Muslim Brotherhood Strengthened in Egypt

The Wall Street Journal reported on May 7, 2013:

“Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi swore in new cabinet ministers Tuesday in a reshuffle of his government that strengthened the position of the Muslim Brotherhood in key ministries and provoked complaints from the nation’s disparate opposition.

“Members of the opposition had demanded that Mr. Morsi form a more inclusive government—one including liberals, moderates, Coptic Christians and women—ahead of parliamentary elections due to take place later this year. They also sought the removal of Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, who is viewed by his critics as lacking political experience and charisma.

“But Mr. Qandil retained his post in the reshuffle, helping to form the new cabinet that includes 10 officials belonging to the ruling Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. Eight of 35 ministers in the previous government were FJP members. Many of the cabinet’s non-FJP ministers are also seen as allied with the president and the Brotherhood.

“No opposition members were named to the cabinet. The ministers of information and education, both Muslim Brotherhood members, retained their posts, as did the controversial interior minister, whose ouster had been sought by opponents…”

While Egypt’s Brotherhood infiltrates and exerts its control, the nation’s economy is draining away. More rioting looms unless substantial financial help comes from outside of Egypt. Like so many countries following the ‘Arab Spring,’ Egypt’s circumstances have grown more uncertain. “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Bible Prophecy” is our free booklet explaining in great detail the meaning of events now taking place in Egypt and other surrounding nations–you may download this by clicking on the title or write for your own copy. 

Israeli Warplanes Strike Syria

JTA wrote on May 6:

“Twice in three days, Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace and fired on suspected weapons caches bound for Hezbollah — and nothing has happened in response. Some experts are predicting that will continue to be the case following airstrikes near Damascus on Friday and Sunday that are widely believed to be the work of the Israel Defense Forces. According to reports, the strikes targeted shipments of long-range, Iranian-made Fateh-110 missiles capable of striking deep into Israel…

“Syria’s foreign minister told CNN on Sunday that the strikes amounted to a ‘declaration of war.’ But such gestures, analysts say, are merely symbolic. Torn by a civil war now in its third year, the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad is too beleaguered to fight back. And Hezbollah, the Lebanese party considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel, is considered too preoccupied propping up its Syrian patron to respond…

“Syria’s civil war augurs a major strategic shift for Israel. The two countries have technically have been in a state of war since the Yom Kippur War ended in 1973. And though the border since then has been largely quiet, Syria was Israel’s only neighbor to pose a threat of conventional attack. But the weakening of the Syrian regime has raised the frightening prospect that its stocks of chemical weapons may fall into the hands of Hezbollah. Israeli officials have said for months that they would take action should Syria transport unconventional weapons to Hezbollah. In January, Israel bombed a Syrian weapons convoy near the Syria-Lebanon border.”

Israel Doing It Alone…

The Washington Post wrote on May 5:

“Israeli forces have carried out an airstrike against a shipment of sophisticated missiles bound for the Lebanese political and military organization Hezbollah, officials in Washington, Lebanon and Israel told reporters Saturday….  It seems someone in the Israeli government took a not-too-subtle swipe at the Obama administration’s equivocating on Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons. ‘Israeli officials described the missiles targeted in the Friday strike as “game-changing” weapons, according to the Associated Press. They said they were not chemical weapons, but advanced, long-range, ground-to-ground missiles…

“Not only does the Israeli action contrast with the U.S. government’s fecklessness, but it also raises the issue of whether the United States would prefer Israel police the Middle East. It is unbecoming for a superpower to let little Israel take on the Iranian surrogates… when a U.S. president is this passive and unwilling to act in accord with its words, the West and the Sunni states can take comfort in knowing that Israel is there to rein in the mullahs and their surrogates…

“The United States is obviously unwilling to back up its rhetoric with action. Syria is a dress rehearsal  for the bigger conflict between Iran and the West. There, too, one suspects, Israel will be forced to act. For what Israeli prime minister could rely on this administration to act? If Obama won’t take on Syria, there is little chance he’ll make good on his threats to Iran.”

No US Plans to Send Ground Troops to Syria

Deutsche Welle stated on May 6:

“International reaction to Israel’s latest airstrikes on Syria has been quick to come… Nabil al-Arabi, leader of the 22-member Arab League… condemned the attacks… On Sunday, senior US Senator John McCain said that the air strikes could add pressure on the United States to intervene in Syria, although Barack Obama has said he has no plans to send ground troops. The US president defended Israel’s right to block ‘terrorist organisations like Hezbollah’ from acquiring weapons after Friday’s raid…

“The United States had no prior knowledge of the attacks, according to officials. Still, the [Obama Administration’s] spokesman said, ‘the close coordination between the Obama administration, the United States of America, is ongoing with the Israeli government.’”

Palestinian President Travels to China, Consolidating China-Palestine Friendship

Xinhua reported on May 6, 2013:

“Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday reaffirmed the country’s support for the just cause of the Palestinian people. While meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing, Li noted that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of China-Palestine diplomatic relations, and reviewed a profound friendship between the two countries.

“Li said the new Chinese government has placed great importance on consolidating China-Palestine relations and firmly supports the just cause of the Palestinian people. ‘China will continue its own way and make use of its influence to boost Palestine-Israel peace negotiations, which will work for regional and world peace and stability,’ he said.”

Israeli PM Travels to China, Thanking Shanghai for Being a Haven for Jewish Refugees Fleeing Nazi Persecution

Xinhua reported on May 9, 2013:

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in Beijing, as part of his 5-day trip to China. He was welcomed by Premier Li Keqiang Wednesday afternoon at the Great Hall of the People. He’s also scheduled to meet with President Xi Jinping. Chinese leaders will hold talks with Netanyahu on trade and regional issues such as Iran, Syria and Egypt. Netanyahu arrived in Shanghai on Monday. He addressed business leaders from both Israel and China. He said Israeli technology and Chinese manufacturing and global marketing capabilities can form a winning combination.

“Later, he toured the city’s former Jewish quarter. There he lauded Shanghai for its past role as a haven for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution during World War Two. On Tuesday, Netanyahu met Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong to boost economic and trade cooperation. Netanyahu is the first Israeli leader to visit China in six years.”

It is noteworthy that both Abbas and Netanyahu are seeking help from China. What is significant is that the leadership vacuum being created by an ineffective United States is being filled!

Now Google Recognizes Palestine!

The Guardian reported on May 3, 2013:

“On Friday, the search engine changed the tagline on its home page in the occupied territories from ‘Palestinian territories’ to, simply, ‘Palestine’. ‘We consult a number of sources and authorities when naming countries,’ a Google spokesman, Nathan Tyler, told the BBC. ‘In this case, we are following the lead of the UN, Icann [Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers], ISO [International Organisation for Standardisation] and other international organisations.’

“What to call the area south of Lebanon and Syria, west of Jordan and north of Sinai that isn’t Israel is a matter of fierce debate. Before 1948 the entire area, including present-day Israel, was called Palestine. In 1988, leaders of the remaining territory declared a state of Palestine, but the state has had trouble gaining recognition. In November’s UN vote, 138 nations voted to recognize a state of Palestine, nine voted against and 41 abstained. Google’s homeland, the United States, is currently the most powerful opponent of recognizing Palestine.”

Preparing for Change in the Commonwealth

Mail Online wrote on May 8, 2013:

“The Queen plans to scale back her public duties and give Prince Charles a bigger role as ‘co-head’ of the royal family, well-placed sources have revealed. Buckingham Palace and  senior figures in Whitehall began discussing how to deal with the monarch’s advancing years several months ago, the Mail understands. They concluded that her 64-year-old son – the longest-serving heir apparent in British history – should take a more prominent position representing the sovereign at key events, particularly those abroad.

“In a sign of things to come, for the first time in 17 years the Queen will be accompanied by her eldest son at the State Opening of Parliament, which takes place today. The Duchess of Cornwall will also join them. It follows the surprise announcement by Buckingham Palace yesterday that, in a 40-year first, the Queen will not attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference. Instead, Charles will take her place at the two-day event in Sri Lanka in November.

“Aides reluctantly admitted what has been suspected for some time: that the monarch, who reached the age of 87 last month, was not up to making frequent long-haul trips. But Charles’ presence at Parliament today suggests it is also part of the carefully-choreographed plan to share the burden of responsibility.”

Great change is already rumbling in the Commonwealth realms once so dominated by this Queen, and it will coincide with Britain’s growing isolation as the European Union soon completely rejects Britain’s membership within the E.U. “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America” reveals what really lies ahead for the Commonwealth–and for its monarchy!

U.K. Going Non-Traditional!

The Washington Post wrote on May 3, 2013:

“The Conservative-led coalition of Prime Minister David Cameron just got served. The anti-immigration U.K. Independence Party staged a dramatic surge Thursday in local elections in England and Wales, with results on Friday showing voters delivering a brutal whipping to the Conservatives and their junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats.

“Political pundits said the results represented one of the strongest showings by a non­traditional party in Britain since World War II, with the gains underscoring the rise of populist and nationalist parties across Europe. At the core of the party’s platform are aspirations to withdraw Britain from the European Union and impose new curbs on immigration, and the powerful showing sets U.K. Independence up to be an increasingly influential force in British politics. In recent months, its growing support in national polls had already sparked Britain’s three major parties — the Conservatives, Labor and the Liberal Democrats — to float increasingly strict proposals aimed at stemming the tide of foreigners…

“’This is a jolt against the entire political establishment,’ said Tony Travers, a political analyst at the London School of Economics. ‘What we don’t know is whether they will disappear like snow in hot weather by the next elections or whether they become an important force.’”

Britain will not be a member of Europe’s final revival under ten core nations or groups of nations, as we have stated for decades.

The Woman Is Riding the Beast…

The EUObserver wrote the following on May 3 about the introduction of a new Euro Note:

“The ECB chief unveiled the new note in the Slovak capital, Bratislava. It marks the official launch of a second-generation bill with new security features aimed to help stamp out counterfeiting. The series’ central figure is Europa, a Phoenician princess abducted and then raped by Zeus disguised as a white bull. The story inspired the ancient Greeks to use ‘Europe’ to name the continent. The princess is often depicted sitting on the bull but the note carries only her profile in a watermark and in a hologram…

“The notes also now take into account the countries that have joined the EU since 2002.  The map on the bill shows Malta and Cyprus with ‘euro’ written in Cyrillic, Latin and Greek alphabets. ECB will also appear in nine linguistic variants instead of the previous five.

“The old-€5 notes will continue to circulate with the new series for the next several months. The ECB expects the new generation note to outnumber the old by autumn. The old notes will eventually no longer be legal tender but will always retain their value and can be exchanged for an unlimited period of time at any national central bank in the eurozone. The ECB will continue with the new series in ascending order of €10, €20, €50, €100, €200 and €500 over the coming years.”

The euro will not be abandoned, and the connection with the woman riding the beast (compare Revelation 17) is unmistakable.

“Revive the Weimar Triangle”

Deutsche Welle wrote on May 8:

“French President Francois Hollande was joined by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski for the 68th annual Victory in Europe (VE) Day celebrations in Paris. Hollande spoke about compromise with Germany.

“After the ceremonies on Wednesday, Hollande spoke of the need to find a compromise between Paris and Berlin for the good of Europe. Standing with the Polish president, Hollande said: ‘In 1963, General de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer, after experiencing the horrors of two world wars, were able to unite France and Germany in a treaty of friendship. In the last 50 years, many things have happened; there has been reconciliation. Today, what we have to do is to come together for a Europe of growth and employment. This is the sense of the discussion that we have and I continue to say: there is a debate and in the end, it’s always with a compromise between France and Germany. This will be the case for the major issues we have to resolve’…

“Hollande said it was the wish of Paris and Warsaw to ‘revive the Weimar Triangle, that is the friendship between France, Germany and Poland together for Europe.’ VE Day was first celebrated on May 8, 1945 to mark the date when the World War II allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Germany, thus ending the war in Europe.”

Hungary’s Far-Right…

BBC News wrote on May 4, 2013:

“Hungary’s far-right Jobbik party has staged a rally in central Budapest in protest at the capital’s hosting of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) on Sunday. Several hundred supporters took part, despite attempts by the government to prevent it going ahead. Jobbik said the rally was a protest against what it said was a Jewish attempt to buy up Hungary. The party, which says it aims to protect Hungarian values and interests, is the third largest in parliament. It regularly issues anti-Semitic statements.

“The event in Budapest on Saturday was billed as a tribute to what organisers called the victims of Bolshevism and Zionism.”

Anti-Semitism is on the rise… again…

Berlusconi Convicted

The Associated Press reported on May 8:

“An appeals court has upheld the tax fraud conviction against ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi and sentenced him to four years in prison. But the former Italian leader could appeal this verdict to a higher court, the Court of Cassation.

“In October, a court convicted Berlusconi in a scheme that involved inflating the price his Mediaset media empire paid for TV rights to U.S. movies and pocketing the difference. Berlusconi denied the charges and says he’s a victim of politically motivated prosecutors. That verdict was upheld Wednesday by the appeals court in Milan.

“The lower court, which began hearing the case in 2006, also said Berlusconi could not hold public office for five years or manage any company for three years, penalties that would take force only if the conviction is upheld on two levels of appeal.”

Any Truth to This?– President Obama’s Hidden Past?

World Net Daily wrote on May 5:

“A prominent member of Chicago’s homosexual community claims Barack Obama’s participation in the ‘gay’ bar and bathhouse scene was so well known that many who were aware of his lifestyle were shocked when he ran for president and finally won the White House. ‘It was preposterous to the people I knew then to think Obama was going to keep his gay life secret,’ said Kevin DuJan, who was a gossip columnist in Chicago for various blogs when Obama was living in the city as a community organizer and later a state senator. ‘Nobody who knew Obama in the gay bar scene thought he could possibly be president,’ said DuJan.

“DuJan, founder and editor of the Hillary Clinton-supporting website HillBuzz.org, told WND he has first-hand information from two different sources that ‘Obama was personally involved in the gay bar scene. If you just hang out at these bars, the older guys who have been frequenting these gay bars for 25 years will tell you these stories,’ DuJan said. ‘Obama used to go to the gay bars during the week, most often on Wednesday, and they said he was very much into older white guys.’ Obama, DuJan said, is ‘not heterosexual and he’s not bisexual. He’s homosexual.’

“Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen, who worked with the National Security Agency from 1984 to 1988 as a Navy intelligence analyst, confirmed DuJan’s claims. ‘It is common knowledge in the Chicago gay community that Obama actively visited the gay bars and bathhouses in Chicago while he was an Illinois state senator,’ Madsen told WND.

“WND also spoke with a member of the East Bank Club in Chicago, who confirmed Obama was a member there and was known to be a homosexual. The upscale fitness club, which has some 10,000 members, is not a ‘gay’ facility. But it’s one of a number of places identified by the Chicago homosexual community as a ‘gay gym,’ where homosexuals meet and engage in sexual activity.

“In April, WND reported a federal judge dismissed a libel case against Larry Sinclair, a homosexual who claimed Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign had paid to rig a polygraph test regarding Sinclair’s sensational charge that he had sex and used cocaine twice with Obama while Obama was an Illinois state senator… WND also reported former radical activist John Drew has said that when he met Obama when Obama was a student at Occidental College, he thought Obama and his then-Pakistani roommate were ‘gay’ lovers.

“In addition, rumors have swirled around Obama’s relationship with his personal aide and former ‘body man,’ Reggie Love, who resurfaced on the eve of the Republican National Convention to support his old boss. Love resigned from the White House in November 2011 after compromising photographs of him as a college student received wide circulation…

“DuJan said that during Obama’s first presidential campaign, ‘there was fear in the gay community’ about talking openly about Obama being homosexual, particularly after the murder in December 2007 of Donald Young, the openly gay choir director at Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ, who was known to be a close friend of Obama…”

US Air Force in Crisis

The Guardian wrote on May 8:

“The US Air Force has stripped an unprecedented 17 officers of their authority to oversee nuclear missiles, after a string of failings that the group’s deputy commander said stemmed from ‘rot’ within the ranks… ‘We are, in fact, in a crisis right now,’ the group’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jay Folds, wrote in an internal email that was obtained by the Associated Press and confirmed by the Air Force…

“The news follows a series of incidents in recent years that have uncovered major problems with the oversight of the US’s nuclear arsenal. In 2007, airmen at Minot accidentally loaded a B-52 with six nuclear weapons. The aircraft then flew to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. In another incident, nuclear weapons parts were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan. The defense department learned of the error in 2008, 18 months after the fuses for nuclear warheads were shipped…

“The 17 officers were part of a team standing 24-hour watch over the Air Force’s most powerful nuclear missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can strike targets across the globe. They were removed from duty in April…

“The suspensions are believed to be the most extensive ever… Minot’s latest crisis follows a 2008 Pentagon report that found a ‘dramatic and unacceptable decline’ in the Air Force’s commitment to the mission…”

It is indeed frightening to learn about a crisis within the US Air Force pertaining to the oversight of nuclear missiles.

Hypocritical US Congress?

The Huffington Post wrote on May 5:

“Only hypocrisy and demagoguery can explain Republican opposition to gun regulation, alleging potential infringement of constitutional freedoms — alongside Republican support for monitoring American citizens based solely on religion and empowering the government to deprive citizens of their rights, by deeming them enemy combatants… We don’t even know how many Americans own firearms because Congress prevented collection of this information — since the government can’t be trusted with a national firearms database.

“Surprisingly, these same politicians now demand that Americans trust the government to conduct surveillance of citizens based on their religion and to decide when citizens can be detained indefinitely as enemy combatants without a right to counsel. These rights (according to the GOP) are privileges, allowed at the government’s discretion. By contrast, the right to buy a private arsenal of automatic weapons without submitting to a background check is sacrosanct…

“Since 2002, about 19 Americans have died in domestic terrorism-related incidents (this includes the three people killed in the recent Boston Marathon bombing). Over the same period, about 300,000 Americans have died from gun violence…”

These are indeed highly disturbing developments…

Israeli Government Seeks Papal Help for Peace

Newsmax reported on April 30, 2013:

“Israeli President Shimon Peres warned Pope Francis Tuesday that the Middle East is ‘disintegrating’ and that the pontiff ‘has an important role’ to play in bringing peace to the region and the world.

“During their half-hour conversation, Peres said the Middle East is in ‘real existential danger’ and cited the severe lack of employment, of food and water. He warned that if these problems are not resolved, ‘violence and terror will gain a central place, as dangerous weapons fall into the hands of extremists.’

“An Israeli government statement said Peres spoke of the danger of Iran’s nuclear-weapons program and Syria’s ‘huge quantities of chemical weapons.’ He told the Pope that Iran ‘must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons and that Syrian chemical weapons must not fall into irresponsible hands’…

“In its statement, the Vatican said Pope Francis and Peres expressed hopes for a speedy resumption of peace talks and an agreement that draws on ‘courageous decisions’ and the support of the international community. A resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would contribute to peace and stability throughout the region, the Vatican said.

“The Israeli statement said Pope Francis suggested creating ‘a global meeting of hope with the heads of all the world’s faiths and to come out against violence and terror.’ The Pope also condemned anti-Semitism, saying it goes against the beliefs of Christianity and that it ‘must be opposed in every country in the world and every corner of the globe,’ the Israeli statement continued…

“’You have an important role in progressing peace and the belief in it,’ Peres said. ‘I turn to you and ask that within your sermons in front of millions of believers in the world you include the hope for peace in the Middle East and the whole world.’

