will reduce the requirements that they have to go through to bring in those categories (of immigrants) into the country. It will save them several weeks."

Polling Data
Which comes closer to your view?
Immigrants should be free to maintain their religious, cultural practices in Canada - 49%
Immigrants should blend into Canadian society - 40%
Immigrants should do "both equally" - 9%
Not sure - 2%

?Great Canadian Immigration Scam

Posted by: canadaindians@yahoogroups.com

Time and again there are articles written on the plight of immigrants in Canada. Politicians pay lip service and promise to do something before they get elected; however after the elections these same promises are seen going to the winds. Other political parties are also not much concerned and want to draw political mileage if anything from this issue. Stephen Harper is to send his immigration critic across Canada to find out what Canadians think about this issue, Jack Layton is frustrated... does anyone try to find out what the immigrants think? He or she would rather not, as the person would face harshest reactions and criticism. Moreover politics is a numbers game: New immigrants don't form a voting bloc as they have no voting rights. So they suffer silently as in the Hollywood movie: Silence of the Lambs! However if money means anything to the policy makers of this country they should consider the loss in billions of dollars to this country which is twofold: (1) By underutilizing skills of qualified immigrants; (2) The ill-will Canada gets abroad by word of mouth and subsequent reduction in revenue due to a fall in the number of aspiring immigrants. These factors should make policy makers sit back and take note and ensure that immigrants are not treated like second class citizens. In my country I was last working as plant manager with a very large company manufacturing automobiles. However after coming to Canada I was greatly disillusioned. I personally visited several industries in GTA, faxed and emailed my resume to hundreds of other industries but drew a blank. I was called for only two interviews in two years but inspite of doing well and being told my job profile, or being asked my salary expectations and being asked to follow up which I meticulously did, nothing materialized. This is the experience of thousands of immigrants landing in this country. The whole job market is hidden. However if you are lucky enough for someone to refer your name then all requirements of a resume vanish into the thin air and you land your dream job! This country lets in immigrants based on point rating which depends on technical qualifications, experience etc. However there are very few jobs available here for qualified people and 99% are pushed into labour jobs. These are survival jobs only and you make no economic progress unless husband and wife both work.

While Ottawa lets in immigrants based on qualifications and experience all applicants are required to sign a statement which says that they will have to get certified by local bodies to work in their fields. The same qualifications which help them to get immigration are not recognized after they land here. Then why are these qualifications recognized for immigration? Its because the government is fully aware that only qualified people who are financially strong can come along with funds of $10,000 each. In other words the eye is on strengthening the economy without any tangible benefits to the newcomers. 2,50,000 people come every year bringing minimum $10,000 each, and this appears to be a big business for the government of this country. After one lands here there is little or virtually no support to settle down. Only qualified immigrants are allowed to come because with qualified people working in factories, there will be fewer mistakes, quality of the jobs will be better, qualified people will not unionize, so a very congenial atmosphere for the industries for maximizing output. The whole system is developed in such a way as to exploit the individual. The standard pay in all factories ranges between 8$/hour to 12 $/hour. Labour agencies have completely cornered all the jobs so no factories employ you directly. There are no benefits in agency jobs; agencies get 4$-6$ extra per hour you work, so they too extract their pound of flesh and add insult to your injuries. It takes 2 years before a man can settle down in a permanent labour job, that too a job far below his qualifications. The new immigrant lands up in a job which is intellectually demeaning, frustrating, leading to intellectual starvation and with leaner paycheques. Not only that, a refugee coming to Canada barely able to speak English is on par with a qualified professional with years of experience and both get 8-12$ an hour! A qualified immigrant is equated to a refugee who comes to this country putting a burden on its social welfare... devoid of funds, devoid of skills... Is Canada fast becoming a country of refugees, international terrorists and criminals rather than being a land of opportunity for professionals and techies? Is Canada wanting this dubious distinction thus increasing social costs of welfare and security concerns without tangible benefits to this nation? While we consider the costs to this nation resulting out of this fall-out we have lost sight of the social costs to the individual. Apart from economic hardships immigrant families are seen to be breaking up and falling apart [and there are innumerable examples of this] as a result of these constant tensions, the responsibility of which entirely lies on this country.

