The Babylonian Captivity Ploy
Benson C Sail
THIS EARTH, MY BROTHER
Nebuchadnezzar has the Jews exiled to his own domain to wreck Jerusalem’s prospects of hosting King Anu
Circa 4000 BC, when Nibiru King Anu, “Our Father Who Art In Heaven”, concluded his visit to Earth and was now bidding farewell to his seniormost children Jehovah-Enlil, Ninmah, and Enki (a step-son), this is what he said as per Zechariah Sitchin’s The Lost Book of Enki: “Whatever Destiny for the Earth and the Earthlings intended, let it so be! If Man, not Anunnaki, to inherit the Earth is destined, let us destiny help. Give Mankind knowledge, up to a measure secrets of heaven and Earth them teach, Laws of justice and righteousness teach them, then depart and leave!”
It was onward from 4000 BC, during the astrological Age of Taurus, that the Sumerian civilisation, a giant leap in mankind’s knowledge horizons, blossomed and so Anu’s wish was fulfilled. As such, the next time Nibiru showed up, Anu was certain to order the Anunnaki’s evacuation of Earth as their mission of civilising mankind will have been complete.
Nibiru was expected to re-appear at the very turn of the 6th century BC. Just around that time, word began to circulate among Anunnaki circles that the arrival into the ecliptic of planet Nibiru was close at hand but KING ANU WAS UNLIKELY TO SHOW UP; INSTEAD, HE HAD WIRED ORDERS TO THE EFFECT THAT ENLIL, ENKI, AND THE REST OF THE ANUNNAKI PREPARE TO LEAVE EARTH. Thus it was that in 605 BC, Ishkur-Adad instructed the prophet Hosea to begin to prophesy about Nibiru so as to alert mankind to the possible perils its proximity to Earth might wreak on the planet.
Marduk and his son Nabu, however, took the news that Anu might not pitch with a grain of salt. To them, it was a ploy on the part of the Enlilites to have Marduk caught off-guard when the King arrived and therefore irreparably scandalise him. As far as Babylonia (where Marduk was based) was concerned, preparations for Anu’s arrival would proceed regardless. Marduk was the only god with a vested interest in Earth as he had been banned from ever returning to Nibiru for marrying an Earthling woman. Both his first wife Sarpanit I and his second wife Sarpanit II were demigods, that is, part Earthling and part Anunnaki. IN GENERAL, HOWEVER, THE GODS (AS THE ANUNNAKI WERE REFERRED TO) BEGAN TO DEPART EARTH AT THIS JUNCTURE.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR TAKES THE REINS
In order to see to the stability of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which he had founded in 625 BC after trouncing his Assyrian overlords into oblivion, Nabupolassar was aware he could not do that singlehandedly: he needed the embrace and co-operation of the Persians, then known as Medes. It were the Medes in point of fact who had made his defeat of the Assyrians possible when they allied with him. In a bid to secure the Medo-Babylonian alliance, Nabupolassar had his eldest son Nebuchadnezzar marry the daughter of the King of the Medes.
Now, with the return of Nibiru just around the corner, the race to control the space-related sites became even more frantic. Until now, the Egyptians had been of the same accord with Babylon in resisting Assyrian rule. Now they decided it was time they ceased and desisted from playing second fiddle to the Babylonians and set about charting their own hegemonic destiny. This was the resolve of Pharaoh Necho II, who came to power in 610 BC.
Necho wanted both Jerusalem and Baalbek to be in Egyptian hands by the time King Anu arrived, not in Babylon’s or any other nation for that matter. If he were to achieve these ends, he needed allies: that’s how he roped in the Assyrians despite the fact that they were already a spent force and all they could muster was the last kick of a dying horse.
In 609 BC, the Egyptian forces were on their way to reinforce the Assyrians in their desperate endeavours to stand up to Babylon when they were intercepted by King Josiah of Judah, who had allied himself with Babylon, at Megiddo. Sadly, Josiah’s forces were routed and Josiah himself was killed. The Egyptians pushed ahead, managed to cross the river Euphrates, and took control of Baalbek. In 605 BC, they advanced to Carchemish on the frontier between today’s Turkey and Syria, where they were now poised to capture Harran.