“He said the Pope’s leadership ‘creates a new spirit of hope for peace, of dialogue between nations and of the promotion of a solution to global poverty and illiteracy.’

“’Sadly, there are many religious leaders in the Middle East and across the world who advocate terror and bloodshed and do so in the name of the Lord,’ he said. ‘We all have an obligation to stand up and say, in a loud and clear voice, that the Lord did not give anyone the authority to murder and carry out bloodshed. Your voice has a great impact in this matter.”

Peace will certainly come to the Middle East and to the whole world, but it will be brought about by the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of God’s government over all people–not by this or any future pope! However, there is great prophetic significance in the attention now being given to Rome’s possible role in Jerusalem and the land of Israel. Please watch: “The Beast, His Mark, His Name and His Number,” available at StandingWatch.org, for in-depth analysis of what the Bible reveals about the meaning of today’s news and what you must do to be prepared for events that lie ahead!

Syria Denies Use of Chemical Weapons—Of Course It Would…

AFP wrote on April 27:

“US and British accusations that the regime in Damascus may have used chemical weapons are a ‘barefaced lie,’ Syria’s information minister told Russian television Saturday. ‘First of all, I want to confirm that statements by the US Secretary of State and British government are inconsistent with reality and a barefaced lie,’ Omran al-Zohbi said in an interview published on the Kremlin-funded RT’s website. ‘I want to stress one more time that Syria would never use it — not only because of its adherence to the international law and rules of leading war, but because of humanitarian and moral issues,’ Zohbi said in comments that were published in English on the website.

“US President Barack Obama on Friday warned Syria that using chemical weapons would be a ‘game changer,’ after the US, Israel and Britain all cited signs that the regime attacked with the deadly agent sarin.

“United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon has called on Syria to approve a UN mission of inspectors to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons in the spiralling two-year conflict. But Zohbi told RT that the Syrian government could not trust UN inspectors from Britain and the US… He added that the Syrian government would accept Russian inspectors…Along with China, Russia has blocked several UN Security Council draft resolutions threatening sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.”

This reminds us of Hitler’s denial of losing World War II when it was obvious that Germany had already lost. Even when Germany had to flee from the Russians, the Nazi propaganda spoke about “victorious retreat.” We are also reminded of Iraq’s lying propaganda spokesman during the US invasion. The fact that Syria vehemently denies any use of chemical weapons seems to confirm that they did use them. And to invite in Russian inspectors, while rejecting inspectors from the UN, the US and GB, does not give us much confidence in the veracity of Syria’s claims.

The Curse of Chemical Warfare

Deutsche Welle wrote on April 27:

“The use of chemical weapons is nothing new. Already in ancient times, the Persians ignited bitumen and sulfur crystals to produce gases to poison Roman soldiers. During the First World War, the use of chlorine gas was widespread, marking the start of the modern era of warfare involving weapons of mass destruction. Altogether, around 124,000 metric tons (137,000 tons) of chemical weapons were utilized during World War I, killing 90,000 people and affecting the health of one million others. German chemist and Nobel Prize-winner Fritz Haber was the key figure in the development of poisonous gases for usage in warfare.

“Chemical weapons have been controversial from the start. Already in 1925, the Geneva Protocol prohibited their use. Despite this, they continued to be employed in World War II, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. Their destructive force was particularly evident during an attack on the Iraqi city of Halabja on March 16, 1988, in which around 5,000 people were killed.

“Efforts to ban chemical warfare continued, however, achieving success in April 1997 with the Chemical Weapons Convention, which has to this day been signed by 188 states. Not party to the agreement are Angola, Egypt, Israel, Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria. The convention obliges members to destroy existing chemical weapons…

“Chemical weapons are typically lethal chemicals housed in munitions such as mines, hand grenades, bombs, spray tanks and rockets. They either suffocate, paralyze, or poison the victim. Initially, they consisted of poisonous gases, such as chlorine, or hydrogen cyanide; however, these proved to be too volatile. The industry then began producing liquid poisons, which not only affected the lungs but could enter the body through the skin and spread quickly. Particularly potent is mustard gas, which was first produced by a Belgian chemist in 1822 and used to maim and kill thousands of people during World War I.

“Sarin, whose use has been suspected in the current Syrian conflict, is classified as a nerve agent. Developed during World War II, it is fatal even in small doses. It can be inhaled, or can enter the body through skin contact…

“Although not always lethal, exposure to chemical weapons often has devastating health consequences, such as blindness, skin damage and birth defects. Some chemical weapons cause long-lasting environmental contamination. One of these is Agent Orange, a defoliant used by the US military during the Vietnam War. An estimated two to four million people are suffering its after-effects today in the Southeast Asian country…

“The production of chemical weapons is relatively simple. More difficult is the acquisition of the necessary ingredients. The Chemical Weapons Convention also applies to the production and sale of substances which might be converted into chemical weapons. Experts believe that such substances are traded on the international black market.

“In addition to everything else, chemical weapons tend to be highly durable. This is why chemical munitions from the First World War that are still sometimes found today in the German-French border region need to be disposed of with great care. Meanwhile, both the US and Russia are believed to still possess large stockpiles – going against the international convention.”

In Revelation 9:5-6, we read that weapons will be used to torment people for six months, but not to kill them. Apparently, the effect will be so painful that victims will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, but death will flee from them. Apparently, this describes the use and effect of some modern chemical and biological weapons.

Bird-Flu Virus Spreads

Reuters reported on April 27:

“China on Saturday reported its first case of H7N9 bird flu in the southern province of Hunan, the latest sign the virus that has killed 23 people in the country is continuing to spread… This week, the World Health Organization called the virus ‘one of the most lethal’, and said it is more easily transmitted than an earlier strain that has killed hundreds around the world since 2003… Chinese scientists confirmed on Thursday that chickens had transmitted the flu to humans.”

In these end times, more and more untreatable diseases will plague mankind.

God to Bless Planned Parenthood Abortionists?

The Washington Times wrote on April 26:

“President Obama offered a defiant defense of government funding for Planned Parenthood Friday and urged the group’s members to help his administration sign up more women for benefits under his besieged health-care law. The first sitting president to address Planned Parenthood, Mr. Obama accused conservative politicians of trying to ‘roll back the clock’ on abortion rights and health-care services for women.”

CNS News added on April 26:

“President Barack Obama praised the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for saving lives and helping women and families in a 12-minute, 3-second speech on Friday, which was enough time for 7.6 abortions to take place at Planned Parenthood clinics, based upon the abortion data in their latest annual report. According to that annual report for 2011-2012, Planned Parenthood and its affiliated clinics performed 333,964 abortions in fiscal 2011. That averages one abortion every 94 seconds…

“The 2011-2012 report states that Planned Parenthood received $542.4 million in ‘government health services grants and reimbursements,’ which it states includes ‘payments from Medicaid managed care plans.’ The report also shows that Planned Parenthood’s total assets top $1 billion dollars, specifically $1,244.7 billion…”

The Daily Caller added on April 26:

“President Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to deliver a speech to Planned Parenthood on Friday. The organization is America’s leading abortion provider… USA Today reports that President Obama never once mentioned the word ‘abortion’ during his remarks, only the ‘right to choose.’… ‘Thank you Planned Parenthood. God bless you. God bless you,’ Obama concluded.”

We take note of the fact that the leader of the United States vainly calls upon God to bless those whose sole purpose is to murder unwanted babies!

Isn’t It Just Lovely?

The Times of Israel wrote on April 27:

“American Jews show among the highest levels of support for gay marriage, from all American subgroups measured in recent polls, according to figures published this week by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. According to five polls of Americans in 2012 and 2013, with the most recent conducted in March 2013, 76 percent of US Jews support legalizing same-sex marriage, while 18% oppose and 8% did not express an opinion… The figure is remarkably high, particularly when compared to the number of Protestants (34%) and Catholics (53%) who support same-sex marriage.

“Jewish support is higher than the support among Democrats (61%), self-described ‘liberals’ (72%), and even among Americans without religious affiliation (75%)…

“The youngest adult Americans are twice as likely to support gay marriage as the oldest. Some 66% of Americans aged 18-29 support it, while just 33% of those over 65 expressed support. All religious groups and political subdivisions saw much higher support for gay marriage among the young. For example, 39% of Republicans aged 29 or younger support legalizing gay marriage, compared to just 16% of Republicans over 65. Among Catholics, support is twice as high (72%) among those aged 18 to 34 as it is among those over 65 (36%).

“Women were also more likely to support gay marriage (52%) than men (44%). The rate of attendance of religious services also has an effect on views on gay marriage… Those with lower attendance were twice as likely, at 60%, to support legalizing gay marriage, compared to the [lower] levels of support, 28%, from those with higher attendance.”

That American Jews should be at the forefront of fighting for ungodly conduct is surprising and telling at the same time.

Scandal—“CPS Takes Baby After Parents Seek Second Medical Opinion”

The Healthy Home Economist wrote on April 27:

“A Sacramento couple is without their 5 month old baby after Child Protective Services sent in the police to forcibly remove the child from their care. A hearing is scheduled for Monday, April 29, 2013 on the incident which was triggered when Anna Nikolayev and her husband Alex took baby Sammy out of Sutter Memorial Hospital and sought a second opinion at Kaiser Permanente, a rival hospital, for Sammy’s flu-like symptoms.

“Anna and Alex were concerned about the quality of care baby Sammy was receiving at Sutter where he was admitted nearly two weeks ago. At one point, Anna questioned the antibiotics Sammy was being given and was alarmed that the nurse administering the treatment didn’t know why the child was receiving them. Anna claims that a doctor later said that Sammy should not have been receiving the medication.

“When doctors began discussing the possibility of heart surgery, the parents decided to leave without a proper discharge in order to have the child examined elsewhere… While at Kaiser Permanente, the police showed up at the request of Sutter. The police told the parents that staff at Sutter had told them that the child was in such a bad state that, as Anna put it, ‘they thought that this baby is dying on our arms.’

“After the police saw that baby Sammy was fine and examined medical records that clearly stated that Sammy was clinically safe to go home, they left. The attending doctor at Kaiser said, ‘I do not have concern for the safety of the child at home with his parents.’

“The next day, police came to Alex and Anna’s home. Alex met them outside and was slammed against the wall and pushed to the ground. His keys to the home were forcibly removed from him and the police entered the house to take the baby… News10 of Sacramento spoke with police on the situation and were told to talk to Child Protective Services. CPS said little about the case, only saying on Thursday, April 27 that the child was taken due to severe neglect…

“Sammy is currently in ‘protective custody’ at Sutter Memorial Hospital. Hospital officials refused to comment saying the case was with CPS and law enforcement and they would have to deliver a statement. Alex sums up the situation well. ‘It seems like parents have no right whatsoever,’ he said.

“Indeed. Parents are increasingly becoming irrelevant when it comes to decisions regarding their children’s medical care. Jodi and Scott Ferris experienced a similar traumatic event when they questioned the Hep B vaccination for their baby at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. Their baby was also taken by CPS.

“The moral of this story? Tick off doctors and nurses at a hospital and they could very well sic CPS on you – with police breaking down your door in short order. Think long and hard before taking your children to the hospital my friends. Once you go through that door, the medical decisions about your child are no longer within your control.”

This scandalous report about incredible conduct of the police and CPS, as well as the staff of the Sutter Memorial Hospital, did not address a situation in communist Russia or China—it is happening in the so-called free United States. Obviously, our freedom to train our children is systematically being taken away from us. But the murder of innocent children through abortion is condoned and supported by governmental agencies. What incredible hypocrisy and a total reversal of right values!

Merkel’s Germany the Master of Europe

Mail on Line wrote on April 27:

“Angela Merkel does not look like a conqueror… Yet according to one of Germany’s most distinguished intellectuals, Mrs Merkel is ‘the uncrowned Queen of Europe’. In the European power stakes, no one comes close to competing with the German Chancellor… in just a few years, using the European Union as her vehicle, she has succeeded where Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Hitler failed – turning an entire continent into a greater German empire… this is the implication of a devastating new book by the eminent sociologist Ulrich Beck, who teaches at the University of Munich and the London School of Economics.

“According to Professor Beck, one of the most respected scholars of his generation, Germany is now the undisputed master of Europe. And at its head is Angela Merkel…

“Angela Merkel’s Germany is the biggest economy in Europe and the fourth biggest in the world. It is the world’s second largest exporter, raking in some £915 billion every year. And while Britain’s budget deficit in 2012/3 is forecast to be a whopping £120 bn – or eight per cent of our gross domestic product – the Germans are expected to run a small surplus in 2013 and 2014, as they have done so often in recent years.

“All of that has left Mrs Merkel in an extraordinarily strong position. Uniquely amid the shattered economies of the eurozone, Germany stands relatively unscarred from the great financial crisis…

“In much of Europe, she inspires more fear than any other leader for decades. Yet in her native Germany, Mrs Merkel is hugely popular… The Germans have worked hard to become Europe’s top dogs, and unlike their neighbours they have managed their finances with scrupulous responsibility… Angela Merkel has succeeded where so many of her predecessors, with their strutting militarism, peaked helmets and soaring rhetoric, failed. She has made Germany the undisputed master of Europe.

“Not bad for a pastor’s daughter from rural Brandenburg. But as her career has shown, [she] always has the last laugh…”

As we have said for decades, Germany will lead Europe. But as we explain in our ongoing Q&A series on the ten revivals of the ancient Roman Empire, Mrs. Merkel is not the one who will be leading core Europe, consisting of ten nations or groups of nations. Another leader of German or Austrian decent is still going to arise on the world scene.

Eurozone Must Become a Fully-Fledged Political Union

The Guardian wrote on April 28:

“One of Germany’s most influential political thinkers has delivered a stark warning that its post-second world war liberal democracy cannot be taken for granted and its dominant role in managing Europe’s debt crisis could lead to disaster. Jürgen Habermas, the Frankfurt professor whose political thinking has helped shape Germany over the past 50 years, called for the EU to be turned into a supranational democracy and the eurozone to become a fully fledged political union, while lambasting the ‘technocratic’ handling of the crisis by Brussels and European leaders…

“‘The German government holds the key to the fate of the European Union in its hands. The main question is whether Germany is not only in a position to take the initiative, but also whether it could have an interest in doing so,’ he said. ‘The leadership role that falls to Germany today is not only awakening historical ghosts all around us, but also tempts us to choose a unilateral national course or even to succumb to power fantasies of a “German Europe”. ‘We Germans should have learned from the catastrophes of the first half of the 20th century that it is in our national interest to avoid permanently the dilemma of a semi-hegemonic status that can hardly hold up without sliding into conflicts.’

“Habermas’s wakeup call came at the end of a week of similar alarms being sounded on both sides of the country’s borders. The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, in the presence of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Berlin last week, said there were worries about German domination of the EU ‘everywhere, without exception’”.

And it will happen—a fully-fledged political (and military) union of the Eurozone under German leadership.

Return to Deutschmark Would Cause Serious Damage

The Local wrote on April 30:

“Ditching the euro would cost Germany at least 200,000 jobs and half a percentage point in growth, according to a new study which concluded that Europe’s biggest economy benefited from being within the eurozone.

“Even if Germany were to have to write off the majority of the money it has put into the various euro rescue packages, the study from the Bertelsmann Foundation concluded, it would still be better off sticking with the currency than bailing out. It is not only the large economic figures which benefit from Germany being in the eurozone, the study suggested – the average benefit from having the euro for individuals worked out at around €1,100 a year between 2013 and 2025…

“The Bertelsmann Foundation… did not take into consideration the fact that if Germany were actually to leave the euro, it would probably lead to the collapse of the currency union and a global economic crisis. ‘Germany’s membership of the currency union reduces the cost of international trade and protects against severe currency exchange fluctuations,’ said Aart De Geus, head of the foundation. ‘A return to the Deutschmark would cause significant damage. The Germans would lose income and jobs.’”

Core Policy of Anti-European Party “Insane”

Reuters wrote on April 28:

“A core policy of a new anti-euro party was criticized as ‘economically insane’ by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in an interview published on Sunday. Support for the Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD), which wants Germany to quit the euro and reintroduce the deutsche mark, is at 2 percent, according to a survey by Emnid pollsters also released on Sunday. ‘For Germany, it would be economically insane to exit the euro,’ Schaeuble told German weekly Focus, adding that Switzerland’s struggle with its soaring franc proved how problematic it could be to have a stronger currency.

“Schaeuble warned support for the AfD could still cost the ruling coalition crucial votes in September’s elections. Political analysts say it would be difficult for the AfD, launched a few months ago by a group of renegade academics, journalists and businessmen, to get above the five percent threshold needed to enter parliament in September…

“A majority of Germans continue to back the euro, opinion surveys regularly show, but the AfD is trying to tap into concerns about the mounting costs of bailouts for heavily indebted countries in the southern euro zone… Schaeuble told Focus that even thinkers who had been critical of his government’s bailout policy, such as Germany’s best-known economist Hans-Werner Sinn, believed in the euro. Sinn distanced himself from the AfD in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung published on Sunday. ‘I believe that it is worth fighting for the euro as such,’ Sinn said. ‘But I believe it is a big error to keep weak southern European countries in the euro at all costs. You do not thereby help these countries and you reduce the probability that the euro will survive,’ he said, adding that struggling economies such as Cyprus and Greece should temporarily leave the euro.

“Schaeuble said the AfD was merely a protest party, feeding on voters’ fears about the crisis. ‘A party, that is only against something, cannot be taken seriously. And it will not be successful in Germany,’ he said.”

Schaeuble is correct with his assessment that the AfD will not be successful in Germany, and that Germany will not abandon the Euro.

Italy’s New Government

Deutsche Welle reported on April 28:

“The cabinet formed by Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta is a combination of left- and right-leaning party stalwarts, independents and newcomers. But, the mix could also be a recipe for power struggles…

“Italy’s new head of government managed to combine old and new when forming his government. New faces can be seen in the 21-person team, which includes seven women. One of them is newcomer Cecile Kyenge, a Congolese-born doctor and human rights activist and Italy’s first black minister. She was given the post of integration minister. Another newcomer is German-born Josefa Idem, a former canoeist and winner of multiple Olympic medals. She is now sports and equal opportunities minister…

“But sharing the bench with the new arrivals are members of the old government, who hold some of the most important posts. Infrastructure and Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi hails from former Prime Minister Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL) party, as does the new interior minister, Angelino Alfano, who is also assuming the position of deputy prime minister. The particularly high standing of the latter should help relieve Berlusconi’s disappointment over not being able to fill the justice minister post with one of his people. The new justice minister is Anna Maria Cancellieri, an independent left over from the interim government of Prime Minister Mario Monti…

“Berlusconi is pleased with the current political constellation. Although only a quarter of the population voted for his party alliance, he still gets a say in the new government…”

Berlusconi is just not going away…

The New King of The Netherlands

Deutsche Welle wrote on April 30:

“The rather reserved queen Beatrix of the Netherlands hands over her crown to her son Willem-Alexander. He’s somewhat closer to the people, and people across the country are celebrating their new king… Polls suggest that outgoing queen Beatrix (75) and her son, the new king Willem-Alexander (46), are very popular with the people. Almost 75 percent of the population thinks their parliamentary monarchy is the right form of government for the country…

“In a television interview, the new king said he wants to continue in the same vein in which his mother held office. ‘I want to be a king who builds on the traditions of his predecessors. I’m standing for continuity and stability in the country, but I also will be a king who will bring people together and mediate between them.’