Since a qualified immigrant is not accustomed to doing jobs involving manual labour in his country, he ends up with many physical bodily injuries such as back-pain, rheumatism etc and may be forced to go on welfare. Does this represent Canada, a modern society of the first world? Statistics has shown that the harsh ground realities are already raising their ugly head which is reflected in a drop in home buying and a fall in tenancy occupancies to the extent of 5% across GTA. What makes things even worse is that new immigrants planning to upgrade themselves can do so when they get E.I. First E.I is after about 900 hours of work. Agency jobs last from a couple of days to a few weeks after which there is a lean period before one can get the next assignment. Completion of 900 hours becomes a tall order, and even more so, completion without a gap between assignments. Frequent gaps between consecutive assignments, though no fault of the individual lead to lesser E.I. The employment insurance that they offer in case you lose your job is so pathetic that you cannot make both ends meet! Employment insurance was reduced from 90% a few years back to 70% then and now stands at 55%! Whatever little the immigrant may try to keep away for the rainy day is promptly consumed by exhorbitant rents so the immigrant is left with nothing at the end of the month. Some immigrants try to overcome the situation by doing co-op jobs. Here again the immigrant is put to disadvantage as he has to work full time, for not less than three to four months, with no guarantee of placement where he works, without being paid a single penny! Immigrants are on extremely meagre resources and no immigrant can do an unpaid full time job for three to four months as it would become a question of his survival. Probably with a little political will and redistribution of funds deployment, immigrants could be paid a stipend to cover their maintenance costs, part of which could be shared by industry as well as the government. This would be a win win situation for all parties concerned: The industry gets the right man with low initial costs, the immigrant lands more smoothly into his field of expertise and the government can develop a realistic statistics of the quantum of real skilled labour requirements to be fulfilled by immigration. The question arises as to why immigrants continue to put up and stay here. Its not out of love of the land. The immigrant is in the most unenviable situation. I have come across highly qualified engineers who come to this country by selling off all their assets back home. Even if they may have retained their jobs for a limited period, for them it is akin to starting life afresh like a 25 year old as they have sold everything, before arrival to this land of promises and fortunes.

We had a Tory Government in Ontario. This government did yeoman service to immigrants by freezing the minimum wage rates for 9 years! This government decontrolled the rents so rents became unmanageable for middle class and new immigrants. While previously 80% of the apartments had a moderate rent of less than 800$ per month now less than 20% were available in that range. Pressure on the food banks increased, pressure on subsidized housing increased, hardships became unbearable for immigrants. The message is loud and clear: This country is not interested in the welfare of immigrants. They are interested in strengthening their economy at the expense of the immigrants. This has been the longtime philosophy of America: Exploit the countries around the world and enjoy the highest standards of living at their expense. In Canada there are two Canada's: The native Canada and the non-native Canada. It is a divide between the native born and the outsiders. Native Canada enjoys the highest standards of living at the expense of non native Canada. When U.S was a developing nation they brought labour from Africa to work for them. They exploited Africa of its cheap labour. At one time India and China were the two richest economies. The British exploited India economically and reduced it to penury. In this connection it is worthwhile reading the book "Economic surveys by Karl Marx". He has clearly outlined giving facts and figures how the British exploited India and the world in general... Today we are in a modern world. So Canada has developed a more refined and sophisticated way of exploiting the intellectual skills of the nations in Asia. It is worthwhile noting the sequence of exploitation: first exploitation of unskilled African labour, then economy of countries around the world and now exploitation of intellectual skills! This country is committing crimes against humanity! This country is blessed to get the best qualified professionals from around the world. Policy makers could have applied their skills in making the economy of this country vibrant and competitive with the U.S by properly channelizing and utilizing the skills of immigrants rather than playing second fiddle to the U.S. This is a mixed reaction which I have by speaking to various immigrants. You may modify its language to remove anything offensive but without loss of meaning. It represents the extreme pain faced by immigrants today. I shall appreciate if you publish it in the interests of the common good.

This is the second and last article I write to highlight conditions of immigrants in Canada and at other places in the world. Trust you find it informative. As a sequel to my last article I received various reactions. Some appreciated my genuine efforts and suggested me to send it to as many newspapers as possible; others called me a downright pessimist and loser! I have tried to study this problem by discussing with numerous people: People who have stayed here for as long as 35 years! The information I gathered is very revealing and worth going through. They have given their opinions off the record. As in other countries here too there are pressure groups and lobby groups which lobby with the party/government to protect their own interests. As is always the case, the common man is the loser. Consider the following: [1] (One of the probable reasons given to me by people who have stayed here for several years [and many of them are also stuck in labour jobs inspite of qualifications] is that there is a tie-up between industry and the universities and colleges here. Both are privately run and form a mutual interest group. Therefore industries are obliged to give jobs to students passing out from educational institutions here only as students take loans to complete their education here. So even highly qualified immigrants are left out when it comes to giving jobs. If immigrants start getting jobs [and there is no dearth of qualified immigrants 250,000 every year as per one statistics] then the students here would be left out of jobs. This in turn would affect the educational institutions as fewer and fewer would opt to study in these insitutions which would be detrimental to the business of education. [2] CGA ia a Canadian qualification while CPA an American one. Until recently both were on par but then suddenly one day both the CGA practitioners here as well as the educational institutions realized their incomes getting affected by recognition of CPA. Certified professional accountants [CPA] were then derecognized by the government when educational institutions and CGAs lobbied with the government. So this was a purely political decision based on numbers game of politics; not because CGA is academically different or better than CPA! [3] The government cries hoarse about the shortage of doctors. Then why is it that the qualifications of highly successful doctors coming from abroad not recognized?