At the time, an aged Nabupolassar was terminally ill and so he mandated his son Nebuchadnezzar, who was about 30 years of age, to head the Babylonian army and tackle the Egyptians. In June that same year, Nebuchadnezzar confronted the Egyptians at Carchemish and gave them a very good drubbing. He pursued them all the way to the Sinai Peninsula, thus liberating “the sacred forest (Baalbek) in Lebanon which Nabu and Marduk desired”. He relentlessly chased after the Egyptians and retreated only after he received news of the death of his father in August that same year, whereupon he rushed back to Babylon to be crowned as the new King of Babylonia the following month.
However, Necho still had Judah in his sphere of influence. Josiah was succeeded by the younger of his two older sons Jehoahaz, who declared Judah’s independence from Egypt. The freedom was short-lived as Necho deposed Jehoahaz after he had reigned for a mere three months and replaced him with the rightful heir Jehoiakim but who was given strict instructions that he was under obligation to toe the Egyptian line through thick and thin. Jehoahaz was taken prisoner to Egypt, where he saw his last days. Would Nebuchadnezzar simply fold his arms whilst Necho held the all-important Judah in custody?
NEBUCHADNEZZAR READIES BABYLON FOR KING ANU
On the day he was being sworn in as the new King of Babylonia, Nebuchadnezzar intoned thus for the attention of the god Marduk: “O merciful Marduk, may the house that I have built endure forever, may I be satiated with its splendour, attain old age therein, with abundant offspring, and receive therein tribute of the kings of all regions, from all mankind.” Much of what he entreated his god came to pass as Babylon became the most powerful city-state in the region and Nebuchadnezzar himself the greatest warrior-king and ruler in the known world.
By 600 BC, Babylon was so aglitter it was regarded as the centre of the world. Indeed, a contemporary clay tablet, which is on display in the British Museum, presents the ancient world as revolving around Babylon. “I have made the city of Babylon to be the foremost among all the countries and every habitation; its name I elevated to be the most praised of all the sacred cities,” Nebuchadnezzar wrote in his inscriptions.
Nebuchadnezzar ascended to the throne at a most momentous point in time – when the Return (of the planet Nibiru) was just around the corner. So to him, practically every action he took had to take this phenomenon into account. It was a time period “marked by decisive actions and fast moves, for there was no time to lose —the nearing Return was now Babylon’s prize!”
Nebuchadnezzar had decided that King Anu was to be hosted not in Jerusalem but in Babylon. Babylon was to replace Jerusalem as the new “Navel of the Earth”, the Duranki in Sumerian, meaning “The Principal Link between Heaven (Nibiru mainly but the ecliptic in general) and Earth”. As such, massive renovation and construction works were to be undertaken in the great city and on the double. Marduk’s temple-abode, a seven-stage ziggurat, the Esagila, was renovated and rebuilt and renamed the Etemen-Anki, meaning “The Temple of the Foundation for Heaven-Earth” to accord with its new role as the Navel of the Earth. It was equipped as an astronomical observatory from which to monitor, primarily, the approaching Nibiru – exactly the same thing that was done in Uruk when Anu’s visit to Earth was imminent circa 4000 BC.
A new processional way leading to the Sacred Precinct for Anu’s holy feet to tread upon and a magnificent gate to usher through the great god were constructed. The iconic, glimmering blue gate was named the Ishtar Gate, after Inanna-Ishtar, who served as King Anu’s sexual hostess every time he came to Earth. A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate (see accompanying image) can be seen in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR SEIZES JERUSALEM
If Babylon was to be the undisputed Navel of the Earth, it was imperative that Nebuchadnezzar neutralise Jerusalem; otherwise, there would be two geopolitically eminent centres of power contending for King Anu’s attentions when he turned up on the planet. Nebuchadnezzar had his sights set on Jerusalem from the very day he was crowned King in 605 BC and even as the coronation was in progress in Babylon, he gave orders for a detachment of his army that had trounced the Egyptians and was still in the Canaanite region to besiege Jerusalem. The army did that without encountering much resistance. The reigning King of Judah, Jehoiakim, agreed to the status of a vassal king, albeit it reluctantly so.