“The Dutch constitution is very precise in defining the role of the monarch as head of state. The king can contribute to the formation of the government, since he can name the mediator in the coalition talks…

“The Dutch parliament was hesitant in 2002 when it had to give its legally required consent to Willem-Alexander’s marriage to the non-aristocratic Argentinian Maxima. Her father is controversial because of his role in the Argentinian military dictatorship and because of that he will not be allowed to attend the coronation ceremony. The three predecessors of Willem-Alexander on the throne all had German partners. The Dutch monarchy of Orange-Nassau traditionally has close ties to German aristocracy….”

Pagan Earth Day Celebrations

Canada Free Press wrote on April 22:

“Today is being celebrated by modern pagans as ‘Earth Day.’ It is a date set aside to worship the earth (paganism). Today is also the birthday of Vladimir Lenin, (April 22nd 1870)… We agree with the folks at ‘TheBlogProf’ who say: ‘It is no coincidence that Earth Day, April 22, was chosen to coincide with the birthday of Vladimir Lenin. A day that celebrates communism as the gold standard of human civilization. Never mind that it has never worked as advertised, creating disorder rather than order. Environmentalism, the religion du jour of the 21st century, has very similar ends of government control under the guise of being good stewards of the planet.’…

“Environmentalism has become a full-fledged religion… If one believes in the divine creator, as I do, then one believes [that humans were] created by that divine creator referred to simply as God… Christians [believe] that Christ, God’s Son, came to this earth… 2,000 years ago. He was perceived by the corrupt government of his day as a threat and, as a result, he was executed. Christians believe that three days later he rose from the dead and returned home but not before promising to return to earth and clean up the mess we have made. As we said, that was around 2,000 years ago. Things have changed for the worst. In this century, and the last, so many have turned from the worship of the supreme being, we call God, to what we used to call ‘paganism’… the worship of nature, or the environment, or… more specifically… environmentalism. Yes, environmentalism HAS become a religion. Well, actually, it always was… nature is not God… GOD created nature…  Earth Day is a pagan celebration, and I want no part in it.”

The Bible condemns those who worship the creation, rather than the Creator (compare Romans 1).

Murdoch Takes Up Transcendental Meditation

The Huffington Post reported on April 22:

“Even at 82, Rupert Murdoch never fails to surprise us. The media mogul is taking up a surprising new hobby: meditation. He tweeted the news on Sunday, writing: ‘Trying to learn transcendental meditation. Everyone recommends, not that easy to get started, but said to improve everything!’ Maybe the stress of News Corp.’s scandals finally got to him.

“News Corp. has been roiled by revelations that some of its newspapers hacked the phones of public figures, and bribed public officials for information. Murdoch has survived relatively unscathed, though there have been over 100 other arrests related to the charges. Or maybe it’s all the heat The New York Post got over its coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings that’s putting him on edge. In any case, we’ll consider his latest tweet about meditation another one of his gems, made possible only after he joined Twitter in 2011.”

It may be another of his gems, but getting involved in transcendental meditation or other Far Eastern philosophies is extremely dangerous. We wrote the following in our article on “Biblical Meditation—a Forgotten Art”:

“Biblical meditation, as focused on God, and prayer to God go hand in hand. Human meditation of and by itself, separate from God, is useless, and can even be counterproductive. In fact, if meditation is focused on the self or on anything else but God and His Word, whether in a positive or a negative way, then meditation becomes an idol, and it is carnal and even demonic. Some today repeat foreign or mystical words, called mantras, for long periods of time during their meditation exercises. They don’t understand the meaning of these mantras, but they do it because they have been told that these words have some kind of magical effects to clear their consciousness from stress.

“Scientific research has, in fact, revealed that something physical does occur within the body during the course of this kind of meditation. But what is not commonly understood is the origin of these words or mantras. They are derived from Indian mythology and religion, designating the names of Indian gods. Most Indian gods, according to Indian mythology and doctrine, are both good and evil. So, without realizing it, people are calling for the appearance of one of those ‘Indian gods,’ by repeating his name over and over again. Why are we surprised, then, that their calls may be answered?

“People engaging in this kind of meditation may find themselves in strange situations. Some have literally killed themselves, thinking that they were witches of the Middle Ages, or that they felt that invisible evil forces were pursuing them. Further, the [former] leader of one of these meditation methods, an Indian guru, claim[ed] that he [could] fly, walk on water, go through closed doors, etc., and he [was] reportedly in the process of teaching the inner circle of his disciples to do the same through this kind of meditation. But this is not the kind of meditation we should engage in, nor should it serve as an example as to how to conduct our meditation.”

Saturday Shooting at a Marijuana Celebration in Denver, CO

The Associated Press reported on April 21:

“Denver police on Sunday pointed to a YouTube video they say shows a possible suspect in the weekend shooting at a marijuana celebration that injured two people and scattered a crowd of thousands. The shooting on Saturday took place during the outdoor celebration of the first 4/20 counterculture holiday since Colorado legalized marijuana. Denver police spent much of Sunday scanning video taken at the event.

“Police spokesman Sonny Jackson told The Denver Post that the suspect is shown in the video walking in a crowd away from the scene of the shooting as sirens wailed in the background. The suspect, a black male who was wearing a brown and white checkered shirt, can be seen about six seconds into the video, he said. ‘We are seeking this individual as we believe he assisted the primary suspect after the shooting,’ Jackson said in an email to the newspaper…

“Witnesses on Saturday described a scene in which a jovial atmosphere quickly turned to one of panic at the downtown Civic Center Park just before 5 p.m. Several thought firecrackers were being set off, then a man fell bleeding, his dog also shot. Witnesses said as many as 10 shots could be heard…Police said they were also looking for a second black man–one who was dressed in a grey hoodie and light blue baseball cap.”

A Saturday shooting during a “jovial atmosphere” of a legalized “marijuana celebration” in Colorado… what more needs to be said? Truly, as the Bible prophesied, men call evil good. Even without the shooting, what business does anyone have to participate in such an ungodly gathering—and especially on God’s holy Sabbath day?

Google Fined in Germany for Violation of Personal Data Collection Law

On April 22, 2013, dpa reported:

“Internet search giant Google was fined 145,000 euros (189,230 dollars) by German authorities Monday for collecting large amounts of personal data from wireless networks through cameras installed on vehicles for its street view service. The data protection office in the northern German city of Hamburg imposed the fine for the violation of privacy during the years 2008 to 2010, when Google was preparing its cityscape service.

“‘In my estimation, this is one of the most serious cases of violation of data protection regulations that have come to light so far,’ said John Caspar, who heads up the protection office. ‘Among the information collected in the drive-bys were significant amounts of personal data of varying quality… For example emails, passwords, photos and logs of chats were collected,’ he said… He went on to say that, under German law, he was unable to impose a much larger fine, saying that the maximum penalty for violations of the negligent data rule was limited to 150,000 euros.”

We should realize that in this day and age, privacy is a thing of the past. George Orwell’s “1984” has become grim reality.

US Torture Methods Violate US Constitution, US Laws and International Treaties

The Oregonian wrote on April 20:

“… the U.S. government’s use of torture against suspected terrorists, and its failure to fully acknowledge and condemn it, has made the exercise of diplomacy far more daunting. By authorizing and permitting torture in response to a global terrorist threat, U.S. leaders committed a grave error that has undermined our values, principles and moral stature; eroded our global influence; and placed our soldiers, diplomats and intelligence officers in even greater jeopardy.

“It’s not just the Bush-Cheney administration that bears responsibility for diminished U.S. standing, although the worst abuses took place in the years immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Obama administration also has failed to be as open and accountable on such fundamental questions of law, morality and principle as a great power that widely supports human rights needs to be.

“What can be done to mitigate the damage and set this country on a better course? First and foremost, Americans need to confront the truth. Let’s stop resorting to euphemisms and call ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ — including but not limited to waterboarding — what they actually are: torture. Torturing detainees flies in the face of principles and practices established in the founding of our republic, and it violates U.S. law and international treaties to which we are a party. Subjecting detainees to torture, no matter how despicable their alleged crimes, runs counter to the values embodied in the U.S. Constitution.

“Too much information about the abuse of detainees remains hidden from the American people. Specifically, the Obama administration’s ongoing concealment of the details about our use of torture has made it impossible for the United States to comply with its legal obligations under the U.N. Convention Against Torture and has contributed to a disturbing level of public support for torturing suspected terrorists.

“President Barack Obama should direct relevant officials to declassify as many related documents as possible as quickly as possible — starting with the more than 6 million pages of classified documents that were the basis for the Senate intelligence committee’s recent report on the CIA’s interrogation program, and the still-secret report itself — so that the American people may finally learn what was done in our name. Admitting our mistakes is the only legitimate basis on which we can reassure the world that America remains committed to the rule of law and to upholding human rights and democratic values.

“…the United States must not transfer detainees to torture in other countries. Such transfers, known as ‘renditions,’ have occurred under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama — despite the fact that they violate the Convention Against Torture…

“Democracy and torture cannot peacefully coexist in the same body politic. Successful human rights diplomacy and torture can’t either. Our country and its place in the world — as well as the Americans bravely serving in military, intelligence and diplomatic posts around the globe — deserve nothing less.”

There can be no doubt that America’s use of torture has further increased anti-American feelings around the world. However, releasing all the grim details might not increase US popularity either.

Boston Lock-Down and Cover-Up?

NBC News reported on April 20 about a massive transportation lock-down in Boston during the man-hunt of two suspects subsequent to the bombing:

“Authorities are prohibiting some street traffic and cars having to pass through police roadblocks when entering and leaving the airport. Official taxi service was suspended for several hours this morning… All forms of transportation in and around Boston have been affected by the city-wide lock down. Amtrak announced it had suspended Acela Express and Northeast Regional service indefinitely in the Boston area.

“Regional bus lines, such as Megabus, Greyhound, Bolt Bus, and Peter Pan bus lines have also suspended service, with customers receiving options for refunds or rebooking, according to an AP report… The Federal Aviation Administration shut down airspace over a Boston neighborhood Friday morning to give police a ‘safe environment for law-enforcement activities.’

“The agency issued a 3.5 nautical-mile (roughly 4 miles) radius temporary flight restriction over Watertown early Friday up to 3,000 feet.”

Some of the restrictions have been lifted. However, the following Scriptures come to mind: Leviticus 26:36; Deuteronomy 28:25; 32:30; Isaiah 30:17.

In addition, some very disturbing unanswered questions remain, suggesting that the Boston Police Department might have received a bomb threat before the marathon, but decided not to intervene. For instance, Natural News reported on April 17:

“If you’re looking for actual journalism surrounding the Boston marathon bombings, don’t bother reading the mainstream media. The real breaking news is found in the alternative media, where Anthony Gucciardi of StoryLeak.com just nailed an on-the-record interview with Alastair Stevenson, the University of Alabama cross country track coach who heard law enforcement telling the crowd, ‘It’s just a drill’ immediately after the explosions…

“Alastair Stevenson is a veteran marathon runner who has competed in dozens of marathons around the world, including the London Marathon. He’s very familiar with the security typically found at marathons, and he immediately noticed something odd about the Boston marathon security. ‘They kept making announcements on the loud speaker that it was just a drill and there was nothing to worry about. It seemed like there was some sort of threat, but they kept telling us it was just a drill,’ he was quoted as saying by Local15TV.com.

“In the interview, you’ll hear Stevenson say:  ‘At the start at the event, at the Athlete’s Village, there were people on the roof looking down onto the Village at the start. There were dogs with their handlers going around sniffing for explosives, and we were told on a loud announcement that we shouldn’t be concerned and that it was just a drill. And maybe it was just a drill, but I’ve never seen anything like that — not at any marathon that I’ve ever been to. You know, that just concerned me that that’s the only race that I’ve seen in my life where they had dogs sniffing for explosions, and that’s the only place where there had been explosions.’

“Why is all this such a huge story? Because the Boston police department is on the record saying there was no drill! People who are writing about the reality of the bomb drill are being called ‘conspiracy theorists’ across the ‘net. Yet the real conspiracy is found in the bomb drill cover-up. The far more important question now is: Why would the Boston police LIE about the existence of a bomb drill?”

Boston Mishandled?

Deutsche Welle wrote on April 22:

“US media are awash with questions concerning the suspect in the Boston bombing. Observers wonder about his legal status, the media’s role in his pursuit and if shutting down a major city made sense. Was the bombing of the Boston Marathon a crime or an act of terror? The question of what kind of justice Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should face has set off a heated debate in the United States.

“If treated as a criminal, Tsarnaev would face charges in a civilian court. But as a US citizen, he could only be tried before a military court if he is declared an ‘enemy combatant,’ similar to the terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay. Enemy combatants also do not enjoy the right to due process…

“American media have also asked if authorities acted appropriately in their pursuit of the two brothers and later of Dzhokhar alone. Online magazine ‘Politico’ asked whether locking down a major city – forcing businesses to close, shutting down public transportation and telling the public to ‘shelter in place’ – was the ‘new normal’ when it comes to terrorism investigations. The website quoted Representative Dutch Ruppersberger who said allowing a single person to influence the lives of millions was not in line with American values. ‘When you have lives at stake, it’s up to law enforcement,’ Ruppersberger told Politico. ‘But it’s an accomplishment when someone shuts down an entire community and people can’t go outside and are told to stay away. We can’t allow these people to shut us down.’

“Media coverage of the manhunt was also criticized. Authorities called the media irresponsible after CNN, Fox News, the AP news agency and the Boston Globe incorrectly reported on Thursday that a suspect had been arrested. Authorities also used the media to get their messages to the public.”

Again, America has become the center of criticism.

EU Will Take Over Supervision of All Eurozone Banks in 2014

Reuters reported on April 20:

“The euro zone’s top project to boost economic growth – banking union – will not be delayed for now by a row over whether it needs EU law changed because most of the work can be done before this is settled, a senior euro zone official said on Saturday… The EU has already made the first step – it agreed the European Central Bank would take over the supervision of all banks in the euro zone from July 2014 in what is called the Single Supervisory Mechanism.

“… [The] 17 countries using the euro can also move ahead with further harmonizing deposit guarantee programs, and creating rules on when the euro zone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, or ESM, can buy a stake in a euro zone bank to boost its capital when no-one else can or wants to. The euro zone will also create a network of national authorities responsible for closing down failing banks that will operate under the same rules.

“It is the next step that becomes difficult. The euro zone wants to transform the network of national resolution authorities into a single European institution that would decide which euro zone banks will be closed… However, Germany, the euro zone’s biggest economy, faces elections in September. It believes that to create such an authority, which could order the closure of a German bank, or use German taxpayers’ money to pay for the closure of a bank elsewhere in the euro zone, EU laws have to be changed.

“The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, says existing law provides sufficient basis… A change of European Union treaties would substantially delay the launch of the banking union because apart from the time needed to negotiate the amendments it would also require time for parliaments of the 27 EU countries to ratify it. There would also be a risk that the ratification fails in one or more countries and that some EU governments would use the opportunity to trade their support for concessions in other areas, opening the door to long and difficult negotiations…”

It is highly likely that even such a “single European [banking] institution” will be created in Europe—without time-consuming EU law alterations.

In this context, The Local reported on April 22 that “German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday rejected the idea that her country was seeking ‘hegemony’ in the European Union, but insisted members needed to cede some national sovereignty for the greater good.”

Even though Germany may not be seeking hegemony, it WILL become the leading nation of ten core nations or groups of nations in Europe.

The Washington Times added on April 22:

“The 17 nations that make up the eurozone need to accept that Europe is in charge, and they need to toe that line when it comes to forging spending and debt deals, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday. ‘We seem to find common solutions when we are staring over the abyss,’ she said at an event hosted by Deutsche Bank in Berlin, The Telegraph reported. ‘But as soon as the pressure eases, people say they want to go their own way.’

“Member states need to buck and respect Europe’s leadership, she said. ‘Europe has the last word in certain areas,’ she said, as The Telegraph reported. ‘Otherwise we won’t be able to continue to build Europe.’”

UK’s Military Standing in the World in Jeopardy

The Guardian wrote on April 22:

“Britain’s standing as a leading military power with the ability to influence events beyond its own borders will be jeopardised if the country leaves the European Union, the German minister of defence has warned… Thomas de Maizière insisted the defence implications for Britain, Europe and Nato would be profound… ‘If Great Britain leaves the EU, it would be a great disappointment to us. It would weaken Nato, it would weaken the British influence within Nato. I think from a military point of view the disadvantages for Great Britain would be bigger than the advantages.’

“De Maizière said he knew he was intervening in a domestic debate, but argued it was too important to stand to one side, particularly with the potential military consequences for the UK’s standing in the world…

“De Maizière said other European countries looked to Germany to take a lead in economic and military matters, but then balked at the way Berlin wanted to do things. ‘In the Euro [banking] crisis, when some countries call for German leadership, they mean Germany should pay more. They criticise us when we say leadership means we, Europe, shouldn’t spend so much raising debts. But when we say this, they say this perhaps is not good leadership. You can’t have the cake and eat it. When the leader only fulfils the wishes of the others, that is not leadership.’

“He made clear that Germany had been urging Nato to adopt a counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan long before it was finally adopted, but had been sneered at for suggesting the military approach could not work on its own. German soldiers, he said, had fought well in Afghanistan and proved they were not just ‘cake-eaters.’”

Germany will lead, but it won’t just try to please everyone.

Germans Would Like to See Monarchy Restored

The Local reported on April 25:

“One in five Germans would like to see the monarchy restored, according to a survey released on Thursday. Young Germans were even keener on replacing the president with a new Kaiser. With a British jubilee, a Dutch abdication and a Swedish royal birth, European royals have been regularly hitting headlines of late. More than half of the 1,012 Germans asked by polling company YouGov for news agency DPA said they were interested in other countries’ monarchies.

“In fact, 19 percent said that they would like to see one of their own be re-instated. Among people aged between 18 and 24 this figure jumped up to more than one in three, while just one in six over-55s were in favour of having a monarchy.”

Same-Sex Couples Can Marry in France—Violent Protests Are the Consequence

Reuters reported on April 23:

“French parliament approved a law allowing same-sex couples to marry and to adopt children on Tuesday, a flagship reform pledge by President Francois Hollande which sparked often violent street protests and a rise in homophobic attacks. Hollande’s ‘marriage for all’ law is the biggest social reform in France since his left-wing mentor and predecessor Francois Mitterrand abolished the death penalty in 1981, a move which also split the nation.

“Lawmakers in the lower house National Assembly, where Hollande’s Socialists have an absolute majority, passed the bill by 331 votes for and 225 against, making France the 14th country in the world to allow same-sex couples to wed… Yet the episode has carried a political price for an already unpopular president…

“France, a mainly Catholic country, follows 13 others including Canada, Denmark, Sweden and most recently Uruguay and New Zealand in letting gay and lesbian couples tie the knot. In the United States, Washington D.C. and nine states have legalized same-sex marriage… The gay community greeted the news with fanfare, with some rights groups dubbing April 23 the ‘Day of Love’. But opponents gathered outside parliament for a new demonstration.”

The Times added on April 24:

“Christiane Taubira, the Justice Minister, said the first gay weddings would be held in June. They would be beautiful, she said, and bring joy after weeks of virulent debate. ‘Those who are opposed to them today will surely be confounded when they are overcome with the happiness of the newlyweds and the families,’ she said. Mrs Taubira said the Bill, which also authorises gay couples to adopt children, meant that they would enjoy the full rights due to all French citizens. ‘They will be able to construct marital and parental projects,’ she said… Valérie Trierweiler, partner of President Hollande, joined the celebrations as she ignored advice to adopt a low profile and declared the parliamentary vote ‘historic’ in a Twitter message.