I spoke to some of these doctors as well as to old timers here. They told me that doctors lobbied with the government not to recognize overseas qualifications as their incomes would get affected. Incidentally it is worth noting that doctors earn very high incomes here ranging anywhere around 3,00,000$! Just to give an idea of just how many people have that kind of salary... directors of power stations earn around this figure! [4] As for those working in factories, the salaries are simply pathetic. Salaries start at 8$-11$ an hour and the yearly increments are a pathetic 1$ - 1.10$. These increments are supposed to be rewarding [?!] as such high [?] increments are present only in unionized environments. I spoke to some friends who are working in non-unionised environments. Their story was even more telling. They said their increments are anywhere between 25cents [I repeat: 25cents] to 35 cents a year! 98% of these immigrants working in factories are qualified professionals with experience ranging from 5-25 years in their fields of expertise! [5] I spoke to some people known to me in the banks: people working in banks in good positions of authority and who are here for a number of years. They told me that I should not think that the pension plans will suffice me after I retire. The plans are extremely meagre; so much so that people who bought houses in their lifetime had to sell them off and stay in old age homes so that the sale would give them enough funds for post retirement living for about 10 years when coupled with their income from pension plans. One person who is a Canadian citizen and stayed here for 35 years told me that he gets just 350-400$ pm! This figure was again given to me by another family and a man now studying taxation. He told me that the highest figure of payment last year stood at a measly 430$ pm.!

Now some news from around the world: Similar conditions exist in NZ. A friend was telling me that there are hardly any jobs available there. Seasonal jobs like fruit picking are there during spring but the rest of the year is difficult to survive. The majority works in food outlets, gas stations etc. Here too the advertisements are tailor made to suit their own white people when it comes to supervisory jobs so that immigrants are left out in cold. A typical ad would run something like this: "Wanted for a supervisory position: An experienced person around 25/30 with not less than 10 years experience in food outlets". Immigrants traveling to NZ go on a point rating. To get qualified to go as permanent residents to NZ they must have professional qualifications with a few years of experience. So they can never be there in NZ at the age of 30 with 10 years experience in food joints. Then who qualifies? The locals obviously, who are school drop-outs by 15 or 17 and start working in these outlets so they already have 10 years experience by the age of 30 to become supervisors! They have qualified professionals from abroad working under them. For the professionals of course this is highly unnerving resulting not only in a leaner paycheque but also a bruised ego! The vast majority whether in NZ or Canada or other countries calling for immigrants, drive taxis, work in Mcdonalds, KFCs etc... that includes not only those from India and other Asian countries but also those from Easten Europe, Ukraine, China etc! When the Canadian Prime Minister says this country needs 1,00,000 engineers every year he does not spell out that they are required for labour jobs and not for supervisory positions... Now that's what I call diplomacy and dirty politics! This represents a classic case of social subjugation and must be fought tooth and nail... by word of mouth, by educating people at large in home countries.

Some Truths about Canadian Immigration

Posted by: canadaindians@yahoogroups.com

Thousands of eager immigrants arrive in Canada only to discover their education and professional credentials are almost worthless. The situation is so bad that this week an Edmonton couple decided to sue the federal government. It is a great irony to many in the immigration field, and to newcomers themselves, a bitter joke. Canada has a shortage of skilled professionals, and yet thousands of internationally trained doctors, engineers, teachers and nurses are forced to deliver pizzas and drive taxis. Some immigrants believe that this is intentional, that Canada wants them only for their genetic potential. They may sweep floors and clean offices, but their offspring will be intelligent and creative. Why else would the government accept them and then make it so very difficult to have their credentials recognized? Citizenship and Immigration Canada bristles at such a suggestion, and advises immigrants to check the ministry's Website, which clearly warns newcomers there is no guarantee they will find work in their chosen profession. Still, frustration is mounting: This week, a British-trained accountant and his bookkeeper wife launched a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging that they were misled by immigration officials who assured them they would find good jobs here. Instead, the couple - he is originally from Sri Lanka and she from Malaysia - have spent five years in Edmonton shovelling snow, cleaning toilets and borrowing money to support their teenaged son. "What angers me is we are capable people. We have the credentials. We just can't get the jobs," complained Selladurai Premakumaran, who feels the government has shattered his hopes and dreams. Last year, when Canada changed the way it selects immigrants, many were happy to see the end of the old system, which matched newcomers with worker shortages. Critics had long complained that, by the time the physiotherapists and teachers arrived, those jobs had been filled and the labour shortages were in other fields. Now, Canada chooses immigrants based not on their occupation, but on their education, skills and language abilities. Applicants must score 67 of a possible 100 points to be accepted. Ostensibly, being talented and smart should make them more employable. But it isn't working out that way. Canada is recruiting the right kind of people, but they are stuck in a bottleneck, as the agencies and bodies that regulate the fields of medicine, engineering, teaching and nursing struggle to assess their qualifications. "We have a disaster on our hands," says Joan Atlin, executive director of the Association of International Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. "There are thousands of un- and under-employed foreign professionals across the country. At the same time, we have a shortage of skilled professionals, especially in the health-care field. We don't so much have a doctor shortage as an assessment and licensing bottleneck."