The Babylonian army ransacked the Temple of some of its golden articles and took them to Babylon. Some members of the royal family were also taken along, plus the leading lights of the Jewish intelligentsia, the latter of whom included the famous Daniel, Meshack, Abednego and Ezekiel. The event marked the first of a series of deportations that were to follow.
By December 604 BC, a number of local states in Syria and Canaan had pledged their subjection to Babylonian rule after Nebuchadnezzar had taken control of the Philistine Plain. The Babylonian Empire would in time stretch from the Persian Gulf on the south, through the ancient rivers of Tigris and Euphrates in the middle, and ending to the west with Syria and Palestine.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho had regrouped after his drubbing by Nebuchadnezzar in 605 BC and had been rebuilding his arsenal and honing his battle field prowess. It paid off, for when his forces faced off again with the Babylonians on the borders of Egypt in 601 BC, the seemingly invincible Nebuchadnezzar was defeated and forced to retreat. Buoyed by this development, Jehoiakim, plus several other Babylonian vassal states in the region, rebelled and declared independence against the advice of the prophet Jeremiah.
It took three years for Nebuchadnezzar to recover from this setback and to be in a position where he was reinvigorated enough to launch a renewed assault to regain control. His immediate target as expected was the critically important Judah. In December 598 BC, he had Jerusalem surrounded. The siege, during which Jehoiakim was killed, apparently by Jewish dissidents who abhorred his daring against Babylonia, and replaced with his son Jeconiah, lasted for three months and with Necho’s assistance, which Jehoiakim had counted upon, not forthcoming, the city surrendered in March 597 BC. Jehoiakim’s youthful uncle Zedekiah was installed as the vassal King.
Jeconiah, his mother, and his captains were deported to Babylon. “All the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths; none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land,” the Bible documents in 2 KINGS 24:14. This was the Second Deportation.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR DESTROYS TEMPLE, DEPOPULATES JERUSALEM
In 590 BC, King Zedekiah decided he would no longer be the puppet of Babylon. Just like Nebuchadnezzar, he wanted to be in full and unmitigated control of the Holy City in the event King Anu pitched up. But he was under no illusion he could throw off the yoke of Babylon singlehandedly. So in the fourth year of his reign he – once again against the advice of the far-sighted Jeremiah – joined a coalition that was being formed by Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon in rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar.
Upon getting wind of the rumours of these machinations, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Zedekiah to Babylon to administer to him a warn and caution statement but it seemed he took no heed. The following year, Nebuchadnezzar decided to pounce: he captured all the cities of Judah except three, one of which was Jerusalem and which he proceeded to besiege for the third time.
Finding himself in dire straits, Zedekiah made an alliance with Pharoah Apries of Egypt and indeed the latter rushed to reinforce him. In the ensuing lull in hostilities, Nebuchadnezzar pulled a stunt by lifting the siege and Apries withdrew. No sooner had Apries done so than Nebuchadnezzar hemmed in on Jerusalem once again: Zedekiah was on his own. Jerusalem was under siege from January 587 to July 586 BC. The following are the circumstances and aftermath of the siege according to one chronicler:
“Conditions in the city became increasingly desperate. Although the people had had time to prepare, their food supplies eventually began to run out. Cannibalism became a grim reality. Despite Jeremiah's counsel to surrender the king refused to do so and just as the last of the food in the city was exhausted the Babylonians broke through the wall. “Zedekiah fled with remains of his army, but was overtaken and captured near Jericho. From there he was brought before Nebuchadnezzar at his field headquarters at Riblah, his sons were executed in front of him and he was blinded. From there he was taken in chains to Babylon. The key members of his cabinet were executed before Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah shortly afterwards.
“A large part of the population of Jerusalem was put to the sword and everything of value plundered. The bronze articles from the Temple were cut up and removed and the building together with the palace and the important houses were set on fire. “In order to ensure that the city would never rebel against him again, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the Imperial Guard, ordered that the walls be demolished. All who survived in the city were carried off into exile in Babylon, with the exception of the very poor of the land.