“Wedding planners were also delighted as they prepared to capture a new market, with France’s first gay marriage show planned for Paris this weekend. Divorce lawyers began putting out feelers as well after reports that when Argentina legalised same-sex marriages in 2010, the first break-up occurred a month later. But the mood outside Parliament was sombre as opponents forecast a breakdown in social order, with many taking a lead from the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, the Bishop of Paris, has accused the Socialist Government of ‘refusing all differences between the sexes’. He said that the refusal would ‘frustrate personal expression . . . That is how you prepare a society of violence.’…

“Opponents are planning a giant demonstration in the French capital on May 26 in an attempt to dissuade Mr Hollande from signing the Bill, which he must do to make it law. However, he has shown no sign of backing down.”

This might prove to become Mr. Hollande’s downfall.

Israeli Strike on Iran Becomes Real

The Times of Israel wrote on April 22:

“The importance of the new arms deal between Israel and the United States cannot be overstated. The arrival of an as yet undisclosed number of KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft will give the Israeli Air Force (IAF) the range to attack any target in Iran that it deems necessary in order to suppress the Iranian nuclear program. This is quite simply a game changer.

“Up until now just about every expert and pundit, not to mention former chief of staff of the IDF has known that Israel simply couldn’t launch an attack against Iran on its own and that all talk to the contrary was more bluster than threat. That is no longer the case or rather it will no longer be the case once the tankers arrive and our pilots have been trained in their use.

“Many of the challenges of attacking Iran remain, but distance is no longer one of them. The aerial refueling capability means that from now on when the Prime Minister of Israel talks about attacking Iran he needs to be taken seriously.

“In absolute terms the tankers on their own ensure that the IAF can reach every target in Iran that they need to, everything is in range. What they don’t do is increase the destructive power of the ordnance that their F-15s and F-16s can carry. Any strike that would be launched is likely to be launched at targets that were built with defense in mind. Essentially meaning that a large part of them is underground… no attack on Iran can take place without Israeli boots on the ground…”

Is Syria Using Chemical Weapons to Test the Waters?

The New York Times wrote on April 23:

“Israel declared Tuesday that it had found evidence that the Syrian government repeatedly used chemical weapons last month, arguing that President Bashar al-Assad was testing how the United States and others would react and that it was time for Washington to overcome its deep reluctance to intervene in the Syrian civil war.

“In making the declaration — which went somewhat beyond recent suspicions expressed by Britain and France — Israeli officials argued that President Assad had repeatedly crossed what President Obama said last summer would be a ‘red line.’ But Obama administration officials pushed back, saying they would not leap into the conflict on what they viewed as inconclusive evidence, even while working with allies on plans to secure the weapons if it appeared they were about to be used or handed to Hezbollah…

“Secretary of State John Kerry suggested there were mixed messages emerging from Israel, saying that he spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday morning and that the Israeli leader ‘was not in a position to confirm’ the intelligence assessment. Israeli officials said they would not try to explain the apparent difference between Mr. Netanyahu’s statement and that of his top military intelligence officials…

“The Israeli intelligence analyst, Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, told participants at a security conference in Tel Aviv that the Syrian government ‘has increasingly used chemical weapons.’ That echoed accusations that Britain and France made in a letter last week to the secretary general of the United Nations, calling for a deeper investigation…

“If the United States has been more reluctant than its allies to come to firm conclusions about chemical weapons, it may be because such proof could force Mr. Obama’s hand. In August, the president told reporters that any evidence that Mr. Assad was moving the weapons or making use of them could prompt the United States to act… Mr. Obama’s aides have since amended his statement, saying that he was referring to major use of chemical weapons — akin to what Saddam Hussein employed against the Kurds two decades ago — or the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups…”

CNN reported on April 25 that “The United States has evidence that the chemical weapon sarin has been used in Syria on a small scale, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday… When asked whether the intelligence community’s conclusion pushed the situation across President Barack Obama’s ‘red line’ that could trigger more U.S. involvement in the war, Hagel said it’s too soon to say.”

According to an article of April 25, by thecable.foreignpolicy.com, “Despite a new U.S. intelligence community assessment that the Syrian regime likely used chemical weapons on its own people, the White House is still waiting for more evidence before deciding whether Bashar al-Assad has crossed President Barack Obama’s ‘red line.’”

So it appears that the USA is not too anxious to find evidence for the major use of chemical weapons in Syria, while the civil war goes on…

Syria’s Chemical Weapons in Hezbollah’s Reach

The Times of Israel wrote on April 24:

“Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, on Monday warned the UN Security Council that Hezbollah was close to getting its hands on Syria’s massive stockpile of chemical weapons. ‘In Lebanon, Hezbollah is building an army equipped with 50,000 missiles — more than many NATO members. Now they might have access to one of the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons in the world,’ said Prosor, a day after the IDF’s top intelligence analyst said that President Bashar Assad was in possession of more than 1,000 metric tons of chemical weapons and had deployed sarin nerve gas against civilians. Prosor blamed the European Union for ignoring Hezbollah’s terrorist actions and stubbornly refusing to brand the group a terror organization…

“Prosor warned that Tehran was playing for time to keep the West at bay while it scrambles to reach atomic weapons capability. ‘The Iranian nuclear program continues to advance at the speed of an express train. The international community’s efforts to stop them are moving at the pace of the local train, pausing at every stop for some nations to get off and on.’”

Killer Robots on the Rise

The Telegraph reported on April 25:

“Autonomous robots with the power to make decisions about killing human beings are under development, and their use raises worrying questions about morality and accountability in war, human rights campaigners warn. A human rights agency has raised concerns about the advent of ‘killer robots’, capable of selecting and killing targets autonomously…

“Since the start of the ‘War on Terror’ following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, has increased dramatically. According to Human Rights Watch ‘rapid advances in technology are permitting the United States and other nations with high-tech militaries, including China, Israel, Russia, and the United Kingdom, to move toward systems that would provide greater combat autonomy to machines. If one or more country chooses to deploy fully autonomous weapons, others may feel compelled to abandon policies of restraint, leading to a robotic arms race.’”

Mixed Messages from the Pope

Reuters wrote on April 14:

“Pope Francis on Sunday said clergy and Christians must not betray the word of God with their actions or they undermine the credibility of the Catholic Church. Francis, elected a month ago, inherited a Church struggling to restore credibility after a series of scandals, including the sexual abuse of children by priests… In his first major decision on Saturday, Francis set up an advisory board of cardinals to help him govern the Church and reform its troubled central administration, which was riddled by infighting and alleged corruption under Pope Benedict.

“Benedict left a secret report for Francis on the problems in the administration, known as the Curia, which came to light when sensitive documents were stolen from the pope’s desk and leaked by his butler in what became known as the ‘Vatileaks’ scandal.

“Since his election as the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years, Francis has been laying out a clear moral path for the 1.2-billion-member Church. He has favored humility and simplicity over pomp and grandeur. Francis has preferred to live in simple quarters in the Vatican instead of moving into the regal papal apartments, and he has said he wants ‘a poor Church, and for the poor.’”

The Los Angeles Times wrote on April 15:

“Pope Francis has backed the Vatican’s doctrinal crackdown on a major group of American nuns, reasserting the Roman Catholic Church’s conservative approach to various social issues in a move that could cool the warm reception he has received from some liberal Catholics since taking office last month.

“The Vatican said in a statement Monday that Francis had reaffirmed the doctrinal evaluation and criticism of U.S. nuns made last year by the Holy See under his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. The assessment accused the Leadership Conference of women Religious, an organization that represents most U.S. female Catholic orders, of promoting ‘radical feminist themes’ and ignoring the Vatican’s hard line on same-sex marriage and abortion… The Leadership Conference of Women Religious represents about 57,000 sisters, or 80% of U.S. nuns.

“Since his election, Francis has won positive reviews for his informal style, his off-the-cuff homilies and his desire to reach out to the poor. But he has long been known for his conservative views on social issues.”

The concept of a “poor” Catholic Church will not be accepted by many Church leaders, and it will only happen at the time of Christ’s return, according to biblical prophecy. On the other hand, even though he might appear “progressive” in some of his views, Pope Francis still maintains the Church’s conservative doctrinal stance, and we should not expect any change in that regard.

Earthquake in China

BBC reported on April 20:

“A powerful earthquake has killed at least 160 people and injured at least 5,700 in China’s rural south-west, officials say. The 6.6-magnitude tremor sent people fleeing from buildings across Sichuan province, which was devastated by a massive quake five years ago… There have been at least 710 aftershocks, further damaging buildings and leaving them dangerous… The quake struck at 08:02 local time (00:02 GMT) on Saturday, with the China Earthquake Administration categorising it as a 7.0 magnitude, and the US Geological Survey (USGS) reporting it as 6.6… The quake was measured at 12km below the surface – a shallow depth that usually indicates extensive damage… Five years ago a massive quake hit Sichuan, killing tens of thousands. The 2008 disaster left some five million people homeless.”

As Christ foretold, we will be hearing more and more about powerful earthquakes “here and there”—that is, around the world in diverse places. Recently, a powerful earthquake struck Iran, and five earthquakes hit Oklahoma.

New Chinese Bird Flu Virus Found in Taiwan

The Washington Times wrote on April 25:

“Taiwan confirmed Wednesday the first case of the H7N9 bird flu outside of mainland China. The new strain of bird flu not otherwise known to humans has been found in more than 100 cases and has killed 22 people in China. Officials are looking into the possibility of human-to-human transmission of the H7N9 strain, but have [not] yet drawn any conclusions.”

Theatlanticcities.com added on April 25:

“Only 4 of the 81 people with confirmed cases of bird flu in China have fully recovered… [A medical] report also confirms that human-to-human transmission of H7N9, which could cause a deadly global pandemic, can’t be ruled out.”

 

Solar Flares to Increase

The Science Recorder reported on April 13:

“Friday marked the biggest solar flare of the year when, at 3:16 a.m. EDT, a M6.5-class solar eruption took place on the surface of the sun, unleashing a wave of radioactive material into space. M-level flares are powerful enough to have effects on the Earth, but are also the weakest of the type that can do so (in comparison, the ominously labeled X-class flares are the most powerful and 10 times stronger than those in M-class)…
 
“The flare comes as the sun’s activity is currently expected to peak at some point this year… Alex Young, a NASA scientist… claimed that solar flares will likely increase both in frequency and magnitude near the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014.”

Christ warned about signs from heaven in the last days.

Terror at the Boston Marathon!

CNN reported on April 18, 2013:

“Two bombs struck near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, turning a celebration into a bloody scene of destruction.
 
“Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said Monday night that the death toll had risen to three. Scores were injured at the scene.
 
“One of the dead was an 8-year-old boy, according to a state law enforcement source.
 
“Hospitals reported at least 144 people are being treated, with at least 17 of them in critical condition and 25 in serious condition. At least eight of the patients are children.
 
“At least 10 people injured had limbs amputated, according to a terrorism expert briefed on the investigation.
 
“Several of the patients treated at Massachusetts General Hospital suffered injuries to lower limbs that will require ‘serial operations’ in the coming days, trauma surgeon Peter Fagenholz said Monday night. Some injuries were so severe amputations were necessary, Fagenholz added.

Some believe that this is the newest war with Al-Qaida, while others think that this is just the times in which we live! The fact remains that terror has now infiltrated into the daily lives of Americans in a way that seems much different! As the next article also shows, personal safety is at risk for everyone. Why? Why has terror become part of our daily lives? The Bible addresses these questions, and you can understand what prophecy reveals for our time–especially, the immediate future–please read our free booklet: “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Terror Srikes Texas

The Wall Street Journal reported on April 18, 2013:

“Rescue workers on Thursday began scouring the blast zone of a massive fertilizer-plant explosion that has left up to 15 people dead or missing, including emergency workers who responded to the initial fire, officials said.

“Law-enforcement officials said the death toll could rise, even as they looked for people still trapped in debris. As a heavy rain fell in this small town north of Waco, fire crews combed through the adjacent neighborhood. ‘We’re still searching for survivors,’ Waco Police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton said Thursday morning.

“The incident began with a fire at the West Fertilizer Co. that began around 6 p.m. Central time on Wednesday night. Volunteer firefighters in the town of about 2,800 people roughly 80 miles south of Dallas tried to extinguish the fire at the industrial facility.

“About two hours later, a thunderous explosion ripped through the plant, registering as strong as a magnitude 2.1 earthquake, according to federal seismologists. It sent a column of smoke hundreds of feet into the air and damaged more than 50 homes in a five-block radius of the facility.

“The facility stored and blended anhydrous ammonia that it distributed as fertilizer to local businesses, according to a 2011 safety plan filed with the federal government in 2011. According to this plan, it didn’t have an automatic shutoff system or firewalls installed. It was located across the street from a park and within 1,000 feet of a school, homes and an apartment complex, where many of the injuries occurred.

“More than 150 people have been treated for injuries relating to the fire and explosion, according to local hospitals. There is an assisted-living facility close by, but more than 130 people had been evacuated from it after the fire broke out but before the explosion, said Texas state police…

“A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, D.L. Wilson, said the blast heavily damaged 50 to 75 homes, as well as an apartment building with roughly 50 units near the site.

“‘We have a tremendous number of injuries,’ Mr. Wilson said in a televised news briefing shortly after midnight. He described the scene at the West Fertilizer plant and nearby neighborhood as looking ‘just like Iraq, just like the Murrah building,’ referring to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, where 168 people died after a truck filled with fertilizer was detonated in a domestic terrorist attack in 1995.

Iran and North Korea’s Deadly Cooperation

Newsmax reported on April 12, 2013:

“Analysts fear a dramatic advance in North Korea’s nuclear missile technology, revealed inadvertently during a Congressional hearing Thursday, will quickly find its way to Iran — forcing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fast-track a long-contemplated attack against Tehran’s nuclear-enrichment facilities.

“Pentagon officials are playing down a U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that North Korea probably has the ability to miniaturize a nuclear weapon and place it on an ICBM. U.S. officials say that miniaturization capability, if it exists, is untested and unreliable.

“In February, North Korea detonated what is described as a ‘lighter, miniaturized atomic bomb.’ At the time, there was speculation this could signal the Hermit Kingdom had developed a nuclear warhead that it could place on its long-range missiles. Pentagon officials, however, continued to insist North Korea was at least a year away from developing that capability.

“Jerusalem Post defense analyst Yaakov Katz, author of ‘Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War,’ tells Newsmax that U.S. and Israeli intelligence officials have generally agreed that it would take Iran six to 12 months to build a nuclear device once it tried to break out and enrich its material from the 20-percent to the 90-percent level required. Beyond that, intelligence experts have projected, it would then take Iran another year or two to produce a miniaturized warhead that could be installed on a missile.

“Now, Katz says, the time lag between reaching nuclear capability and Iran’s ability to arm a missile with a nuclear warhead appears to have vanished. That means Thursday’s revelation could reduce Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nonmilitary options against Iran, forcing the Jewish state to step up its timetable for attacking the Persian nation should it acquire enough enriched uranium to be a significant threat.

“’If the North Koreans are much more advanced than we assumed, then that could mean that when the Iranians surge to move forward, that the whole time frame would change also,’ Katz tells Newsmax. ‘It would mean Israel and the West would have to revisit the time frames that they’ve put in for the Iranians, and that could be much shorter now — which means your window of opportunity [to attack] is also becoming smaller.’

“Experts say Israel would have to assume that any North Korean miniaturization technology would soon find its way into the hands of Iran’s mullahs. In fact, it is possible Iranian technology enabled North Korea’s push to miniaturize its warheads — the step that makes them capable of being installed on an ICBM. There is widespread agreement in the intelligence community that the two embattled nations routinely exchange technology, and sometimes military hardware as well…

“The news that one U.S. intelligence agency believes North Korea already has achieved the ability to design nuclear-missile warheads was inadvertently disclosed by GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado on Thursday during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee. He was reading a portion of a classified document that had been erroneously marked declassified.

“That disclosure means Israeli leaders must now assume the window between the moment Iran acquires nuclear capability, and the horrific moment when it could launch an attack on a major Israeli city such as Tel Aviv, would be a matter of months or weeks rather than years, experts say.

“That North Korea has helped Iran bolster its missile technology is well established. In recent years, as Iranian technology surpassed that of North Korea, the technical assistance flowed the other way as well, sources say.”

Iran’s Nuclear Quest

The Washington Post wrote on April 15, 2013:
 
“For years, mystery surrounded an Iranian-­controlled factory tucked away in this town of 70,000 in Germany’s industrial west.

“The plant manufactured high-pressure gas tanks, but its managers seemed uninterested in making a profit. Potential investors were turned away. An expensive piece of machinery — precise enough to produce components for centrifuges and missiles — sat idle after a failed attempt to ship it to Iran. Finally, the factory, MCS Technologies, closed its doors late last month.

“Since then, the mystery has taken another turn. European security officials and former workers have raised questions about whether the high-tech equipment and material at MCS could have been part of a scheme to aid Iran’s rogue nuclear program…

“With the United States, Germany and other Western countries trying to tighten sanctions on Iran to slow its nuclear program, the MCS mystery demonstrates the difficulty of tracking the flow of technology and material that have civilian and military applications.”

Israel’s Military Prepares…

The Washington Times reported on April 16, 2013:

“Israeli military and political heads are holding intense discussions on how best to launch an independent attack on Iran, should the need arise, the nation’s defense force chief said Tuesday.
 
“’The Iranian challenge is very significant and we must approach it with a responsible long-term strategy,’ IDF chief Benny Gantz said, The Times of Israel reported. ‘We will do what is necessary when it is necessary.’
 
“Mr. Gantz specified that Israel had the ability to hit Iran’s nuclear targets on its own — absent aid from any other country, including the United States. And ongoing military-political talks were focusing on that scenario, he said, in The Times of Israel.”

A Warning From Prime Minister Netanyahu

The Jerusalem Post wrote on April 18, 2013:

“Iran needs only 80 kilograms more of 20% enriched uranium before it can produce a nuclear bomb, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Thursday afternoon.

“’It takes 250 kilos of 20% enriched uranium to manufacture a nuclear bomb. They [Iran] have gone up from 110 to 170 kilos,’ Netanyahu said…

“The threat of a North Korean nuclear strike has underscored the danger of Iran’s nuclear program, Netanyahu said.

“’The entire world is paralyzed, shattered, destabilized by this rogue state [North Korea] that has nuclear weapons,’ Netanyahu said.

“’Iran is many times fold stronger than North Korea both in GDP and aggressive tendencies and the world wide web of terror that they have,’ Netanyahu said.

“Tehran has armed terrorists with rockets and has the ability to shut down the world’s oil supply, he said. If they have a nuclear weapons, it would spark a nuclear arms race in the region.

“’The Middle East will become a tinderbox. The threat of Iran’s getting nuclear weapons is a direct threat to the existence of Israel, but I think that it is a supreme pivot of history. It threatens the peace of the world,’ Netanyahu said.”

China Invests in Europe

Spiegel Online International wrote on April 16, 2013:

“Europe has become the world’s largest recipient of foreign investment by Chinese firms. While North America largely views them with suspicion, China’s state-owned corporations have been largely welcomed in a continent plagued by recession and in desperate need of cash.