About 1,300 doctors from more than 80 countries have joined the association she heads, but she estimates there are many more out there. Ontario alone may have as many as 4,000; most of them still trying to get their medical licences. At the same time, there is a shortage of as many as 3,000 physicians across the country, especially in smaller communities in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario (provinces that have been forced to recruit doctors from South Africa, whose medical training Canada considers acceptable). A recent Statistics Canada study of 1,64,200 immigrants who arrived in 2000 and 2001 found that 70 per cent had problems entering the labour force. Six in every 10 were forced to take jobs other than those they were trained to do. The two most common occupational groups for men were science (natural and applied) and management, but most wound up working in sales and service or processing and manufacturing. As well as credentials, there is a problem with supply and demand. Patrick Coady, with the British Columbia Internationally Trained Professionals Network, believes that far too many engineers are coming - as many as 60 per cent of all those accepted each year. (In Ontario, from 1997 to 2001, nearly 40,000 immigrants listed engineering as their occupation.) "When they arrive, the Engineering Council for Canada evaluates their credentials, which sets up the engineer to think there are opportunities here," Mr. Coady says. "Then they discover that each province has a body that regulates the industry. They need up to 18 months of Canadian work experience before they will get professional engineering status. And, there isn't a great need for consulting engineers. A lot of the infrastructure has already been built in this country."

Michael Wu, a geotechnical engineer from China, is a classic example of what's happening. Accepted as a landed immigrant last spring, he came here with his wife and child, leaving behind a relatively prosperous life in Beijing, and now works for $7 an hour in a Vancouver chocolate factory. Back in Beijing, "I had a three - bedroom apartment and took taxis everywhere - the Chinese government sent me to build a stadium in St. Lucia," says Mr. Wu, who has a PhD. "Here, no-one will hire me. Many engineering companies think engineers make false documents. They are suspicious of my qualifications. I never imagined I'd end up working in a factory. But I will keep trying. Every month I go to the Vancouver Geotechnical Society lecture." Susan Scarlett of the Immigration Department points out that regulating the professions is a provincial, not federal, responsibility. "We advise people who are thinking of coming to Canada to prepare by really researching how their credentials will be assessed." Ms. Atlin says that "Canada has been very slow to change. Our regulatory systems have not caught up with our immigration policies." But some relief may be on the horizon because the issue has become such a political flashpoint. A national task force is about to report to the deputy minister of health on the licensing of international medical graduates. And this month Denis Coderre, the federal Immigration Minister, announced that he wants to streamline the process of recognizing foreign credentials, and have provinces announce their inventory of needs so Ottawa can work to fill the shortages. A doctor 'ready to go anywhere, rural Saskatchewan, small-town Ontario...' Tina Ureten, a diminutive, well-dressed physician from Turkey, was always the hardest-working child in a family of hard workers. She knew from an early age what she wanted to be, and left home to study science, math and biology at an elite boarding school in Ankara, the Turkish capital. As a scholarship student, she endured ridicule from her friends when she chose to spend summer after summer honing her language skills at a special English-language camp. She aced her university entrance exams, and was one of 20,000 candidates in a field of 400,000 to be accepted by the nation's medical schools. By 30, she had been appointed associate professor of nuclear medicine, a hi-tech field that uses radioactive materials for diagnosis. Had she stayed in Turkey, she would be at the top of her profession today, a full professor in a department. Instead, she met a Turkish engineer at an international conference, and ended up immigrating with him to Toronto.

Dr. Ureten, now 42, knew it would be difficult to get her medical licence here. But she didn't know it would be such a bureaucratic, disheartening and ultimately fruitless journey. "I sent my application to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons 2½ years ago, and I haven't even received a response. I worry my file is lost in a drawer somewhere," she says. "I called my MP and she called the college, and said they were driving her crazy too. "I am ready to go anywhere, rural Saskatchewan, small-town Ontario. The irony is, almost every province has a shortage in nuclear medicine. This country needs my skills." When she came here, Dr. Ureten knew she'd have to write exams and was prepared to retrain. She and her husband sponsored their in-laws to come and look after their two young children so she could spend her days in the library studying. It took her two years to write three of the Medical Council of Canada's evaluation exams, because there is a six-month gap between exams (not the case in the United States). She passed all three tests but wasn't accepted in the medical residency program. More than 150 people applied for one position in nuclear medicine, and the odds are stacked against foreign-trained doctors. (In Ontario, foreign-trained doctors cannot even compete directly for residency positions open to graduating medical students, but are restricted to a few specialties in short supply.) There is a separate stream for foreign-trained doctors, but it has only 125 spaces for graduates in specific fields - and nuclear medicine is not one of them. Dr. Ureten fingers an inch-thick binder, which contains all of her credentials, carefully translated and annotated. There are her fellowships at the University of Wisconsin and in Basel, Switzerland; her training course with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and dozens of peer-reviewed articles published in international science journals. She sent them all off to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in May, 2001. In the past, the college approved the credentials only of doctors who trained in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and England, but two years ago announced a program encouraging all foreign-trained physicians to send in their documents.