The starving population exchanged whatever riches they had left for food, its leadership and priesthood were gone and the Temple burnt. The Babylonians soldiers oppressed the survivors and forced them to work for their food.” The remnant of poor people that were spared were meant to serve as farmers and wine dressers. These people had previously been landless peasants and presented the least risk to the Babylonians, but were required to work the land to prevent the fields falling into disuse.
WOULD KING ANU CONDONE NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S ACT?
Nebuchadnezzar was not the first King to deport a people from their own country. The pace was actually set by the Assyrian King Adad Nirari I (c. 1307-1275 BC), who thought the best way to prevent any future uprising was to remove the former occupants of the land and replace them with Assyrians. But Nebuchadnezzar had an ulterior motive for the deportations, which only the “Illuminati” of the day were privy to.
HE WANTED TO MAKE JERUSALEM DESOLATE AND DECREPIT SO THAT WHEN KING ANU ARRIVED, HE WOULD AVOID IT LIKE THE PLAGUE AND INSTEAD FOCUS ON THE GLITTERING BABYLON. His aim was to kill off entirely the competition posed by Jerusalem. Says Zechariah Sitchin: “The expectation, it seems, was that the arriving god (Anu) of the Winged Disk (symbol for planet Nibiru) would come down at the Landing Place (Baalbek) in Lebanon, then consummate the Return by entering Babylon through the new marvelous Processional Way and imposing Ishtar Gate.”
But in the event that he indeed pitched, would the pro-Enlilite Anu take kindly to being deflected to a city (Babylon) other than Jerusalem when it had been specifically designated for his ultimate hosting on the planet by virtue of its geometrical centrality?
Having taken over Nippur’s prediluvial role to serve as Mission Control Center after the Deluge, Jerusalem was located at the center of concentric distances to the other space-related sites. Aptly calling it the “Navel of the Earth” (EZEKIEL 38:12), the Prophet Ezekiel had announced that Jerusalem has been chosen for this role by God himself.
“Thus has said the Lord Yahweh: ‘This is Jerusalem; in the midst of the nations I placed her, and all the lands are in a circle round about her,” EZEKIEL 5:5. “Determined to usurp that role for Babylon,” Sitchin further notes, “Nebuchadnezzar led his troops to the elusive prize and in 598 BC captured Jerusalem.” How would King Anu take this seeming sacrilege in the event that he pitched?
NEXT WEEK: HAIL THE PLANET OF THE GODS!
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GONE FISHING
In recent years, using personal devices in working environments has become so commonplace it now has its own acronym, BOYD (Bring Your Own Device).  But as employees skip between corporate tools and personal applications on their own devices, their actions introduce a number of possible risks that should be managed and mitigated with careful consideration. Consider these examples:
Si-lwli, a small family-run business in Wales, is arguably as niche a company as you could find, producing talking toys used to promote the Welsh language. Their potential market is small, with only some 300,000 Welsh language speakers in the world and in reality the business is really more of a hobby for the husband-and-wife team, who both still have day jobs. Yet, despite still managing to be successful in terms of sales, the business is now fighting for survival after recently falling prey to cybercriminals. Emails between Si-Iwli and their Chinese suppliers were intercepted by hackers who altered the banking details in the correspondence, causing Si-Iwli to hand over £18,000 (around P ¼ m) to the thieves. That might not sound much to a large enterprise, but to a small or medium business it can be devastating.
Another recent SMB hacking story which appeared in the Wall Street Journal concerned Innovative Higher Ed Consulting (IHED) Inc, a small New York start-up with a handful of employees. IHED didn’t even have a website, but fraudsters were able to run stolen credit card numbers through the company’s payment system and reverse the charges to the tune of $27,000, around the same loss faced by Si-Iwli.  As the WSJ put it, the hackers completely destroyed the company, forcing its owners to fold.
And in May 2019, the city of Baltimore’s computer system was hit by a ransomware attack, with hackers using a variant called RobinHood. The hack, which has lasted more than a month, paralysed the computer system for city employees, with the hackers demanding a payment in Bitcoin to give access back to the city.