“Chinese state-owned companies are expanding their influence in Europe, investing more than $12.6 billion (€9.6 billion) in the Continent last year, according to a study by the Hong Kong-based private equity firm A Capital.

Germany Doesn’t Need U.S. Fix!

The euobserver.com reported on April 13, 2013:

“US treasury secretary Jack Lew on Tuesday (9 April) hinted that Germany should boost its internal demand to help Europe get out of the crisis.

“But German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Berlin has no need for US tutelage.

“‘We need to balance policies of growth and fiscal consolidation. The driving force behind any recovery is consumer demand, so any policies to help encourage consumer demand in countries that have the capacity would be helpful,’ Lew said during a joint press conference with Schaeuble in Berlin.

“Germany has a policy of keeping down wages in order to make it a more attractive location for manufacturers and exporters.

“But the low pay stymies growth in German domestic consumption.

“At the same time, its firm policy on avoiding inflation has kept the euro relatively strong on currency markets, hampering efforts by crisis-hit eurozone states, such as Greece or Spain, to export their way out of trouble.

“For his part, Schaeuble, while welcoming the new US minister on his first visit to Berlin, said there is no need for Germany or the US to give ‘lessons’ or ‘grades’ to each other.

“‘We need to understand each other. The situation in the US is completely different than the one in Europe and I was trying to explain that,’ he told press.

“‘I tried to explain to him the complicated structures we have here in Europe. We are on the right way [out of the crisis], but we have complex decision making structures,’ he added.

“Both officials tried to downplay their differences on how to balance austerity with growth-spurring measures.”

Obama’s Snub… Again!

MailOnline reported on April 15, 2013:

“Friends and allies of Baroness Thatcher expressed ‘surprise and disappointment’ last night as it emerged President Obama is not planning to send any serving member of his administration to her funeral.
 
“Whitehall sources have revealed that the US delegation at tomorrow’s service in St Paul’s Cathedral will be led by two Reagan era secretaries of state: James Baker and George Shultz.
 
“Though President Obama himself had not been expected to attend, there had been speculation that he would be represented either by Vice President Joe Biden or wife Michelle. However, the Obama administration had said it would not be attending Thatcher’s funeral before the Boston bombings

“The Queen’s decision to attend Lady Thatcher’s funeral has effectively elevated it to a state occasion unprecedented for a political figure in Britain since the death of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965.
 
“Other world leaders, including Canada’s Stephen Harper, Mario Monti of Italy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, are attending the service in person.

“President Obama paid tribute to Lady Thatcher’s towering achievements when her death was announced last week.
 
“But a US embassy spokesman confirmed that no serving member of his administration would be present to pay their last respects, citing a busy week in US domestic politics.”

Newsmax also noted on April 18, 2013:

“President Barack Obama’s decision not to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Wednesday was blasted by a former Reagan administration official and Fox News analyst who called it shameful, ‘cheap, small and petty.’

“Writing on Fox News.com, Fox National Security Analyst Kathleen Troia ‘K.T.’ McFarland said the administration’s official excuse that the president and vice president were consumed with a busy week — which included the Boston Marathon bombing tragedy — rang hollow.

“It does — after all — take a mere 24 hours to fly to London and back for a state funeral, she noted.

“’It is standard operating procedure for the Vice President or First Lady or, at a minimum the Secretary of State, to attend funerals of foreign leaders, even those from lesser nations,’ McFarland wrote. ‘Shame on you, Mr. President. You and your administration look cheap, small and petty.

“’It goes without saying that when one of the longest serving leaders of America’s closest and most enduring ally dies, the United States should send a large and distinguished delegation of America’s leaders, past and present,’ added McFarland, who is a Distinguished Adviser to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and served in national security posts in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations.

“She wasn’t the only one criticizing the president for his handling of the funeral. Obama was slammed in the British tabloids, as well.

“They reported that the government of Prime Minister David Cameron was incensed, especially since former Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair was sitting in the front row of the service.

“'[Downing] Street is most angered by rejections from Obama, First Lady Michelle and Vice-President Joe Biden. And none of the four surviving ex-U.S. leaders — Jimmy Carter, George Bush Sr, Bill Clinton and George Bush Jr — is coming either,’ The Sun reported, according to Politico.

“The Sun continued: ‘The response contrasts with glowing U.S. tributes on the day Lady Thatcher died. A No 10 source said last night: “We are a little surprised by the White House’s reaction as we were expecting a high-profile attendance.” The “snub” came ahead of the Boston marathon ‘bomb outrage.'”‘”

It appears that President Obama’s insensitivites toward the British are all too obvious. Early in his first term, the president removed a bust of Winston Churchill from the White House and had it returned to England. Now, his latest actions are drawing pointed criticism from our closest ally. Mr. Obama’s less than diplomatic treatment has eroded the bond so characterized by the former British Prime Minister Thatcher and U.S. President Reagan.

Hypocrisy of Catholic Priests at Issue

Reuters wrote on April 14, 2013:

“Pope Francis on Sunday said clergy and Christians must not betray the word of God with their actions or they undermine the credibility of the Catholic Church.

“Francis, elected a month ago, inherited a Church struggling to restore credibility after a series of scandals, including the sexual abuse of children by priests.

“The pope spoke at the Papal Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, where he celebrated Mass. He also greeted pilgrims and local Church members earlier in St. Peter’s square.

“‘Inconsistency on the part of pastors and the faithful between what they say and what they do, between word and manner of life, is undermining the Church’s credibility,’ the pontiff said in his homily.

“‘Those who listen to us and observe us must be able to see in our actions what they hear from our lips, and so give glory to God!’

“In his first major decision on Saturday, Francis set up an advisory board of cardinals to help him govern the Church and reform its troubled central administration, which was riddled by infighting and alleged corruption under Pope Benedict.”

Vatican Remains Unyeilding

Los Angeles Times reported on April 15, 2013:

“Pope Francis has backed the Vatican’s doctrinal crackdown on a major group of American nuns, reasserting the Roman Catholic Church’s conservative approach to various social issues in a move that could cool the warm reception he has received from some liberal Catholics since taking office last month.

“The Vatican said in a statement Monday that Francis had reaffirmed the doctrinal evaluation and criticism of U.S. nuns made last year by the Holy See under his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. The assessment accused the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an organization that represents most U.S. female Catholic orders, of promoting “radical feminist themes” and ignoring the Vatican’s hard line on same-sex marriage and abortion.

“At the time, the Vatican dispatched an archbishop to rewrite the group’s statutes and set up reeducation programs to bring nuns back into line, alleging that leaders of U.S. orders had challenged the church’s teachings on women’s ordination and ministry to homosexuals.”

Earthquakes…

The Associated Press reported on April 18, 2013:

“Iran’s state TV says a moderate, magnitude 5.2 earthquake rattled a small town in the country’s northwest…

“It’s the third quake in Iran in the past 10 days. A magnitude 7.5 quake shook a sparsely populated area near the Pakistani border on Tuesday. A week before that, a magnitude 6.1 quake struck another part of the south, killing 37 people and injuring hundreds.
 
“Iran lies on seismic fault lines and experiences one slight quake a day on average.”

9News from Oklahoma City reported on April 16, 2013:

“Several earthquakes shook central Oklahoma in the early morning hours of Tuesday, including one that hit while News 9 was on the air.
 
“News 9 received hundreds of phone calls, emails, Facebook and Twitter messages soon after the first earthquake hit.
 
“The first quake was reported around 1:45 a.m. about three miles west of Chandler. The United State Geological Survey says it had a magnitude of 3.0.
 
“Fifteen minutes later, the strongest earthquake of the morning hit the Oklahoma City metro area. The 4.3 quake  was centered near Luther, 29 miles east and northeast of Oklahoma City. This earthquake awakened many residents and shook buildings from Oklahoma City to Stillwater.

“The USGS reported a third quake at 2:15 a.m. near Boley, Oklahoma. This one had a magnitude of 2.8. One minute later, a fourth early-morning quake shook the area of Luther and Choctaw.   The USGS says this one had a magnitude of 3.3.

“At 5:16 a.m., a fifth earthquake measuring 4.2 was recorded four miles east northeast of Luther. This one struck while News 9 Meteorologist Jed Castles was on the air sharing the forecast, but he was so focused Stan Miller and Bobbie Miller had to interrupt him and point out the lights in the studio were swinging because of the latest earthquake.”

Margaret Thatcher—a Friend of Israel

JTA wrote on April 8:

“Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was considered a good friend of Israel despite a rocky relationship with Prime Minister Menachem Begin, has died. Thatcher died Monday after suffering a stroke. She was 87. Thatcher suffered from dementia at the end of her life, which was dramatized in the 2011 movie ‘The Iron Lady.’ The only female to serve as prime minister of Britain, she also was the longest continuously serving prime minister in the 20th century, leading the country and her Conservative Party from 1979 to 1990.

“Thatcher was supportive of Israel but had a troubled relationship with Begin, who served two terms in the 1980s. She called Begin the ‘most difficult’ man she had to deal with, according to the Chronicle. She also strongly opposed Israel’s bombing of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor. She believed that the Arab-Israel conflict was at the center of the Western world’s difficulties in the Middle East, pressing Israeli leaders to make peace with the Palestinians in order to cool regional tensions.

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned her passing in a statement. ‘She was truly a great leader, a woman of principle, of determination, of conviction, of strength; a woman of greatness,’ Netanyahu said. ‘She was a staunch friend of Israel and the Jewish people. She inspired a generation of political leaders. I send my most sincere condolences to her family and to the government and people of Great Britain.’…

“Thatcher reportedly had no patience for anti-Semitism nor those who espoused it. She was a strong supporter of Soviet Jewry…”

“Unless We Change Our Ways…”

The Washington Post wrote on April 8:

“’Unless we change our ways and our direction, our greatness as a nation will soon be a footnote in the history books, a distant memory of an offshore island, lost in the mists of time like Camelot, remembered kindly for its noble past.’ Margaret Thatcher… presented that grim vision for Britain in 1979, the year she became prime minister.

“Then, for the next 11½ years — almost as long as three U.S. presidential terms — she worked with fierce determination and unrelenting stubbornness to dispel it. By the time she left office, reluctantly, in 1990, there was not much talk anymore of Britain’s inexorable decline. Ms. Thatcher…had changed not only her country’s direction but also its standing in the world. She continued to be passionately detested by some and admired and respected by others long after she left office, and her record will be debated for decades — or centuries. What is hardly debatable is the proposition that she was, in every sense of the word, a leader…

“Ms. Thatcher’s great domestic battles as prime minister were waged against the institutional left and its supporters among the British intelligentsia, which meant, of course, that they were extremely entertaining. They were fought on the same issue that divides Europeans to this day: When does the people’s demand for security become so all-consuming that it overtaxes the economy, saps initiative and buries the state under a mountain of debt?…

“But outside Britain she will be remembered primarily as a world figure. She strengthened Britain’s ties with the United States, bolstered its military, supported the placement of intermediate-range missiles in Europe (an extremely controversial move at the time) and spoke out with undiplomatic boldness when she took offense at some countries’ actions. She saw a great divide between freedom and the various forms of tyranny in the world, and she made it clear, always, which side she was on. She voiced harsh criticism of the Soviet Union but also, like her good friend President Ronald Reagan, moved to engage its new leader, Mikhail Gorbachev… ‘I can’t bear Britain in decline, I just can’t,’ she said in an interview shortly before her election as prime minister 32 years ago. She did what she thought necessary to stop that decline, and she didn’t really seem to have much worry about what anyone else thought of it…”

“She Made Britain Stand Tall Again”

Mail On Line added on April 8:

“Prime Minister David Cameron said she had a ‘lion-hearted love of this country’ and ‘fought for Britain’s interests all the way’. ‘We’ve lost a great leader, a great Prime Minister and a great Briton’, he said. ‘There were people who said she couldn’t make it, who stood in her way, who said that a woman couldn’t lead, and she defied them all.

“‘Margaret Thatcher took a country that was on its knees and made Britain stand tall again. She was the patriot prime minister. When people said Britain could not be great again, she proved them wrong.’”

Opposed to German Reunification

Deutsche Welle wrote on April 8:

“Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher… was the most important British politician of the post-war period… [and] one of the most influential politicians of the 20th century… She was… initially opposed to German reunification, telling Gorbachev two months before the fall of the Wall that it ‘would lead to a change in post-war borders, and we cannot allow that because such a development would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security.’ Thatcher’s ‘Iron Lady’ stance was eventually to prove her downfall…”

The Betrayed Wartime Hero

Der Spiegel added on April 8:

“… she drove West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl to the verge of desperation with her dogged resistance to German reunification. As a member of the war generation, she didn’t trust the Germans to find the right path…

“Even her own critics don’t dispute that Thatcher was one of the most dominant political figures of the 20th century. When she was elected prime minister in May 1979, the country was suffering from hopeless self-doubt and an anemic economy. The country that was once the world’s greatest empire had become the sick man of Europe…

“As with all successful figures in history, Margaret Thatcher got lucky. If the Argentine military junta had not invaded the Falkland Islands off their coast in 1982, Thatcher may have remained the unpopular prime minister she was back then. But the Falklands War transformed her into a national hero. After Britain’s easy victory over Argentina, she was able to continue in office and easily win re-election twice…

“The end of her term came in November 1990, not with an electoral defeat but a rebellion from within her own party. Her anti-EU policies had isolated her from her cabinet, leading her to resign when she realized she no longer had their support. Throughout her life she was unable to get over this betrayal.”

The “New” Iron Lady Praises the “Old”

The Local wrote on April 8:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher… as an ‘extraordinary leader’ who played a pivotal role in overcoming Europe’s Cold War division… Merkel [is] a fellow conservative who was often compared to Thatcher when she became chancellor in 2005… Germany’s ex-chancellor Helmut Kohl also had fond words for Thatcher… Kohl, 83, who governed Germany for a record 16 years, said fellow conservative Thatcher was ‘an upstanding fighter and representative of the interests of her country.’… Kohl was a driving force behind European enlargement and integration in the years after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 leading to German reunification which Thatcher initially vehemently opposed.

“Shortly after news broke that Thatcher had died, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he would be cancelling the rest of his tour of Europe which he started in Madrid this week. He was supposed to be pressing his case for reform of the European Union ahead of a referendum on his own country’s membership of the bloc. Instead, he will pay his respects to Britain’s first female premier at her funeral in London.

“Cameron was meant to visit Berlin at the end of the week for ‘further discussions about taking forward his (EU) reform agenda,’ Downing Street said. Britain sent shockwaves through the EU in January after Cameron set out plans to wrest back powers from Brussels and to then put Britain’s reshaped membership to an in-out referendum by the end of 2017.”

It is interesting to recognize how unexpected events seem to influence what could otherwise become disruptive movements. God’s plan will be fulfilled, and it is prophesied that Europe will unite—without Great Britain.

Germany and Russia—A Shaky Relationship

Deutsche Welle wrote on April 8:

“Russia is the partner country for the 2013 Hannover Messe – the trade fair for the industrial sector. While German-Russian economic ties are booming, political problems are straining relations between the countries… The German government expressed its concern over Russian officials’ raids of German organizations in Moscow and St. Petersburg. At the end of March, Russian authorities inspected the offices of the political Konrad Adenauer and Friedrich Ebert foundations, temporarily confiscating computers and documents…

“Yet political tensions don’t seem to be putting a burden on the intense economic relations between Russia and Germany. Russia has become the partner country for the Hannover Messe for the second time in a decade. The trade fair for the industrial sector is the largest of its kind in the world… According to the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, bilateral trade volume between Russia and Germany reached a record of over 80 billion euros ($104 billion) in 2012…”

As the Bible prophesied, many countries, including Russia, would have a rich economic relationship with EU under German rule.

Iraq—America’s Lost War

Deutsche Welle wrote on April 9:

“When Iraqi civilians and American soldiers toppled the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad 10 years ago, no one had any idea how long the war would last, or how far-reaching its effects would be… Ten years after the fall of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, neither the situation in Iraq nor the relationship between Iraq and the United States are what the architects of the war imagined they would be back in 2003. America now has virtually no influence in Iraq, a country characterized by weak institutions, violence, human rights abuses, and the growing strength of the terrorist group al Qaeda. And critics say this is the fault of the United States government – both the previous administration and the current one.

“Erin Evers from Human Rights Watch, for example, said America set a bad example when it comes to human rights policy. The humiliating treatment of Iraqi prisoners in the prison of Abu Ghraib was just one example. ‘Before 2002/2003 we had a certain amount of credibility in the eyes of the world where human rights were concerned,’ said Evers. That, she explained, has changed, which has made it difficult for the US government to denounce human rights abuses in Iraq. ‘We haven’t seen any improvements under [President] Obama, either,’ Evers said. ‘In 2009 he decided not to hold any of the superior officers [in Abu Ghraib] to account. That was a big mistake.’

“At present, 10,500 Americans are still on official missions in Iraq, including diplomatic personnel, and employees of private companies responsible for security, catering, and other administrative support. By the end of the year this number should have been reduced to 5,100, around one-fifth of whom are in the diplomatic service. Soldiers could have assumed responsibility for ensuring security, but there have been no US soldiers in the country since the end of 2011. Negotiations to try to secure a troop agreement broke down over the question of immunity for American soldiers. Peter Feaver, professor of politics at Duke University in the US, blamed the Obama administration for this failure. ‘[The Iraqi] Prime Minister Maliki was prepared to guarantee their immunity,’ he said, ‘but the US attorney insisted it had to be confirmed by parliament.’ The Iraqis didn’t think they would be able to push this through, so the negotiations ultimately failed.

“The security situation in Iraq remains unstable. People still frequently die in terrorist attacks. The situation is especially tense at the moment, before elections in 18 of the 20 provinces, due to take place on April 20. The fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime has not improved the situation of the people, Evers said. ‘People say, yes, it was terrible under Saddam, but there was just one enemy, and if you steered well clear of politics it was possible to lead a halfway normal life,’ she said. Now, though, the various dangers are far more difficult to locate, and affect every aspect of their lives…

“The American people are… divided… in their assessments of the Iraq war. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Institute, 44 percent said it was wrong to go to war, while 41 percent said it was the right decision. And although 46 percent were of the view that the United States has, broadly speaking, achieved its goals, 43 percent said America more or less failed… This mood is much the same as in 2008, when Obama won the presidential election, in part because of his opposition to the war in Iraq…

“Americans have paid a high price for their invasion of Iraq. The latest study from Brown University puts the bill at more than $2.2 trillion. Furthermore, according to Phillips, ‘The United States’ standing in the Arab world has suffered, and it has put a strain on its relationship with its European allies.’… Washington has also grown cautious when it comes to military deployments, as can be seen from its reluctance to get involved in Syria.”

The Bible prophesied that in these end times, America will not win any more wars. This has certainly become true since World War II. America has consistently lost its wars, including the Koran War, the Vietnam War, the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War. The next big event with be a war with Europe, which America is also going to lose.

Hayden: Military Action Against Iran Unavoidable

Lignet.com wrote on April 6:

“Former CIA Director Michael Hayden told LIGNET this week that it may be too late for diplomacy to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons. ‘I am doubtful, and pessimistic, that we’re going to be able to solve this without someone taking some sort of kinetic action against the Iranians,’ he said. Hayden saw poor prospects for diplomatic efforts, a concern that grew today after Western diplomats said the latest round of nuclear talks with Iran ended in failure.”