Since then, the college has received 600 applications from more than 140 countries, and approved 60 international medical graduates to take Canadian exams in their specialties, says its director of education, Dr.Nadia Mikhael. Dr.Ureten's case is considered "inconclusive," she says. "This case has taken a long time because we are still waiting for Turkey to provide evidence so that we can judge the accreditation system of their postgraduate medical education system. "We don't want to compromise our Canadian standards. And we have to make other specialties a priority, like gynecology, anesthesiology and obstetrics." Joan Atlin, executive director of the Association of International Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, says it is misleading for the college even to invite international physicians to send in their résumés because it is impossible to assess the programs of hundreds of medical schools around the world. She believes a better solution is to assess people on the job. Ontario recently launched a clearing-house program that would do just this: assess fully trained foreign graduates during six-month rotations in hospitals. "This is the right approach, but it is really just a drop in the bucket." And it won't help Dr. Ureten because nuclear medicine, once again, is not one of the five specialties in the fast-track program. "I feel like they are making it impossible. There are some authorities who just don't want foreign doctors in the system," she complains. "I am ready to go anywhere. There is a need in Canada for people like me, trained, ready to go." Between cramming for medical exams, she found time to train as an ultrasound technician and a medical and cardiac sonographer. Recently, she opened UC Baby in Mississauga, one of the first clinics in Canada to offer pregnant couples a three-dimensional ultrasound and real-time movies of their unborn babies. "I'm proud of my clinic," she says, "but I still feel I'm overqualified for this." She yearns for her true love. "I have met many smart, skilled people from many countries, and you know what? Many are leaving for the U.S., where doctors can more easily be integrated into the system."- Marina Jimenez A need to nurse Milica Cerovsek, 46, was a nurse in a military hospital in Sarajevo for more than 17 years: She tended soldiers in the intensive-care unit, assisted with colonoscopies and tended to all manner of emergencies in the surgical unit. She loved her job so much she sometimes volunteered to work double shifts, forfeiting a night's sleep to nurse patients around the clock, much to her husband's chagrin.

In 1992, conflict in the region spread to open war, people split on ethnic lines, and soon the city was under attack. Although an ethnic Serb, Ms. Cerovsek didn't want to fight; she wanted safety for her two young children. Using her daughter's illness as a pretext, she fled to Belgrade to see a skin specialist, knowing she would never return. Two years later, she arrived in Calgary as a political refugee, and was soon joined by her husband, a professor of aeronautical engineering. As well as their homeland, they had lost their family, culture and status as respected professionals. Ms. Cerovsek agreed to put her career on hold while her husband, reduced to delivering pizzas for $7 an hour, went back to school to retrain as an engineer. In 1997, she finally was able to enter the work force: she qualified as a massage therapist to pay for the long, arduous process of becoming a Canadian nurse. Two years ago, she applied to the Alberta Association of Registered Nurses, gathering together the documents necessary to complete the Assessment of Eligibility for Registration. She had to get in touch with her nursing school in Sarajevo and pay to have transcripts of her marks sent directly to the AARN. The association asked her to take a course in English proficiency, and spend $2,000 on a one-year refresher program in nursing at a community college. She did both, only to be told she lacked credits in obstetrical and psychiatric nursing. "I couldn't believe it. They asked me to go back and do these courses after all my many years of experience," Ms. Cerovsek says. "They said, 'According to your papers, you lack 35 hours of obstetrical nursing training in Sarajevo.' But I had thousands of hours of experience delivering babies, giving injections, assisting doctors in surgery and doing all kinds of nursing." Ms. Cerovsek also planned to pursue geriatric nursing, and had no intention of working in a delivery room, or a psychiatric ward. "I had to spend several thousand more dollars taking these courses. At that point, I really felt like giving up because it seemed so bureaucratic." Donna Hutton, executive director of the AARN, sympathizes but says the association is responsible for maintaining standards and is working "with the government and educational institutes to develop bridging programs for international nurses." The perseverance that saw Ms. Cerovsek through the upheaval of Sarajevo is helping her through her marathon quest to become a nurse in a province that needs them. (Alberta has a shortage and in the next five years see 10 to 20 per cent of its nurses will reach retirement age.) She recently completed the two courses and is ready to begin clinical training and preparing for the national exam. The process has taken four years, and cost about $6,000. "I know so many nurses from Sarajevo who would become nurses tomorrow, but it's too expensive and complicated," she says. "My daughter came home from school and said, 'There is a huge shortage of nurses. Should I study nursing?' "I told her, 'You should only do it if you really love it like I have.' It's been like my third child and I can't wait to get back to it."

Prophecies of Nostradamus on World War III

Source: http://ww-iii.tripod.com/
_____________________________________________________
Hi dear all... This article is posted just for your interest sake!
This has nothing to do with Canadian Immigration... Moderators
_____________________________________________________

Those studying the Prophecies of Nostradamus say that he has indicated the possibility of a Third World War. Indeed, in some of his quatrains he mentions terrifying battles and events occurring in and around Europe, Asia and Africa which do not seem to have happened till date. There is, however, a difference of opinion among the experts about the overall sequence of these events and most of all, their timing.