Of course, hackers target governments or business giants  but small and medium businesses are certainly not immune. In fact, 67% of SMBs reported that they had experienced a cyber attack across a period of 12 months, according to a 2018 survey carried out by security research firm Ponemon Institute. Additionally, Verizon issued a report in May 2019 that small businesses accounted for 43% of its reported data breaches. Once seen as less vulnerable than PCs, smartphone attacks are on the rise, with movements like the Dark Caracal spyware campaign underlining the allure of mobile devices to hackers. Last year, the US Federal Trade Commission released a statement calling for greater education on mobile security, coming at a time when around 42% of all Android devices are believed to not carry the latest security updates.
This is an era when employees increasingly use their smartphones for work-related purposes so is your business doing enough to protect against data breaches on their employees’ phones? The SME Cyber Crime Survey 2018 carried out for risk management specialists AON showed that more than 80% of small businesses did not view this as a threat yet if as shown, 67% of SMBs were said to have been victims of hacking, either the stats are wrong or business owners are underestimating their vulnerability. A 2019 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests the latter, stating that the majority of global businesses are unprepared for cyber attacks.
Consider that a workstation no longer means a desk in an office: It can be a phone in the back of a taxi or Uber; a laptop in a coffee shop, or a tablet in an airport lounge. Wherever the device is used, employees can potentially install applications that could be harmful to your business, even from something as seemingly insignificant as clicking on an accidental download or opening a link on a phishing email. Out of the physical workplace, your employees’ activities might not have the same protections as they would on a company-monitored PC.
Yet many businesses not only encourage their employees to work remotely, but assume working from coffee shops, bookstores, and airports can boost employees’ productivity.  Unfortunately, many remote hot spots do not provide secure Wi-Fi so if your employee is accessing their work account on unsecured public Wi-Fi, sensitive business data could be at risk. Furthermore, even if your employee uses a company smartphone or has access to company data through a personal mobile device, there is always a chance data could be in jeopardy with a lost or stolen device, even information as basic as clients’ addresses and phone numbers.
BOYDs are also at risk from malware designed to harm and infect the host system, transmittable to smartphones when downloading malicious third-party apps. Then there is ransomware, a type of malware used by hackers to specifically take control of a system’s data, blocking access or threatening to release sensitive information unless a ransom is paid such as the one which affected Baltimore. Ransomware attacks are on the increase,  predicted to occur every 14 seconds, potentially costing billions of dollars per year.
Lastly there is phishing – the cyber equivalent of the metaphorical fishing exercise –  whereby cybercriminals attempt to obtain sensitive data –usernames, passwords, credit card details –usually through a phoney email designed to look legitimate which directs the user to a fraudulent website or requests the data be emailed back directly. Most of us like to think we could recognize a phishing email when we see it, but these emails have become more sophisticated and can come through other forms of communication such as messaging apps.
Bottom line is to be aware of the potential problems with BOYDs and if in doubt, consult your IT security consultants. You can’t put the own-device genie back in the bottle but you can make data protection one of your three wishes!
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“I Propose to Diana Tonightâ€
About five days before Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed landed in Paris, General Atiku, a certain Edward Williams was taking a walk in a woods in the Welsh town of Mountain Ash. Williams, then 73, was a psychic of some renown. He had in the past foretold assassination attempts on US President Ronald Reagan, which occurred on March 30, 1981, and Pope John Paul II, which came to pass on May 13, 1981.
As he trudged the woods, Williams  had a sudden premonition that pointed to Diana’s imminent fate as per Christopher Andersen’s book The Day Diana Died. “When the vision struck me, it was as if everything around me was obscured and replaced by shadowy figures,†Williams was later to reminisce. “In the middle was the face of Princess Diana. Her expression was sad and full of pathos. She was wearing what looked like a floral dress with a short dark cardigan. But it was vague. I went cold with fear and knew it was a sign that she was in danger.â€
Williams hastily beat a retreat to his home, which he shared with his wife Mary, and related to her his presentiment, trembling like an aspen leaf as he did so. “I have never seen him so upset,†Mary recounted. “He felt he was given a sign and when he came back from his walk he was deeply shaken.â€
The following day, Williams frantically sauntered into a police station to inform the police of his premonition. The officer who attended to him would have dismissed him as no more than a crackpot but he treated him seriously in view of the accuracy of his past predictions. He took a statement and immediately passed it on to the Special Branch Investigative Unit.