Another war in the Middle East, involving Israel, Iran and perhaps the USA and other nations, would have devastating consequences for the entire region, but it might very well happen. If the USA was to get involved, it would not emerge victoriously.

Netanyahu: Israel Responsible for Its Own Security

The Jerusalem Post wrote on April 7:

“Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke at the main state ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem on Sunday, quoting anti-Semitic statements by Iranian religious leaders as evidence that the hatred against the Jews that existed during the Holocaust is still in existence. Netanyahu quoted Iranian religious leaders as recently saying, ‘the Zionists are microbes and bacteria, the Jews are polluted people that spread disease.’…

“Netanyahu stated that anti-Semitic hatred ‘has not disappeared, it has been switched with murderous hatred against the state of the Jews. What has changed is our ability to defend ourselves.’… The prime minister stated that while Israel appreciated the efforts of the world to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Israel ‘cannot forfeit our security to other nations…not even to our closest allies.’”

The Bible foretells that ultimately, no one will be helping the state of Israel.

Pork Found in Elk Lasagna

BBC wrote on April 6:

“Ikea has confirmed it has withdrawn nearly 18,000 of its elk meat lasagnas from sale in Europe after they were found to contain pork. The Swedish furniture giant said sales were stopped in late March, and tests confirmed the contamination on Friday… It is the latest in a series of meat contamination scandals across Europe.

“Ikea was among several companies whose meat products were found to contain horsemeat. Earlier this year it withdrew its meatballs from sale in its restaurants and grocery departments. The European elk is known in north America as a moose.”

Is there any clean food left to eat?

Muslim Holidays in Germany?

Der Spiegel wrote on March 28:

“Germany is home to some 4 million Muslims. With the long Easter weekend around the corner, a leading member of the country’s Muslim community has called for legal recognition of two Muslim holidays, drawing criticism from among Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling conservatives. In 2010 former German President Christian Wulff made the assertion that, ‘Islam belongs in Germany,’ provoking something of a conservative backlash. Now, Germany’s Central Council of Muslims (ZMD) is bringing the topic back into the public eye — and suggesting the introduction of statutory Muslim holidays throughout Germany… These holidays would not be work-free days for all citizens, specified Mazyek, but rather would serve to give Muslims the legal right not to work on these days. He added that Muslims in public services such as police could stand in for colleagues over Christian holidays like Easter.

“The legal recognition of Islam has been a controversial issue in Germany, home to a population of 4 million Muslims which it has been accused of not doing enough to integrate. Public unease with this growing population came to the fore in 2010 when a book by former German central bank board member Thilo Sarrazin, in which he accused Muslims of sponging off welfare and refusing to integrate, was a huge commercial success.

“Wolfgang Bosbach, a prominent member of Merkel’s traditionally Catholic Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told WAZ that he sees ‘far and wide no need’ for the legal recognition of Muslim holidays, adding that Germany has ‘no Muslim tradition.’ The current public holidays — such as the Easter holidays this Friday and Monday — are part of a Christian-Western heritage, Bosbach told the WAZ… Yet in some German states, devotees of Islam already have the right to take time off for religious holidays. Hamburg, for instance, grants this right to Muslims, and last year the city’s mayor, Olaf Scholz, signed a law giving Muslim holidays the same status as non-statutory church holidays. Both Berlin and Baden-Württemberg followed suit, implementing the right to religious holidays for Muslim employees and students.

“Nevertheless, German conservatives have chafed at the idea. Another CDU lawmaker, Patrick Sensburg, called on the country to focus first on ‘defending and strengthening’ the Christian holidays that are already on the books, asking for more shopping restrictions on Sunday and calling the wild parties that take place in Berlin on Good Friday an ‘absurdity.’ Guntram Schneider, a social minister in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for the center-left Social Democrats, told WAZ that widening the scope for statutory holidays is “‘not economically affordable’…”

These are interesting developments, pertaining to the future relationship between “Christianity” and Islam in Germany, but also in light of German Church of God members’ struggle to get time off from work and school for God’s religious Holy Days, which are commanded in the Bible, but which orthodox Christianity does not observe.

EU Unites on Police Matters and Moves Away from the UK

The EUObserver wrote on March 28:

“The EU police agency in The Hague, Europol, is to see its powers expand and its performance put under stronger oversight under a European Commission proposal set out on Wednesday (27 March).

“The draft regulation would require member states to feed the agency more data and to enhance their co-operation in cross-border crimes and investigations… Meanwhile, the European Police College, Cepol, will be moved from the UK and merged with the Hague-based agency. The commission says the merger would save an estimated €17.2 million over the 2015-2020 period… The commission now wants to turn Europol into a hub for information-sharing and analysis on serious crimes. The reform should include police training, says the Brussels executive.”

This is another step towards the inevitable final revival of the ancient Roman Empire in Europe.

Germany and France Ignore the UK

The EU Observer wrote on April 2:

“UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s attempt to get other member states to participate in a general review of EU laws has suffered an embarrassing rebuff from Paris and Berlin. France and Germany have refused to take part in Cameron’s much-publicised examination of whether some EU powers should be returned to member states, reports the Financial Times. The paper notes that Paris and Berlin consulted with one another on the issue before concluding that the exercise – known as the ‘balance of competences’ – was more to serve Britain’s domestic political interests. Several other member states are also not taking part in the survey, although Italy and Sweden are among those that have answered London’s questionnaire.

“The snub comes even though London sent letters to each of the 26 other EU capitals explaining the objective of the exercise and British diplomats stressed that its approach would be even-handed. The review is the cornerstone of London’s EU policy, as Cameron attempts to have an objective assessment of what in the UK is an emotive political issue – where to draw the line between national and EU powers…

“He wants to use the results to renegotiate the terms of London’s EU membership, something that would eventually form the basis of a referendum in 2017 on whether to remain in the club. However, most other governments have indicated extreme reluctance to re-open the EU treaties and it is unclear whether Cameron has enough political sympathy among his EU partners to engineer a one-off deal for Britain.”

Britain will leave the EU—it is just a matter of time. Note the next article:

Britain’s Grim Milestone

The Daily Mail wrote on April 3:

“Britain’s debt mountain has topped £1.387trillion, and is now the equivalent of 90 per cent of the entire economy. The grim milestone was passed at the end of 2012, new figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed today.

“It lays bare the dire state of the nation’s finances in the wake of the 2007 financial crash, which has seen government debt double in just five years.”

Of course, this sounds still mild compared with the miserable state of the US and the irresponsible rise of its government debt within the last five years.

Cyprus–The Demons in Europe Are Waiting…

Der Spiegel Online wrote on March 25:

“The drama over Cyprus has made clear that the euro-zone crisis is developing into a struggle over German hegemony in Europe. On the surface, Merkel and Schäuble seem to be working to stabilize the economy. In actuality, they’re binding other nations with the shackles of debt. Throughout Cyprus’s financial crisis, German power has been on display… Despite deposit insurance and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s own promises, in the end it’s the common people who suffer? The plan was withdrawn… but the damage is done… Merkel’s idea of European integration is simply that Europe should bend to Germany’s political will… As the Cyprus ordeal intensified, a truth about German politics was revealed: They are characterized by a stubbornness that Germans see as sticking to their principles, but what is in fact nothing more than self-righteousness…

“Under Angela Merkel’s leadership, the Europe of nation states has been revived — a trend against which former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt issued a stark warning. ‘The German Federal Constitutional Court, the Bundesbank and Chancellor Merkel are acting like the center of Europe, to the exasperation of our neighbors,’ he said, and a portion of the public opinion is prone to a ‘national-egotistical view’ of Germany. Schmidt, who lived through all of Nazi Germany and World War II, is not one to use these words lightly…

“Germans haven’t just paid for the crisis, they’ve also profited from it. The savings in interest payments, which Germany have enjoyed since the beginning of the crisis, amounted to €10 billion last year alone. Plus there are the interest payments from debtor nations… As Germans keep cheering on their chancellor, they should mark the words of former Euro Group chief Jean-Claude Juncker: ‘Anyone who believes that the eternal issue of war and peace in Europe has been permanently laid to rest could be making a monumental error. The demons haven’t been banished; they are merely sleeping.’”

Even though Juncker himself  probably does not understand the deep meaning of his own words, the substance is very true: The European demons have not been banished… they are waiting to rise…

Guttenberg: Germany Must Help Israel Against Iran

On April 2, The Wall Street Journal published a co-authored editorial by Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, former German defense minister, now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies:

“As Israel’s new government takes office, chances are that in 2013 the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program will finally come to a head. Tightened international sanctions have crippled Iran’s economy, but Tehran continues to power ahead with its uranium-enrichment efforts….

“Germany bears a special historical and moral responsibility to support Israel against an Iranian threat… Germany is Israel’s closest and most vital ally in Europe. The two countries enjoy exceptionally close defense and intelligence ties. Berlin provided significant funding to help Israel acquire Germany’s advanced ‘Dolphin’ submarines, a critical boost to the Israeli Defense Forces’ deterrence capability. The German government also worked behind the scenes to negotiate the release of former Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from Hamas captivity.

“What’s missing, however, is a broader debate—both in public and among top German officials—about what Berlin should do if diplomacy fails and Israel is compelled to take military action against the Iranian nuclear threat. Berlin’s opposition to a strike on Iran’s nuclear sites is well-known. In fact, German diplomacy seems careful to avoid creating the impression that Berlin expects or is even preparing for such an outcome. The fear is that this kind of contingency planning might only encourage Israel to pursue a military solution above other options…

“Opinion polls indicate that a majority of Germans view Israel as an ‘aggressive’ country that ‘pursues its interests without consideration for other nations.’ Berlin should… start thinking about how to support Israel in the wake of potential air strikes on Iran. It is better to develop a plan now than to engage in hectic ad-hoc decision making once the crisis has erupted… Berlin shouldn’t underestimate its influence in a region where America’s credibility is strained, to put it mildly…

“Germany risks a further deterioration of public opinion at home even before any crucial decisions have been made. The stakes are high. Germany cannot afford to be on the wrong side of history.”

We should take note of these words by the former German defense minister who many feel might celebrate a political comeback in Germany in the not-too-distant future.

Bill O’Reilly on Same-Sex Marriages

CNN wrote on March 27:

“Bill O’Reilly, the conservative Fox News host, believes same-sex marriage advocates have a more convincing argument than opponents, who do nothing but rehash scripture to make their point. ‘The compelling argument is on the side of homosexuals,’ O’Reilly said Tuesday on Fox. ‘That’s where the compelling argument is. “We’re Americans. We just want to be treated like everybody else.” That’s a compelling argument, and to deny that, you have got to have a very strong argument on the other side. The argument on the other side hasn’t been able to do anything but thump the Bible.’

“O’Reilly has previously stated he takes a libertarian view on the issue, and repeated Tuesday night that it’s a decision that should be left up to the states. ‘I support civil unions. I always have. The gay marriage thing, I don’t feel that strongly about it one way or another.’”

Even though Bill O’Reilly’s unbiblical stance may surprise some, it really should not. As a Catholic and Fox moderator, we should realize that Fox employs several openly gay and lesbian moderators, and the Catholic Church has had their own history of homosexual priests. Bill O’Reilly is a show man—as are other moderators on CNN, MSNBC etc.,–who tries to capitalize on public opinion. The Bible is not being consulted, let alone quoted with approval.

On the other hand, note this interesting report from Newsmax, dated March 20:

“Mike Huckabee warns that Republicans risk losing the vote from evangelical Christians if they back away from their opposition to gay marriage. Last week, Ohio Sen. Bob Portman announced he has reversed his position and now supports gay marriage… [Huckabee said:] ‘And it’s not because there’s an anti-homosexual mood, and nobody’s homophobic that I know of, but many of us, and I consider myself included, base our standards not on the latest Washington Post poll, but on an objective standard, not a subjective standard.’”

President Obama’s Visit in the Middle East

Israel National News reported on March 24:

“Arabs in Bethlehem started demonstrating early against the President, on Monday, two days before his arrival. They threw shoes and garbage at an American ‘advance’ team that had entered Bethlehem to prepare sites and confirm security. Demonstrators defaced and destroyed Obama posters. Over 1,000 journalists came to Israel to cover the visit. The President’s entourage brought another 600. Still on Wednesday, the official Palestinian Authority news outlet published an editorial blaming America for the 9/11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center.

“Jewish residents of Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter complained bitterly that security arrangements for President Obama were putting them into a ‘siege’ situation. Food, which is delivered daily, would now be hard to find. Residents were told that there would be no deliveries into the Quarter for any items for the rest of the week, Wednesday through Friday. Passover preparations were going to be severely disrupted. Shabbat preparations would be nearly impossible to complete. Residents were not amused.

“Former POW captive Gilad Shalit wrote a publicized letter to President Obama calling for the release of Jonathan Pollard, whose stay in a US prison was approaching 10,000 days. Wednesday was the big day–the President landed at Ben Gurion Airport—and got stuck. The limousine brought to transport him would not start. Someone had filled the gas tank with the wrong fuel, putting diesel in instead of gas (or the other way around; reports weren’t clear). When Mr Obama shook hands with Israeli officials upon his arrival, two Members of Knesset spoke to him, asking that he free Jonathan Pollard. He was reported to have replied to one of them saying, ‘nice to meet you.’

“That afternoon, a community in Judea announced that a neighbourhood would be named after Jonathan Pollard. The women of the Rachel’s Tomb Foundation wrote a letter to Mr Obama asking him to release Jonathan Pollard. As the President’s motorcade entered Jerusalem, signs captioned, ‘Welcome Mr President. Please Free Jonathan Pollard’ lined a portion of his route.’ Israel President Shimon Peres asked President Obama to pardon Jonathan Pollard. On Thursday, prominent Rabbis marched in Jerusalem with the intent to ask President Obama to pardon Jonathan Pollard in time for Passover.

“On Thursday, Arabs in Gaza fired rockets into Israel. Arabs in Ramallah protested Obama’s arrival there to meet with Mahmoud Abbas. The demonstrations were kept several blocks from the meeting place. The Palestinian Authority announced that it would impose a ‘curfew’ in Ramallah for the President’s visit. Also Thursday, Arab lawyers announced that they would file a request with the Palestinian Authority prosecutor-general demanding that the US President be arrested during his stay in Ramallah because of the US army’s responsibility for the death of a Palestinian journalist in Iraq, in 2003, some five years before Mr Obama became US President.

“An Arab speaker told a crowd of protesters gathered in Ramallah that, ‘the US and Obama were the number one enemy of Islam and Muslims.’ In Gaza, protesters set fire to US and Israeli flags. Signs at the protest called Obama the ‘Hitler of the 21st Century’. In Iran, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei chose this day to announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran would destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa if Israel attacked it.

“…On Thursday’s speeches in Ramallah and Jerusalem, Obama said that Jewish settlements in Judea-Samaria were an obstacle to peace; the only way Israel can thrive as a Jewish democracy was to recognize ‘the state of Palestine’; Palestine deserves to be a state; peace is possible; Israel can negotiate with people who are dedicated to its destruction; Mahmoud Abbas is a partner for peace…

“On Friday, Mr Obama went to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial. There, he said that Israel exists to make sure the Holocaust does not happen again. He was then scheduled to fly by US helicopter to Bethlehem while others in his entourage would motorcade through the ‘sterile’ Highway 60. But an intense sandstorm had arrived and had blotted out heaven and earth. The Presidential helicopter was grounded… Friday’s plan to hold a departing ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport was also cancelled: the sandstorm was too strong. Then the media tent at the Airport collapsed from high winds.

“In Bethlehem, just meters away from the Church that Mr Obama was scheduled to visit, a Muslim cleric declared that ‘the US is Satan and Obama is its head.’ Crowd control just before Obama arrived began to ‘get ugly’… So it is that, as a Biblical-like sandstorm blotted out reality, US President Barack Obama left Israel Friday afternoon. Now, we turn to our Jewish Passover, which begins in a few hours. Perhaps, as we celebrate our First Redemption and think about the ten plagues of ancient Egypt, we can also discuss the question, was Friday’s blinding sand-storm a Divine message–or reaction–to Mr. Obama?”

The last sentence poses an interesting question.

US Now Less Popular in Middle East Than Under Bush

USA Today added on March 20:

“U.S is now less popular in the region than at the end of the George W. Bush administration… The Arab Spring, which once raised hopes of freedom and dignity, has diverged onto the dark path of Islamist authoritarian rule. In Syria, tens of thousands of people have died in a bitter civil war that might have recently seen its first use of chemical weapons. And Iran continues its march toward nuclear weapons capability, heedless of international condemnation. Obama’s effort to seek peace between Palestinians and Israelis is in tatters.

“According to the latest survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, confidence in Obama in Muslim countries dropped from 33% to 24% in his first term. Approval of Obama’s policies declined even further, from 34% to 15%. And support for the United States in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan is lower today than it was in 2008 in the closing year of George W. Bush’s administration… A poll released last week showed he had a scant 10% approval rating in Israel, with an additional 32% saying they respect but don’t like him… If Israelis don’t like Obama, Palestinians are even less favorable…”

Peace in the Middle East? Too Late for That!

The Telegraph wrote in March 21:

“If Barack Obama was under any illusions about the massive challenge he faces trying to re-engage in the Middle East, he had a rude awakening the moment he arrived in Israel on his first visit to the Jewish state as US president… as he conceded at the start of his current visit, he ‘screwed up’. Far from persuading the Muslim world to adopt a more friendly approach towards America, all that has happened since the Cairo speech in June 2009 is that anti-American hostility in the Muslim world has deepened…After four years of neglect, Mr Obama may find his attempt to reconnect with the region is a case of too little, too late.’”

World Net Daily added on April 1:

“The ‘American empire’ will fall this year, the head of Iran’s Basij forces claimed Sunday, a message that was approved by the Islamic regime’s supreme leader. ‘America should not think that with some diplomatic dialogue it can solve its dossier (problem) with the nation of Iran,’ Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi said. ‘The path of this land is directed by the martyrs…’… Naghdi called President Obama’s actions deceitful…”

Jordan’s Temple Mount Role…

The Jerusalem Post wrote on April 2:

“Amid Palestinian Authority- Jordanian cooperation and reports that PA President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah have considered establishing a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation, the two leaders signed an agreement Sunday to defend Jerusalem and its holy sites.

“The agreement, signed in Amman, reaffirms Jordan’s historic role as custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem.

“Abbas told reporters that the agreement had nothing to do either with efforts to restart Palestinian-Israeli negotiations or US President Barack Obama’s recent visit to the region.

“Obama went to Jordan after visiting Israel, and US Secretary of State John Kerry, who accompanied Obama on his trip, returned to Israel after meetings there for four hours of meetings with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and top Israeli officials.

“The PA and Jordan said that the agreement was aimed at foiling Israeli attempts to ‘Judaize’ Jerusalem and its holy sites, particularly Al-Aksa Mosque. The agreement states that King Abdullah enjoys the ‘full right to exert all legal efforts to safeguard and preserve Jerusalem’s holy sites.’

“It also ‘reaffirms the historic principles upon which Jordan and Palestine are in agreement as regards Jerusalem and their common goal of defending Jerusalem together, especially at such a critical time, when the city is facing dramatic challenges and daily illegal changes to its authenticity and original identity.’

“As the custodian of the Jerusalem holy sites, the agreement says, King Abdullah will affirm that all Muslims may travel to and from the Islamic holy sites and worship there. He will also oversee and manage the institution of the Wakf in Jerusalem and its properties in accordance with the laws of Jordan.