My approach to deciphering the quatrains is based on the assumption that if a world wide war of this magnitude indeed takes place, it must have been mentioned in prophecies written in various religious texts and prophecies of non-religious nature which are part of the folklore of different cultures. I believe that a comparative study of all such prophecies vis-à-vis those of Nostradamus, along with insights into the local culture, tradition, history etc. may enable us to construct a more detailed picture of the prophesized events than what is possible by studying an individual prophecy in isolation. Most of these prophecies concentrate on the local perspective of a global war. But by finding out the similarities with other prophecies, we can find the global connection of the local events.

Contrary to what many of us think, prophesized events are neither inevitable nor are their time of occurrence fixed. A prophesized event is the one which is most likely to happen. It is merely one of the several possibilities. Similarly, even if an event takes place, its timing is not fixed. The deciding factor is the human free will. Collective human free will can alter an event, change its timing or even stop it entirely. Some events are hard to change for it requires a collective decision moving away entirely from the "logical" course. Sometimes, even an individual's decision may alter an event having wide implications. Most affected by human free will is the timing of an event. While collective human behavior is hard to change, the time of the event taking place changes according to collective or individual decisions. Some prophecies do indicate a timing of the war, not in terms of the exact date but by mentioning the appearance of certain signs like a specific astrological conjunction or an event preceding the war.

Broadly speaking, the various prophecies indicate that the Third World War will be preceded by an unprecedented increase in large-scale natural calamities all over the world like big earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, famines etc. Localized wars, revolutions, political disturbances and large scale terrorist attacks will increase. Assassinations of high profile leaders will take place and tensions between various countries will rise. The economies of various countries will be severely affected, leading to unemployment or inflation. The actual war would be of a short duration but is said to be several times more destructive in terms of the cost of human lives and property than all the previous world wars taken together.

To summarize what I have analyzed in this site, based on various prophecies, the Third World War would start when Russia suddenly attacks Europe in coalition with certain Middle Eastern countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Libya and probably China. Prior to the World War III, USA would be severely crippled by terrorist attacks, assassinations, a civil war and an economic collapse. Prior to that, there would be a civil war in Italy, during which the Vatican would be overrun by the mob. The Pope would escape but many of his cardinals would die. The palace and the chapels would be burnt down. While on the run, the Pope would be captured and killed. There would be a schism in the Vatican and three Popes would reign at the same time, propped up by competing powers. Supported by US and other catholic countries, the Papacy would be shifted elsewhere and a "true" Pope would be elected there. Europe would be almost overrun by the Russian and eastern forces and many of its cities and also those of USA would be destroyed by conventional weapons as well as weapons of mass destruction like nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Russia would attack from the North as well as from the East of Europe. An Arab / Iranian army would attack from the south. The Pope, and later the British Prime Minister would be forced to flee to the US. Paris would be destroyed by "revolutionaries" within France. The attack on the US would stop the Civil War there. New types of weapons, like Chemical Weapons and particularly what appears to be portable Laser weapons, would be used in the war. At the same time an unprecedented disaster would take place. A comet would suddenly appear over the earth in the peak of the war, would break into several pieces and fall to the earth. Smaller pieces would rain fire on cities and forests all over the world, burning them down. A large piece would fall into the sea creating a Tsunami of Biblical proportions, flooding parts of Europe (including Britain), USA and Africa. One medium sized chunk would fall on land, creating a huge crater, resulting in earthquake and volcano activities all over the world. This event would loosen the grip of the invading army over Europe. A joint coalition of US and European forces under the leadership of a charismatic leader "Chiren" would organize a counter-attack against the invading forces in Europe and elsewhere. The Russian forces in Europe would be almost destroyed by the counter-attack and this would lead to a revolution in Russia and the Russian leader who started the war would be assassinated. Russia, under a new leader would then join the western coalition and fight against its former allies, who would eventually be defeated. The Pope would return to Europe and Chiren would be crowned the Monarch. Peace would return to the world after a loss of almost two-thirds of its population and the wealth of nations accumulated over millennia. But this would surely not be the end of the world.

It is hard to understand at this stage why Russia would suddenly attack Europe. Yet, most of the prophecies seem to agree on this part. Logically too, it is only Russia which has the capability to take on the might of USA and Europe, even after the break up of its empire. It still has sufficient nuclear weapons, technology and manpower to do so. The overall picture of the events leading to the World War is not clear. What appears from some prophecies is that immediately preceding the war, Russia would have tensions with the west over some Middle Eastern affair. But the actual war would begin after the assassination of a political leader in the Balkan area, who could be the famous "Mabus" often discussed in the context of Nostradamus's prophecies. The Russian attack might be a result of its perception that the assassination, probably in one of its friendly countries, could be a prelude to an western invasion and the best way would be to pre-empt it. A major terrorist attack on the US, assassination of some world leaders and another war in the Middle East may precede the Third World War, apart from numerous natural disasters. Some prophecies say that before the 3rd World War, Israel would grant statehood to Palestine. Then oil would be discovered there and a war would start between Israel and Palestine. It is probable that it is this war that would generate tensions between USA and Russia, since US and Russian fleets are said to confront each other in a tense standoff in the Mediterranean before the war in yet another prophecy. The Bible and the Islamic texts also mention Iraq. It is said that the river Euphrates would dry up and something would be discovered in its dried up riverbed, which would cause much tension among nations. There are also prophecies on the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque / Temple Mount in Jerusalem before the war and the death of Saddam Hussein in US custody even before his trial begins.