The report read as follows:
“On 27 August, at 14:12 hrs, a man by the name of Edward Williams came to Mountain Ash police station. He said he was a psychic and predicted that Princess Diana was going to die. In previous years, he has predicted that the Pope and Ronald Reagan were going to be the victims of assassination attempts. On both occasions he was proved to be correct. Mr Williams appeared to be quite normal.â€
Williams, General, was spot-on as usual: four days later, the princess was no more.
Meanwhile, General,  even as Dodi and Diana were making their way to the Fayed-owned Ritz Hotel in central Paris, British newspapers were awash with headlines that suggested Diana was kind of deranged. Writes Andrew Morton in Diana in Pursuit of Love: “In The Independent Diana was described as ‘a woman with fundamentally nothing to say about anything’. She was ‘suffering from a form of arrested development’. ‘Isn’t it time she started using her head?’ asked The Mail on Sunday. The Sunday Mirror printed a special supplement entitled ‘A Story of Love’; The News of the World claimed that William had demanded that Diana should split from Dodi: ‘William can’t help it, he just doesn’t like the man.’ William was reportedly ‘horrified’ and ‘doesn’t think Mr Fayed is good for his mother’ – or was that just the press projecting their own prejudices? The upmarket Sunday Times newspaper, which had first serialised my biography of the princess, now put her in the psychiatrist’s chair for daring to be wooed by a Muslim. The pop-psychologist Oliver James put Diana ‘On the Couch’, asking why she was so ‘depressed’ and desperate for love. Other tabloids piled in with dire prognostications – about Prince Philip’s hostility to the relationship, Diana’s prospect of exile, and the social ostracism she would face if she married Dodi.â€
DIANA AND DODI AT THE RITZ
Before Diana and Dodi departed the Villa Windsor sometime after 16 hrs, General, one of Dodi’s bodyguards Trevor Rees-Jones furtively asked Diana as to what the programme for the evening was. This Trevor did out of sheer desperation as Dodi had ceased and desisted from telling members of his security detail, let alone anyone else for that matter, what his onward destination was for fear that that piece of information would be passed on to the paparazzi. Diana kindly obliged Trevor though her response was terse and scarcely revealing. “Well, eventually we will be going out to a restaurantâ€, that was all Diana said. Without advance knowledge of exactly what restaurant that was, Trevor and his colleagues’ hands were tied: they could not do a recce on it as was standard practice for the security team of a VIP principal. Dodi certainly, General, was being recklessly by throwing such caution to the winds.
At about 16:30, Diana and Dodi drew up at the Ritz Hotel, where they were received by acting hotel manager Claude Roulet. Â The front entrance of the hotel was already crawling with paparazzi, as a result of which the couple took the precaution of using the rear entrance, where hopefully they would make their entry unperturbed and unmolested. The first thing they did when they were ensconced in the now $10,000 a night Imperial Suite was to spend some time on their mobiles and set about touching base with friends, relations, and associates. Â Diana called at least two people, her clairvoyant friend Rita Rogers and her favourite journalist Richard Kay of The Daily Mail.
Rita, General,  was alarmed that Diana had proceeded to venture to Paris notwithstanding the warning she had given Dodi and herself in relation to what she had seen of him  in the crystal ball when the couple had consulted her. When quizzed as to what the hell she indeed was doing in Paris at that juncture, Diana replied that she and Dodi had simply come to do some shopping, which though partially true was not the material reason they were there. “But Diana, remember what I told Dodi,†Rita said somewhat reprovingly. Diana a bit apprehensively replied, “Yes I remember. I will be careful. I promise.†Well,  she did not live up to her promise as we shall soon unpack General.