“PA Minister of Wakf and Religious Affairs Mahmoud Habbash said that the agreement stresses the historical role played by Jordan in protecting the holy sites in Jerusalem and Palestinian sovereignty over the city…

“According to the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, ‘Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.’”

For more information about the coming explosive future of the Middle East and surrounding nations, please read our free booklet, “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Bible Prophecy.”

North Korea Threatens USA with Nuclear Strike

Bloomberg reported on April 4:

“North Korea stepped up threats against the U.S., authorizing its military to conduct a potential ‘smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike’ while again restricting South Korean access to a joint industrial zone… The North recently transported a missile to its eastern coast… The missile movement and the statement by the North Korean army today marked a further escalation over the regime’s nuclear weapons program and United Nations sanctions against it. The U.S. and South Korea say the rhetoric hasn’t been accompanied by actions consistent with preparations for war.”

AFP added on April 4:

“North Korea dramatically escalated its warlike rhetoric on Thursday, warning that it had authorised plans for nuclear strikes on targets in the United States… Pyongyang’s latest pronouncement came as Washington scrambled to reinforce its Pacific missile defences, preparing to send ground-based interceptors to Guam and dispatching two Aegis class destroyers to the region… Last month, North Korea threatened a ‘pre-emptive’ nuclear strike against the United States, and last week its supreme army command ordered strategic rocket units to combat status.

“But, while Pyongyang has successfully carried out test nuclear detonations, most experts think it is not yet capable of mounting a device on a ballistic missile capable of striking US bases or territory. Mounting tension in the region could however trigger incidents on the tense and heavily militarised border between North and South Korea…

“US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel earlier said Pyongyang represented a ‘real and clear danger’ to the United States and to its allies South Korea and Japan. ‘They have nuclear capacity now, they have missile delivery capacity now,’ Hagel said after a strategy speech at the National Defense University. ‘We take those threats seriously, we have to take those threats seriously…’”

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars…” (Matthew 24:6).

China–A Generational Change in Leadership

BBC News reported on March 15, 2013;

“China’s leaders have named Li Keqiang premier, placing him at the helm of the world’s second-largest economy.

“Mr Li, who already holds the number two spot in the Communist Party, takes over from Wen Jiabao.

“Mr Li was elected for a five-year term but, like his predecessor, would be expected to spend a decade in office.

“On Thursday, Xi Jinping was confirmed by legislators as the new president, completing the transition of power from Hu Jintao.

“Li Keqiang’s widely-signalled elevation was confirmed by 3,000 legislators at the National People’s Congress, the annual parliament session, in Beijing. He received 2,940 votes to three, with six abstentions.

“As premier, he will oversee a large portfolio of domestic affairs, managing economic challenges, environmental woes and China’s urbanisation drive.

“The appointments seal the shift from one generation of leaders to the next. A raft of vice-premiers and state councillors will be named on Saturday, before the NPC closes on Sunday.

“Mr Li, 57, who is seen as close to outgoing leader Hu Jintao, speaks fluent English and has a PhD in economics…

“In an editorial, state-run Global Times said Mr Xi and his colleagues needed to show powerful leadership to unite society.

“‘China cannot stop developing or fighting corruption. Social unity is the key to how China can stand against complex international affairs,’ it said.”

Both Japan and South Korea have recently elected new leadership–adding to the rapidly changing face of East Asia. Under President Obama, U.S. interests have become more focused in this region. With North Korea’s young leader pounding the drums of war and Japan and China bristling at each other over some disputed islands, economic and political stability for this vast expanse of humanity remains fragile, at best.

Italy Embraces Grillo

Following recent elections in Italy, commentaries have been written to explain the third place finish of an emerging political movement among dissatisfied voters–we present highlights from one such article in Spiegel Online, March 14, 2013:

“Beppe Grillo, leader of the populist Five Star Movement in Italy, prides himself on his ridicule of the parliamentary system. Yet while his anti-establishment rhetoric sounds appealing, at heart it’s actually anti-democratic. And very similar to that of an infamous Italian from the past…

“Grillo derives his energy from resentment. The real key to his success lies in the exploitation of anger — at Germany, at Brussels bureaucrats, at the whole system. That is what makes him great, not the appeal to reason or the love of democracy.

“As with all other revolutionaries, Grillo’s answer to the malaise of the present age is extremely simple. You just have to do away with the politicians or, better yet, jettison everything that smells of power and privilege. ‘We are young,’ it says on his blog. ‘We have no structure, hierarchy, leaders or secretaries. We take orders from no one.’ Grillo’s comparison of his movement to the French Revolution, which took its ideas of equality with bloody seriousness, is no accident. He relativizes by saying, ‘without the guillotine,’ but the stipulation means little. When people are incited into rage, those who fueled their passions never take the blame…

“In his best moments, Grillo talks like a cult leader. When he speaks of being ‘not a commander, but a guarantor,’ he sounds like a swami who could just as easily be leading the penitant to an ashram. But with a bit of historical awareness, one can see darker parallels.”

While this commentary draws parallels to the rise of Italian Fascism, it also represents the unrest that is growing in Europe. Leadership changes have not brought about stability, but it will be the emergence of powerful leaders who will galvanize Europe in ways very reminiscent of both Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.

A “New” Government in Israel

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 18, 2013:

“Israel’s new government has taken office after a coalition agreement was signed last week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the new parliament that he was ready for ‘real peace’ with the Palestinians.
 
“The country’s parliament, known as the Knesset, opened on Monday afternoon to formally swear in the new coalition government. The session, which began with a series of formal speeches, culminated in mid-evening when the parliament gave its seal of approval for the new administration.
 
“Speaking to the delegates, Prime Minister Netanyahu, who was elected for a third term in January’s elections, thanked the country’s citizens and promised to defend them from regional threats. He also extended an olive branch of sorts to the Palestinians, saying his government was ‘ready for compromises in exchange for real peace,’ and would talk to the Palestinians ‘in good faith.’
 
“But, Netanyahu said, Israel faced ‘very great threats’ from Iran’s nuclear program and the ongoing conflict in Syria, which has just entered its third year.
 
“‘The top priority of the new government is the defense of the security of the state and its citizens,’ he told MPs. ‘Our existence here cannot be taken for granted…’

“Monday’s formalities come two days ahead of a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories by US President Barack Obama, and on a day when the US refused to take part in a United Nations Human Rights Council Debate in Geneva on Israeli settlements and their effects on Palestinians.
 
“The US has accused the panel of being biased against Israel. When discussion turned to the wider issue of human rights in the Palestinian Territories, the US ambassador, Eileen Donahoe said ‘the United States remains extremely troubled by this council’s continued biased and disproportionate focus on Israel.’
 
“Ahead of his visit, Obama has said the purpose of his Middle East trip is to listen, rather than propose a political solution, and has ruled out demanding a construction freeze in Israeli settlements on the West Bank.”

A New Papacy Begins

BBC reported on March 19, 2013:

“Pope Francis has inaugurated his papacy at a Mass in Rome, calling on global leaders and all the people of the world to defend the poor and the weak.

“Up to 200,000 people attended the Mass in St Peter’s Square.

“His homily focused on protection – of the environment, children, the elderly and those in need, who he said were ‘often the last we think about’.

“Francis was elected by a conclave of cardinals last week to take over from Benedict XVI.”

This report continues, bringing out the growing historic significance being observed concerning this new pope:

“Communion was distributed by some 500 priests throughout the crowd.

“The Mass was co-celebrated by around 180 clergymen, including Adolfo Nicolas, the superior general of Pope Francis’ Jesuit order.

“The list of attendees also included Bartholomew, the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople.

“He is the first Orthodox patriarch to attend a papal inauguration Mass since the two branches of Christianity split nearly 1,000 years ago.”

Papal Role…

BBC reported on March 19, 2013:

“Pope Francis has celebrated his inaugural mass in the Vatican, and he has assumed the responsibility of leading the world’s Catholics. But what exactly does a pope’s job entail?

“After Pope Francis’ solemn inauguration mass, attended by six reigning monarchs, 31 heads of state and representatives of 132 governments, he will become head of state of the world’s smallest sovereign enclave, Vatican City, as well as spiritual leader of an estimated 1.2 billion Catholics scattered over every continent.”

“The duties of the 266th successor to the throne of Saint Peter are wide-ranging.

“His regular Vatican appointments are:

“A weekly blessing for tourists and pilgrims every Sunday from the window of his private study overlooking Saint Peter’s Square.

“A weekly general audience for some 5,000 pilgrims in a modern audience hall in winter and in the open air in Saint Peter’s Square in summer.”

“The Pope normally presides over religious celebrations of all the major church festivals of the year inside Saint Peter’s, including Christmas and Easter, when he also appears on the same balcony where he was proclaimed pope after his election to deliver his “Urbi Et Orbi” message to the city of Rome and to the world…

“One of the duties of a pope is to meet at least once every five years with his more than 5,000 bishops from around the world – roughly 1,000 a year, or 20 a week.

“Under church law they are obliged to visit Rome to report to the Pope on the state of their dioceses in what is called an ‘ad limina’ (on the threshold of Saint Peter) visit.”

President Obama in Israel…

USA Today wrote on March 20, 2013:

“Obama was greeted warmly on Wednesday in Israel where he is on a high-profile trip to Israel, his first as president, to assure the Jewish state of U.S. commitment to stopping a nuclear Iran and boost the prospect of peace talks with Palestinians demanding their own state.

“‘The United States is proud to stand with you as your strongest ally and your greatest friend,’ Obama said after disembarking from Air Force One at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport. ‘It’s in our fundamental security interest to stand with Israel.’

“‘Across this region, the winds of change bring both promise and peril,’ he said, calling his visit ‘an opportunity to reaffirm the unbreakable bonds between our nations, to restate America’s unwavering commitment to Israel’s security, and to speak directly to the people of Israel and to your neighbors.’

“Obama said his administration would pursue a Mideast peace that would allow residents of the Jewish state to live in peace and free from the threat of terror.

“‘In this work, the state of Israel will have no greater friend than the United States,’ the president said after meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres.”

Even within the well publicised strain that exists between President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there is a grudging willingness to protect one-another’s interests–at least for the moment. At the same time, notwithstanding all the enthusiastic reports on President Obama’s friendly reception in Israel, it has been sadly recognized that his visit will accomplish little, if anything. Events are moving in a direction that will cause the State of Israel to be left standing alone in the near future, as revealed in Isaiah 9:21: “Manasseh shall devour Ephraim and Ephraim Manasseh, together they shall be against Judah.” This prophecy speaks of the United States (Manasseh), the British Commonwealth (Ephraim) and the modern State of Israel (Judah)–more information can be found in our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Chemical Weapons Used in Syria?

The Times of Israel reported on March 19, 2013:

“Syria’s government and rebels traded accusations of a chemical attack Tuesday on a northern village near Aleppo.
 
“But while a U.S. official said there was no evidence of any such attack, Israel confirmed the use of chemical weapons, a Channel 10 news report stated, citing an unnamed defense official. The report said the official did not determine whether it was the rebels or the military who fired the non-conventional weaponry. It said the official said the use was on a relatively small scale, and did not elaborate further.

“The regime, whose allegation was backed by ally Russia, said 31 people were killed in what it said was a rebel attack, including 21 civilians and 10 soldiers. Rebel forces denied the allegation and blamed the Assad regime.
 
“If confirmed, this would be the first known use of chemical weapons in the 2-year-old civil war and a glimpse of one of the nightmare scenarios for this conflict.
 
“One of the international community’s top concerns since fighting began is that Syria’s vast arsenal of chemical weapons could be used by one side or the other or could fall into the hands of foreign jihadi fighters among the rebels or the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is allied with the regime.”

Testing the Union of Europe!

The Guardian wrote on March 20, 2013:

“Cyprus ordered its banks to remain closed until next week as the cabinet held emergency talks on Wednesday in an effort to strike a deal with the EU or Russia to avert financial meltdown and stave off bankruptcy.

“After the country’s parliament rejected a plan to provide €5.8bn (£5bn) by seizing a portion of bank deposits from anyone with a bank account, [thereby abandoning an earlier decision, due to public outrage]Cyprus is struggling to come up with a plan that will let it access an EU bailout to stop its banks failing.

“The country’s eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are ready to provide €10bn in an emergency bailout if Cyprus comes up with an extra €7bn itself. Most of the bailout money is needed to shore up the country’s oversized banking sector, with the rest for government finances.

“No clear ‘plan B’ had emerged after meetings between politicians and representatives of European partners and the IMF. The Cypriot cabinet was said to be discussing ideas including the nationalisation of pension funds of semi-government corporations, which hold €2bn-€3bn, and another form of levy on deposits. The talks were due to resume.

“Another option debated may have been natural gas bonds linked to hydrocarbon reserves discovered off Cyprus, which remain uncertain and will not be exported until at least 2019.

“It was unclear whether European partners would accept the idea of turning to pension fund assets, which could leave the government exposed to further debts.

“‘We don’t have days or weeks, we have only hours to save our country,’ Averof Neophytou, deputy leader of the ruling Democratic Rally party, told reporters as crisis talks in Nicosia dragged on into the evening…

“The uncertain situation in Cyprus is ‘very damaging’ and needed to be addressed immediately, the EU Council president, Herman Van Rompuy, told the European parliament.

“Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said Cyprus’s banking sector, which through foreign funds attracted by low tax deals has swelled to eight times the country’s GDP ‘is not sustainable’.

“The European Central Bank’s chief negotiator on Cyprus, Jörg Asmussen, said the ECB would have to pull the plug on Cypriot banks unless the country took a bailout quickly. ‘We can provide emergency liquidity only to solvent banks and … the solvency of Cypriot banks cannot be assumed if an aid programme is not agreed on soon, which would allow for a quick recapitalisation of the banking sector,’ Asmussen told the German weekly Die Zeit on Tuesday. Austria’s chancellor, Werner Faymann, said he could not rule out Cyprus leaving the eurozone, although he hoped its leaders would find a solution for it to stay.”

With the tempestuous financial crisis raging among several European countries, commentators are quick to proclaim the end of the European Union, the end of the Euro and the collapse of the plans to make the countries of Europe a dominant player in the world! Nothing could be further from the truth, and biblical prophecy declares that Europe will emerge as a powerful force exerting its influence as a new world power! Our booklet, “Europe in Prophecy – The Unfolding of End-Time Events,” shows what the Bible reveals for Europe–and the ominous consequences for the entire world! 

The Lost War in Iraq

Der Spiegel reported on March 20, 2013:

“Germany opposed the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, and little has changed about that stance a decade later. German editorialists on Wednesday gauge the effects of the war on the global balance of power, and their conclusions aren’t positive.

“On the 10th anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq, the conflict’s complicated legacy continues to unfold.

“One day ahead of the anniversary, President Barack Obama paid tribute on Tuesday to the nearly 4,500 United States soldiers who died in the conflict, in addition to the more than 30,000 who were wounded before troops left the country in 2011.

“The scale of these personal sacrifices, however, pales in comparison to the price paid by the Iraqi population, of whom more than 100,000 are estimated to have been killed. While Obama opposed the war and campaigned for office with pledges to pull US troops out of Iraq, the situation in the country they left behind remains fragile at best.

“A recent spike in ongoing political unrest and sectarian violence in the country was highlighted once again late on Tuesday when terrorist group al-Qaida claimed responsibility for a series of suicide attacks that left some 65 people dead. ‘We will have our revenge,’ read an al-Qaida statement on a jihadist website.

“Ignoring fierce opposition to the invasion from many countries abroad — including Germany and France — the United States, under then-President George W. Bush, began bombing the Iraqi capital Baghdad on March 20, 2003, calling the operation ‘shock and awe.’ The aim of the war was to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and take out his ‘weapons of mass destruction.’ Though Hussein was eventually found, tried and executed, no WMDs were ever found.

“The war went on to cost the US government hundreds of billions of dollars, and, according to German editorialists, a great deal of credibility. On the anniversary of the invasion, they take a look this week at the state of America and the Middle East one decade after the war.

“Center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

“‘Ten years ago when the US armed forces attacked Iraq with a few allies who served as alibis, then reached Baghdad after a few days and drove out Saddam Hussein, the US experienced a collective feeling of satisfaction. Iraq was revenge for New York. One can put it that bluntly today because naturally there was a need for retaliation, for a demonstration of strength. The public justifications for the war were periphery by comparison: chemical weapons, a nuclear program and Saddam as the long-time bogeyman. No, America wanted to re-establish its authority.

“‘Today, American policy has largely recovered from its perspective of hyper-hegemony. But at what price? No one would claim any longer that order and stability, much less democracy, can be achieved by force of arms. And the country wouldn’t even inwardly admit to the immense debts it has piled up in the shadow of its wars. No one wants to gauge the loss of credibility that America and the West have suffered in the rest of the world, either. However, those in Germany who would triumphantly wag their fingers should think twice. Elegant statecraft was nowhere to be found in the divisive opposition to George W. Bush.

“‘In history there is not always a clear sequence of causalities. … But the Iraq war generated a powerful break — both for the people in the region and America. It marked the start of a phase of deep societal shift in the Arab world, and the beginning of a new world order for the US. Proof of this comes with President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel this week — the first of his presidency, and one that is largely powerless. The Statue of Liberty still stands in the New York harbor, announcing America’s mission to the world. It’s a mission that has become unimaginably large in the Middle East — so big that even the US must humbly acknowledge its limits.’

“Left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung writes:

“‘The Iraq war serves mainly as yet another lesson that domestic and regional balance of power can’t be changed by even the most oppressive foreign military power. It’s a lesson that is constantly forgotten.

“‘The balance of power in the Arab world won’t be sustainably altered through foreign intervention, but from the inside — and even that is a difficult undertaking, as we’ve seen in the last two turbulent years of upheaval. The Iraq war probably delayed change in the Arab world by several years because the Arab dictators were able to discredit their indigenous democracy movements with a simple: “Do you want to become like Iraq?”. Because Iraq represents much of what the Arabs do not want: a society destroyed and polarized by foreign intervention with a traumatized population. It was in spite of the Iraq war, not because of it, that a decade later the Arab world indeed began to change. It’s chaotic, turbulent, and there’s an unknown outcome. But this time it’s autonomous.’

“Conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

“‘It was a war that the United States basically chose for itself, and then decided upon quickly based on its military superiority. But they failed to achieve peace, if it’s to be defined in broader terms than just Saddam Hussein’s fall. They had no plan for it. Its motives, circumstances and results have made the Iraq war a strategic failure in the eyes of many. … The Iraqis have to bear the consequences, but so do the Americans. George W. Bush’s government was so convinced of its ‘mission’ that it managed to create a huge rift in the Western community. The approach led to an intra-Western confrontation about its conformity to international law, which damaged the reputation of the US. The skepticism of interventions that President Obama faces is in part due to the country’s moral discreditation, in addition to the country’s economic depletion.’

“‘In any case, an episode that began on a late summer day in September 2001 has come to an end. Without the “attack on America,” the Bush administration would not have gone after the al-Qaida leaders and their Taliban helpers in Afghanistan, and the US would not have marched into Iraq after Saddam Hussein (whose overthrow had been the official goal of American policy since the late 1990s). Thousands of American soldiers and over 100,000 Iraqis died. Hundreds of billions of dollars were devoured by both wars. From now on, because the achievements have been so limited compared to the costs, the US will practice greater restraint. Its role in the Libya uprising and the Syria conflict have shown that already. America is unlikely to engage in war again “only” for the sake of democracy in the troubled Arab world. This kind of idealism — or neoconservative furor — won’t be mustered again anytime soon. The question is whether global power is now swinging from one extreme to another.'”