With the death of Pope John Paul II on 3rd April 2005, the Prophecies of St. Malachy have once again become the topic of discussion. Malachy termed Pope John Paul II - the 110th Pope since his prophecy, as "De Labore Solis" or "The labor of the Sun". Pope John Paul II was born on 18th May, 1920, the day when a Solar Eclipse took place. His burial was set on 8th April, 2005 and on that day a Solar Eclipse took place once again, making the prophecy of Malachy more meaningful. The next Pope, the 111th and the penultimate, was termed "The Glory of Olive" by Malachy. "Peter the Roman" coming after him, would be the last Pope, during whose time, the world would come to an end. Many say that the original prophecy did not mention "Peter the Roman" and his name was inserted afterwards and that "The Glory of the Olive" would be the last Pope. This prophecy was fulfilled (or made to fulfill) by Cardinal Ratzinger, who after his election as Pope took the name "Pope Benedict XVI". St. Benedict started the order of Benedictines or "Olivetans", as they are popularly known. However, if we go by the prophecies of Abbott "Merlin" Joachim, St. Malachy's prophecy would signify the deeds during his Papacy, rather than the name he takes. There are some contradictions in our understanding of the prophecies of St. Malachy and those of Nostradamus. But many prophecies, including those of Nostradamus speak of a "Great Pope" reigning after the war along with the "Great Monarch". Nostradamus says in V.56 - Through the death of a very old Pope will be elected a Roman of good age. It will be said of him that he weakens the (Holy) Seat, but he will hold it long and with stinging effort. This quatrain may refer to the election of an aged Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, after the death of a very old Pope Following the death of Pope John Paul II., Joseph Ratzinger, aged 78 was elected Pope Benedict XVI. He was one of the oldest Popes in history at the time of election. Criticized by many within the Church as fundamentalist and divisive, Nostradamus seems to say that this Pope would reign for a long time inspite of the criticism and would run the affairs of the Church with a strong hand.

There are numerous prophecies on Earth Changes occurring before or during the war. Notable are the visions of Edgar Cayce in this respect. It is predicted that the US coastline from Los Angeles to San Francisco would break up and sink into the sea following a huge earthquake, resulting in the death of millions. Several other areas all over the world would sink into the sea, including Japan and new lands would rise from the sea in many places. Edgar Cayce said that Atlantis, located near the Bimini Islands would rise from the sea. The weather would also change drastically in many areas of the world. We are already experiencing changes in the global weather pattern, the last decade being the warmest in the recorded history.

NOSTRADAMUS - Prophecies of Our Century

Source: http://nostradamus.freehomepages.com/
_____________________________________________________
Hi dear all... This article is posted just for your interest sake!
This has nothing to do with Canadian Immigration... Moderators
_____________________________________________________

World War III will soon take place. Russia, Iran-led Muslims, and China will form Eastern Alliance. Russia and Iran-led Muslims shall attack and occupy Europe.

The Holy Father will flee from Rome and will be martyred in Southern France. The Church will suffer the formal Schism in which the underground shall be the true Church.

Russia will occupy North and Central Europe while Iran will ravage the South. Weapons of mass destruction will be used to inflict death and damage on millions in Europe, on French, Italian cities, England, and Central Europe. Rome and Paris shall be destroyed. England will be innundated under sea. Russia navy shall form a complete blockade of England causing a great stavartion. US and China shall fight many mortal battles. China will become a terror in Asia, will conquer most Russian territories. Many civil wars or civil unrests. Everyone seems to fight everyone else as Charity no longer reigns as men have become human beasts. World War III will last about 20 years or more ( its duration depends on us.)

Close to the end of wars, a gigantic asteroid will collide with Earth by 2026AD causing great flood, and the most extraordinary event equivalent the Deluge will happen, which is Three Days of Darkness. In those three days, the earth will be covered with complete darkness, all man-made structures will collapse, all evil elements of the earth will be purged. Only individual homes blessed by God will be preserved. At the end, two out of three persons or more on earth shall perish.

These calamities are the Divine Chastisement due to our sins, most notably loss of Faith, abortion, homosexual acts, divorce, adultery, and other sexual promiscuities. World War can take place any time, just a matter of years or months (2006? 2007?).