As for Richard Kay, Diana made known to him that, “I have decided I am going to radically change my life. I am going to complete my obligations to charities and to the anti-personnel land mines cause, but in November I want to completely withdraw from formal public life.â€
Once she was done with her round of calls, Diana went down to the hair saloon by the hotel swimming pool to have her hair washed and blow-dried ahead of the scheduled evening dinner.
THE “TELL ME YES†RING IS DELIVERED
Since the main object of their Paris trip was to pick up the “Tell Me Yes†engagement ring Dodi had ordered in Monte Carlo a week earlier, Dodi decided to check on Repossi Jewellery, which was right within the Ritz prencincts, known as the Place Vendome.  It could have taken less than a minute for Dodi to get to the store on foot but he decided to use a car to outsmart the paparazzi invasion. He was driven there by Trevor Rees-Jones, with Alexander Kez Wingfield and Claude Roulet following on foot, though he entered the shop alone.
The Repossi store had closed for the holiday season but Alberto Repossi, accompanied by his wife and brother-in-law,  had decided to travel all the way from his home in Monaco  and momentarily open it for the sake of the potentially highly lucrative Dodi transaction.  Alberto, however, disappointed Dodi as the ring he had chosen was not the one he produced. The one he showed Dodi was pricier and perhaps more exquisite but Dodi was adamant that he wanted the exact one he had ordered as that was what Diana herself had picked. It was a ploy on the part of Repossi to make a real killing on the sale, his excuse to that effect being that Diana deserved a ring tha was well worthy of her social pedigree. With Dodi having expressed disaffection, Repossi rendered his apologies and assured Dodi he would make the right ring available shortly, whereupon Dodi repaired back to the hotel to await its delivery. But Dodi  did insist nonetheless that the pricier ring be delivered too in case it appealed to Diana anyway.
Repossi delivered the two rings an hour later. They were collected by Roulet. On inspecting them, Dodi chose the very one he had seen in Monte Carlo, apparently at the insistence of Diana. There is a possibility that Diana, who was very much aware of her public image and was not comfortable with ostentatious displays of wealth, may have deliberately shown an interest in a less expensive engagement ring. It  may have been a purely romantic as opposed to a prestigious  choice for her.
The value of the ring, which was found on a wardrobe shelf in Dodi’s apartment after the crash,  has been estimated to be between $20,000 and $250,000 as Repossi has always refused to be drawn into revealing how much Dodi paid for it. The sum, which enjoyed a 25 percent discount, was in truth paid for not by Dodi himself but by his father as was the usual practice.
Dodi was also shown Repossi’s sketches for a bracelet, a watch, and earrings which he proposed to create if Diana approved of them.
DIANA AND DODI GUSH OVER IMMINENT NUPTIALS
At about 7 pm,  Dodi and Diana left the Ritz and headed for Dodi’s apartment at a place known as the Arc de Trompe. They went there to properly tog themselves out for the scheduled evening dinner. They spent two hours at the luxurious apartment. As usual, the ubiquitous paparazzi were patiently waiting for them there.
As they lingered in the apartment, Dodi beckoned over to his butler Rene Delorm and showed him the engagement ring. “Dodi came into my kitchen,†Delorm relates. “He looked into the hallway to check that Diana couldn’t hear and reached into his pocket and pulled out the box … He said, ‘Rene, I’m going to propose to the princess tonight. Make sure that we have champagne on ice when we come back from dinner’.†Rene described the ring as “a spectacular diamond encrusted ring, a massive emerald surrounded by a cluster of diamonds, set on a yellow and white gold band sitting in a small light-grey velvet boxâ€.
Just before 9 pm, Dodi called the brother of his step-father, Hassan Yassen, who also was staying at the Ritz  that night, and told him that he hoped to get married to Diana by the end of the year.
Later that same evening, both Dodi and Diana would talk to Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi’s dad, and make known to him their pre-nuptial intentions. “They called me and said we’re coming back (to London) on Sunday (August 31) and on Monday (September 1) they are
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RAMADAN – The Blessed Month of Fasting
Ramadan is the fasting month for Muslims, where over one billion Muslims throughout the world fast from dawn to sunset, and pray additional prayers at night. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to Allah, and self-control. It is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. As you read this Muslims the world over have already begun fasting as the month of Ramadan has commenced (depending on the sighting of the new moon).