MORTAL CALAMITIES THAT I SEE: (04-01-05)
Italian towns ravaged: Ravenne, Bresse, Turin, Verceilli.
Muslims (Lybia) captures Malta and other islands.
Southern France ruined: Tours, Orleans, Blois, Angiers, Reims, Nantes.
French fleet completely destroyed in Mediterranean Sea ( MedSea.)
France endures 30 years of war.
Armaggedon, the final battle with no apparent victor.
2025 AD, China conquers Russia.
France and Italy suffer most.
Feast of the eagle (US),the invasion on Italy begins.
Christians incinerated alive.
Famine and starvation.
2026AD, large asteroid causes floods, sink many countries.
Muslims capture Gibraltar, Pisa, Avignon, Turin.
One million French killed or captured in Southern France.
Ruined are Bazaz, Lestore, Condom, Auch, Agen, Carcasone, Bordeaux, Toulose, Bayonne.
Ransack in Rome And Tuscan.
Spain attacks France.
NATO in disarray.
Eastern Alliance: Russia, Muslims (Iran), China.
French children in Southern France suffer much.
Muslims destroy all Med Sea coastlands.
Eastern submarines attack Italian coasts.
European prisoners starved to death on barren islands.
Korean war take place in 2006AD.
Devastations in Loire, Saone, Rhone region, Garrone.
Tessin, Ticino destroyed.
Weapon of mass destruction (WOMD) in South France.
WOMD fired from Dalmatia.
Central Europe suffer.
Flood in Italy, Genoa.
Half English island will submerge under ocean.
Venice destroyed, their women raped.
Most part of mankind will perish ( two-thirds.)
Mass extermination by Muslims.
French navy is surrounded, sunk to sea bottom.
Geneva suffers starvation.
Russia attacks London.
French troop suffer great loss in Italy.
War foretold for Geneva.
Drought in Balkan and Italy.
WOMD (weapon of mass destruction) over the Mediterranean Sea (Med Sea).
Full-scale terrorist attacks on US soil.
Crazy mob burn down Vatican.
250,000 French will die in Southern France.
Israel and Palestine will fight.
Iran occupies South France.
China become terror in Asia.
Droughts, man-made earthquakes around Med Sea.
Floods from Hebrus, Po, Tagus, Rhone rivers.
WOMD in South France.
WOMD on Italian soil.
Russia attacks Germany.
US take Milan with heavy casualties.
Paris destroyed, French capital moved.
France suffer great losses in Rome.
Military defeats for US.
Majority of Muslim populations will die at the end.
Spain becomes Iranian allies.
Great Britain suffers floods.
Naval blockage around England, causes starvation.
Marseilled attacked.
St. Quitin, northern France, overrun by Russia.
True believers burnt alive.
US-China conflicts in the 21st century.
Torture, sex slaves taken by Muslims in Italy.
Nuclear explosion in Geneva.
Russia over the Alps to France.
Italian wells poisoned with germs and chemical, new staph disease.
Rhine citizens incinerated in Malta.
Italian concentration camps contaminated with WOMD.
Mass exodus, widespread starvation in South France.
China dams destroyed, flooding.
Chemical weapons used, biological warfare, drought in Italy.
Iran drives deep into France and Western Europe.
Russia & Iran plan to conquer the world. Russia & Iran carve Europe into two halves.
Incineration, mass graves in Pharos and Rhodes islands.
Parma taken.
Iran controls Med Sea.
Muslim conquer Spain and Italy.
US will not help Europe at first. Russia occupy Hungary and Czech.
Central Europe, Switzerland, Hungary, Austria will be leveled. Major battles there.
Muslims betray, destroy Greece.
Russian navy attack North Europe, nuclear bombs inducing earthquakes and floods.
Russia and China suffer mutual destruction at the end of WW III.
Muslim occupiers force Islam conversion, transport prisoners overseas, install antipope.
Italy covered with blood.
No winning side, war dragged on.
Only few Russian and Muslim soldiers come home at the end.
Paris, London, Rome are the modern Tyre, completely destroyed, uninhabitable.
Artificial weather, nuclear explosions over Med Sea, sinking many ships.
Russia, Iran navies set sail form Black Sea to Italy.
Muslim/Russia in the West; China/Korea in the East.
Iran-Muslims defeated around 2025AD.
Savonna, Albenga slaughtered.
Pavia, Milan, Geno taken by Muslims easily.
Same fate for Ticino, Loire, Garonne, Saone, Seine, Tain, Gironde.
China, Russia, Iran, Muslims, Europe all chase death, one-thirds left.
Brutal and merciless Russians and Muslims occupy Geneva, Britain, Genoa.
Slaughter of clergy.
Russia occupy and brutal in Belgium.
South & East France stained with blood.
Entire Italy will be ravaged.
Missile with WOMD in Nicene.
Muslims loot Vatican treasures.
Russia Iran created September 11th to trap US.
Chemical biological attacks in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Mass grave in Jerusalem.
WW III, more than 20 years. (2006 -2026?)
Spain invades France.
Cardinals slaughtered, Rome, Rimini, Prato, Colonna being attacked and suffer.
The False Crusade. US help comes too late.
Major battles in Rochelle, France.
Muslims overrun Avignon.
Nuclear explosion in Geneva.
WW III is the expiation for sins.
WOMD dropped on Muslim homelands.
Narbonne, Bayonne, Foix devastated.
Christians, Jews put to death.
European children transported overseas, mass extermination.
Eastern Alliance: Russia, Iran, Muslims, Spain, Greece, Central/Eastern European countries.
Manhattan sink to ocean due to terrorist attack.
Clergy and civilians sent to concentration camps.
Hungary and Central Europe forced to convert to Islam or die.
WOMD on Hungary and Central Europe.
Being attacked: Rome, Venice, Milan, Lucca, Florence.