‘The month of Ramadan is that in which the Qur’an was revealed as guidance for people, in it are clear signs of guidance and Criterion, therefore whoever of you who witnesses this month, it is obligatory on him to fast it. But whoever is ill or traveling let him fast the same number of other days, God desires ease for you and not hardship, and He desires that you complete the ordained period and glorify God for His guidance to you, that you may be grateful”. Holy Qur’an (2 : 185)
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars upon which the structure of Islam is built. The other four are: the declaration of one’s belief in Allah’s oneness and in the message of Muhammad (PBUH); regular attendance to prayer; payment of zakaat (obligatory charity); and the pilgrimage to Mecca.
As explained in an earlier article, fasting includes total abstinence from eating, drinking, smoking, refraining from obscenity, avoiding getting into arguments and including abstaining from marital relations, from sunrise to sunset. While fasting may appear to some as difficult Muslims see it as an opportunity to get closer to their Lord, a chance to develop spiritually and at the same time the act of fasting builds character, discipline and self-restraint.
Just as our cars require servicing at regular intervals, so do Muslims consider Ramadan as a month in which the body and spirit undergoes as it were a ‘full service’. This ‘service’ includes heightened spiritual awareness both the mental and physical aspects and also the body undergoing a process of detoxification and some of the organs get to ‘rest’ through fasting.
Because of the intensive devotional activity fasting, Ramadan has a particularly high importance, derived from its very personal nature as an act of worship but there is nothing to stop anyone from privately violating Allah’s commandment of fasting if one chooses to do so by claiming to be fasting yet eating on the sly. This means that although fasting is obligatory, its observance is purely voluntary. If a person claims to be a Muslim, he is expected to fast in Ramadan.
The reward Allah gives for proper fasting is very generous. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) quotes Allah as saying: “All actions done by a human being are his own except fasting, which belongs to Me and I will reward it accordingly.†We are also told by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that the reward for proper fasting is admittance into heaven.
Fasting earns great reward when it is done in a ‘proper’ manner. This is because every Muslim is required to make his worship perfect. For example perfection of fasting can be achieved through restraint of one’s feelings and emotions. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said that when fasting, a person should not allow himself to be drawn into a quarrel or a slanging match. He teaches us: “On a day of fasting, let no one of you indulge in any obscenity, or enter into a slanging match. Should someone abuse or fight him, let him respond by saying: ‘I am fasting!’â€
This high standard of self-restraint fits in well with fasting, which is considered as an act of self-discipline. Islam requires us to couple patience with voluntary abstention from indulgence in our physical desires. The purpose of fasting helps man to attain a high degree of sublimity, discipline and self-restraint. In other words, this standard CAN BE achieved by every Muslim who knows the purpose of fasting and strives to fulfill it.
Fasting has another special aspect. It makes all people share in the feelings of hunger and thirst. In normal circumstances, people with decent income may go from one year’s end to another without experiencing the pangs of hunger which a poor person may feel every day of his life. Such an experience helps to draw the rich one’s conscience nearer to needs of the poor. A Muslim is encouraged to be more charitable and learns to give generously for a good cause.
Fasting also has a universal or communal aspect to it. As Muslims throughout the world share in this blessed act of worship, their sense of unity is enhanced by the fact that every Muslim individual joins willingly in the fulfillment of this divine commandment. This is a unity of action and purpose, since they all fast in order to be better human beings. As a person restrains himself from the things he desires most, in the hope that he will earn Allah’s pleasure, self-discipline and sacrifice become part of his nature.
The month of Ramadan can aptly be described as a “season of worship.†Fasting is the main aspect of worship in this month, because people are more attentive to their prayers, read the Qur’an more frequently and also strive to improve on their inner and outer character. Thus, their devotion is more complete and they feel much happier in Ramadan because they feel themselves to be closer to their Creator.