Pope Francis

NPR reported on March 13, 2013:

“The new pope, 76-year-old Jorge Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, is the first pontiff from Latin America and the first Jesuit, but he appears to hold views very much in line with his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

“Bergoglio has chosen the papal name Francis, becoming the 266th to hold the title of spiritual leader of the Catholic Church.

“Catholic News Service calls him an accomplished theologian and says Bergoglio has “written books on spirituality and meditation and has been outspoken against abortion and same-sex marriages.”

“He was born Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires to Italian parents Mario, a railway worker, and Regina, a housewife, reports Argentina’s La Nacion.”

The New York Times offered their report of the papal election on March 13, 2013:

“With a puff of white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and to the cheers of thousands of rain-soaked faithful, a gathering of Catholic cardinals picked a new pope from among their midst on Wednesday — choosing the cardinal from Argentina, the first South American to lead the church.

“The new pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio (pronounced Ber-GOAL-io), will be called Francis, the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He is also the first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years and the first member of the Jesuit order to lead the church.

“In choosing Francis, 76, who had been the archbishop of Buenos Aires, the cardinals sent a powerful message that the future of the church lies in the global south, home to the bulk of the world’s Catholics…

“’It was like waiting for the birth of a baby, only better,’ said a Roman man, Giuliano Uncini. A child sitting atop his father’s shoulders waved a crucifix.

“Francis is known as a humble man who spoke out for the poor and led an austere life in Buenos Aires. He was born to Italian immigrant parents and was raised in the Argentine capital.

“The new pope inherits a church wrestling with an array of challenges that intensified during his predecessor, Benedict XVI, including a shortage of priests, growing competition from evangelical churches in the Southern Hemisphere, a sexual abuse crisis that has undermined the church’s moral authority in the West and difficulties governing the Vatican itself…

“A doctrinal conservative, Francis has opposed liberation theology, abortion, gay marriage and the ordination of women, standing with his predecessor in holding largely traditional views.” 

The Roman Catholic Church has been fraught with controversy–especially, the actions of gay priests who have abused youth. It has also suffered a loss of attendance and a serious lack of new priests. With worldwide attention now so openly focused on this newly elected pope, the potential for this church to exert greater and greater influence seems a real possibility! We also take note that Pope Francis is the son of Italian parents who immigrated to Argentina, making his selection still closely tied to Italian rule over Rome. Besides his native Spanish, Bergoglio also speaks Italian and German.

The Mystery of Rome!

CNN reported the following on Tuesday, March 12, 2013:

“Moving in solemn procession through rooms rich with painting and history, the Catholic cardinals Tuesday went into the Sistine Chapel, where they will take part in the secret election of a new pope.
 
“One of their number will almost certainly emerge from the process as the new spiritual leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.
 
“Chanting prayers as they walked, the 115 cardinal-electors — those under age 80 who are eligible to vote — made their way slowly from the nearby Pauline Chapel.
 
“Once they all have entered the Sistine Chapel they will each swear an oath of secrecy. A designated official will then give the order in Latin, ‘Extra omnes’ — that is, ‘Those who are extra, leave.’

 “At this point all those not taking part in the conclave will leave the Sistine Chapel and the doors will be closed.
 
“From that point on, the only clue the world will have of what is happening inside will be periodic puffs of smoke from a copper chimney installed on the chapel roof over the weekend.
 
“Black smoke, no pope. White smoke, success.
 
“Earlier, the scarlet-clad cardinals celebrated a special morning Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, where they prayed for guidance in making a choice that could be crucial to the future direction of a church rocked by scandal in recent years.”

Reuters, covering this same story, reported on March 12, 2013:

“Red-robed cardinals retreated behind the heavy wooden doors of the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday at the start of a conclave that will elect a new pope to tackle the strife and scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church.

“Latin chants and organ music accompanied the cardinals as they processed into the room, with Michelangelo’s depiction of Christ delivering the Last Judgment on the back wall and his image of the hand of God giving life to Adam on the ceiling.

“Laying their own hands on the Gospels and speaking in Latin, they took a vow of secrecy not to divulge anything about the ballot, which was expected to start with an initial round of voting later in the afternoon.

“No conclave in the modern era has chosen a pope on the first day, and some cardinals speculated earlier this week that it might take up to four or five days to pick the man to replace Pope Benedict, who unexpectedly abdicated last month…

“Earlier, on a day rich in ritual and pageantry, Italian cardinal Angelo Sodano called for unity in the Church, which is beset by sex abuse scandals, bureaucratic infighting, financial difficulties and the rise of secularism.”

There are obvious and unavoidable parallels to be drawn from news reports about this conclave to elect a new pope and what is written in the Book of Revelation concerning a powerful, world-influencing religion. Details about prophesied events concerning this religion and its influence over the governments of Europe can be found in our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy – The Unfolding of End-Time Events.”

The Cost of Catholic Cover-ups

USA Today reported on March 12, 2013:

“The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay four men almost $10 million to settle allegations of sexual abuse by a former priest who more than a quarter century ago had confessed to molesting children, attorneys said Tuesday.

“Two brothers will receive $4 million each, and the other two men will get nearly $1 million apiece, said John Manly, a plaintiff’s attorney.

“The settlement is the first since the Catholic Church released thousands of internal records detailing the actions of the defrocked priest, Michael Baker, and how church officials responded. Baker was convicted in 2007 of child molestation and paroled in 2011.

“In January, as the files were about to be made public, a California judge ordered the archdiocese to identify all priests and church officials named in the documents.

“The confidential files — medical and psychiatric records, abuse reports, church memos and letters with the Vatican — revealed that in 1986, Baker told Cardinal Roger Mahony that he had abused boys beginning in 1974. Mahony removed Baker from [the] ministry and sent him to New Mexico for psychological treatment.

“A year later, however, he returned with a doctor’s recommendation that he not spend any time with minors and that he should be defrocked immediately if he did. Nonetheless, the abuse continued until 2000, when Baker was finally removed.

“Mahony retired as Los Angeles archbishop in 2011. Last month, his successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, stripped him of his official duties.

“Mahony is in Rome participating in the conclave selecting the next pope. He was aware of the settlement, J. Michael Hennigan, an archdiocese attorney, told the Associated Press.”

While the Catholic Church seems grudgingly willing to pay huge settlements for sexual abuse claims, it doesn’t appear to have treated the crimes all that seriously from within. This and so many other cases by priests who have been guilty of heinous abuses stand is stark contrast to the face that Catholic leadership is trying to present as a new pope is elected.

North Korea On the Brink of War?

Reported by The Australian, March 13, 2013:

“North Korea leader Kim Jong-un has threatened to ‘wipe out’ a South Korean island as Pyongyang came under new economic and diplomatic fire from US sanctions and UN charges of gross rights abuses.

“Military tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen to their highest level for years, with the communist state under the youthful Mr Kim threatening nuclear war in response to UN sanctions imposed after its third atomic test last month.

“It has also announced its unilateral shredding of the 60-year-old Korean War armistice and non-aggression pacts with Seoul in protest at a joint South Korean-US military exercise that began on Monday.
 
“While most of these statements have been dismissed as rhetorical bluster, the latest threat to the border island of Baengnyeong, which has around 5000 civilian residents, appears credible and carries the weight of precedent.”

The Guardian reported on March 12, 2013:

“State-run television reported mass rallies across North Korea against the US and said Kim Jong-un had told troops to be on ‘maximum alert’ for a potential war. Kim told troops stationed near disputed waters that have been the scene of previous clashes that ‘war can break out right now’.

“Earlier, North Korea threatened to launch a nuclear strike against the US and South Korea. North Korea has blamed Seoul’s joint military exercises this month with the US for the increased tensions. But Washington said Pyongyang is lashing out with ‘belligerent rhetoric’ after the UN security council imposed new sanctions over North Korea’s underground test of a nuclear weapon last month.”

Worldwide Web the New Battlegound!

On March 11, 2013, Euronews wrote:

“America is under cyber attack, and Washington now believes there is evidence that China is officially sponsoring much of it.

“The source of much of the activity is a military building, and not some amateur hacker’s home. Mandiant, a private security firm has traced a wave of cyber attacks to the door of China’s cyber command. The report has rattled Washington, and the IT and intelligence communities are still scrambling for adequate answers.

“On Wednesday the Homeland Security Committee of the US Congress holds a hearing on cyber security, with the fear that World War Three is already underway, via fibre-optic links and secret servers putting vital infrastructure at risk, and stealing valuable secrets…

“As we enter an age of a new kind of warfare, undeclared and with no Geneva Convention regulating its excesses, many fear diplomacy will have little clout in Beijing.”

And from the Los Angeles Times on March 12, 2013:

“Iran has made progress toward developing nuclear weapons capability, Al Qaeda sympathizers are resurgent across North Africa and the Middle East, and the U.S. economy is vulnerable to relatively unsophisticated cyber-attacks, according to America’s top intelligence officer.
 
“James R. Clapper, director of national intelligence, is set to appear Tuesday morning with other senior U.S. national security officials at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing to deliver their annual assessment of threats around the globe.
 
“According to a copy of Clapper’s prepared remarks, the danger of cyber-attacks and cyber-espionage on crucial infrastructure tops the list of global threats. As a result, America’s intelligence agencies are reevaluating how they operate.

“’Threats are more diverse, interconnected and viral than at any time in history. Attacks, which might involve cyber and financial weapons, can be deniable and unattributable,’ he says…

“Cyber-espionage is rampant and growing, Clapper acknowledges, and it is damaging American competitiveness: 
 
“‘Foreign intelligence and security services have penetrated numerous computer networks of U.S. government, business, academic and private sector entities…. This is almost certainly allowing our adversaries to close the technological gap between our respective militaries, slowly neutralizing one of our key advantages in the international arena.'”

No Victory and No Welcome in Afghanistan

NPR wrote on March 10, 2013:

“Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai claims the U.S. is holding talks outside Afghanistan with the Afghan Taliban.

“The allegations come as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel continues his first visit to the nation as Pentagon Chief – and after a deadly explosion in Kabul on Saturday that the Taliban called a message to the new defense secretary.

“Karzai made his claims in a nationally broadcast address just hours before he was to meet with Hagel, reports NPR’s David Welna, who is traveling with Hagel.

“‘Karzai claimed the U.S. has been meeting daily elsewhere with the Taliban,’ Welna reports. ‘He also accused the U.S. of collaborating with the Taliban to stoke fears about coalition forces pulling out of Afghanistan next year.’

“The Taliban claimed responsibility for a blast outside the Afghan Defense Ministry on Saturday that killed nine people. A second bombing in eastern Khost Province, also on Saturday, killed two police officers and eight children.

“‘The explosions in Kabul and Khost yesterday showed that they are at the service of America and at the service of this phrase: 2014,’ Karzai said. ‘They are trying to frighten us into thinking that if the foreigners are not in Afghanistan, we would be facing these sorts of incidents.'”

More and more, it appears that the war being fought by the U.S. and its allies is destined for abject failure–as even the U.S. selected Hamid Karzai is now openly insulting America’s new Defense Secretary.

Hungary’s Authoritarian Move…

Spiegel Online reported on March 11, 2013:

“As expected, the Hungarian parliament on Monday evening passed a package of constitutional amendments that legal experts say are an affront to democracy. Berlin, Brussels and Washington all voiced their concern in the run up to the vote. Leaders in Budapest, however, were unfazed.

“Hungarian President János Áder arrived in Berlin on Monday for what might look merely like a standard bilateral meeting between two EU leaders. But the relationship between the European Union and Hungary is anything but normal these days. Budapest, after all, bid farewell on Monday to many of the values that define the 27-member club.

“Prime Minster Viktor Orbán, like Áder a member of the conservative Fidesz party, has expanded his power dramatically. While the head of state was in Berlin, the prime minister moved ahead with a highly controversial package of amendments to the country’s constitution. The amendments weaken the country’s constitutional court, the last defender of Hungary’s constitutional state, and they limit the independence of the entire judiciary branch.

“In other words, a country at the center of the European Union is moving away from the principles of freedom, democracy and the rule of law…

“The reforms also write into the constitution certain laws that had previously been overturned and deemed unconstitutional by the high court, making them essentially untouchable.These include a ban on the homeless from loitering in public spaces, and allowance of the state to prosecute them for violations; a ban on electoral campaign advertising in private media; and an exclusion of umarried, childless or same-sex couples in the official definition of family.”

This is a significant stand by Hungarian legislators in rejecting European Union objections. Just how much compliance to European “values” can be extracted from Hungary in the coming weeks and months remains to be seen.

Austria Remembers

The Local wrote on March 12, 2013:

“Austria solemnly marked Tuesday 75 years since German troops crossed the border unopposed on the early hours of March 12, 1938 and ‘annexed’ Adolf Hitler’s homeland into the Third Reich.

“‘Already on the evening of March 11 swastika flags were fluttering over Vienna and other cities, including at police headquarters in Vienna … even though not a single German soldier had yet set foot on Austrian soil,’ President Heinz Fischer said at a ceremony in the capital.
 
“‘Soon afterwards we were pulled into World War II, with all its consequences, and Austrians were massively involved in the crimes of National Socialism. This all became part of our history, and this is still painful to this day.’
 
“Three days after the entry of his troops, Hitler gave a speech in Vienna – the city he had left in 1913 as a failed artist – to a jubilant crowd of 250,000 people. A plebiscite soon afterwards sealed the annexation…
 
“Fischer, who also laid a wreath at a monument to victims of fascism and war, said that the system of Nazi totalitarianism ‘could only come about through the cooperation of fanatics, followers and collaborators, as well as deliberately turning a blind eye.'”

Locusts in Egypt Three Weeks Before Passover

The Atlantic Wire reported on March 3, 2013:

“As if we hadn’t already seen enough Biblical events this year, a plague of over 30 million locusts swarmed over Egypt’s cities and farms just three weeks before Passover begins. But put your apocalyptic fears to rest. This happens every year as part of the locusts’ natural migration pattern, though this year’s swarm is especially large. That doesn’t mean Egyptians aren’t freaked… out by millions of nasty bugs buzzing through the air at all hours of day and night, possibly descending upon the agriculture fields where they’re known to destroy entire crops, just like in the actual Passover story.

“The crops are so far safe, Egyptian officials assured the public. As the plague made its way from the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia at the end of last week and this weekend, though, Egyptian Agricultural Minister Salah Abdel Moamen explained the situation to the country in a calmly worded statement… these plagues can be unpredictable. Egyptian officials didn’t expect the plague to pass by the country’s capital, until Sunday when the locusts unexpectedly arrived in Cairo.

“The government denied reports that the locusts had started devastating crops as well as a report from United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) that the Ministry of Agriculture cleared 11,000 hectares of land in an attempt to save the harvest. When they get hungry, a one-ton hoard of locusts can eat the same amount of food in one day as 2,500 humans, according to the UN. Egypt knows this too. Less than a decade ago, a plague of locusts nearly 40 miles wide swept over Egypt damaging crops at the majority of the country’s farms…”

The timing is indeed interesting…

Locusts “Kosher”

The Times of Israel wrote on March 3:

“In the last few days, a devastating plague of locusts, numbering in the tens of millions, has been sweeping across Egypt. In Israel, the Ministry of Agriculture is on full alert. A special hotline has been set up, and the pesticides have been prepared. Hopefully, modern agricultural technology will help us avoid disasters such as that of 1915, when a plague of locusts in Israel led to much tragedy…

“It is commonly overlooked that not only does the Torah permit man to eat certain mammals, birds and fish, but it even permits him to eat certain insects – namely, several types of locusts. The identification of the kosher varieties was lost amongst European Jews, who were not exposed to locust swarms. But Jews from North Africa maintained a tradition regarding kosher locusts.

“The expert on identifying kosher species today is my colleague Dr. Zohar Amar… He has identified the species for which there is the most widespread tradition amongst North African Jews as… the Egyptian desert locust. This is by far the most common species of locust, and it is the species currently swarming in Egypt…”

The Telegraph reported on March 8 that the locusts had reached Israel, adding: “Israel’s agriculture ministry battled to contain an infestation of locusts that threatened to destroy thousands of acres of crops after swarming into the south of the country from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.”

… and Other Infestations Feared

Mail On Line added on March 4:

“As swarms of locust devour Egyptian crops, the Middle East is bracing for the destructive bugs to migrate their way ahead of the Passover holiday. A swarm of an estimated 30million insects has been devastating crops in Egypt, fuelling apocalyptic fears because of the infestation’s proximity to the Bible story of Passover in which a swarm of locusts, the eighth of ten plagues, is imposed on Egyptians by God for enslaving and abusing ancient Hebrews…

“The infestation comes as a study warns that yellow-legged Asian hornets that prey on bees are among the latest non-native species threatening UK wildlife, and even people’s health. A growing number of alien species, from killer shrimps to Spanish slugs, are set to soon reach our shores, a Europe-wide study warns. The Asian hornet, which grows to between 2.5cm and 3cm (1-1.2 inches), preys on native honeybees, wasps and other pollinators, potentially devastating hives and threatening honey and crop production.”

Hamas Warns of Visit of Temple Mount

The Times of Israel wrote on February 26:

“Responding to unconfirmed rumors that US President Barack Obama intends to visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during his trip to Israel next month, the Hamas terror group warned the American leader against the idea on Tuesday, calling it ‘a diplomatic catastrophe,’ and local Muslim leaders set stiff conditions for a presidential tour there. A statement issued by Hamas called Obama’s potential visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, located at the southern perimeter of the Mount, ‘an imminent danger which the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem have never faced.’

“Hamas stated that a visit by the American president to the contested site under the auspices of ‘the Zionist occupation’ would be more dangerous than the relocation of any country’s embassy to Jerusalem, considering the international preeminence of the United States. The Temple Mount, revered by Jews as the site of the first and second temples and by Muslims as the point from which Muhammad ascended to heaven, is administered by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, a trust that has governed the site since the 12th century…

“Israel took control of Jerusalem’s Old City, including the Temple Mount, in the 1967 Six Day War…”

It should not be coming as a surprise that especially European powers will pretty soon respond in kind to Hamas’s ongoing provocations. While the Temple Mount is indeed the place where the first and second temples had been built, the idea that Mohammed ascended from there to heaven is a fairy tale, as no one has ascended to heaven except Jesus Christ.

Hugo Chavez Dies

JTA wrote on March 6:

“For more than a decade, Venezuelan Jews have been holding their breath, subject to the whims of a mercurial president who used his bully pulpit to intimidate, rail against Israel and embrace Iran. There was the police raid of a Caracas school in 2004, allegedly to search for evidence in the high-profile murder case of a prosecutor. There were the demands by President Hugo Chavez when war broke out between Israel and Hamas in December 2008 that his country’s Jews rebuke Israel for its conduct in Gaza. There was Chavez’s warm alliance with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. There was the use of state radio to spread anti-Semitic canards.

“Most recently, there were revelations that Venezuela’s intelligence service, SEBIN, was spying on the country’s Jewish community. While Chavez never explicitly threatened the Jews of Venezuela, his frequent harassment and staunchly anti-Israel positions kept them continually on edge. Afraid to criticize their president, the Jewish community found itself in a predicament that took on a frightening resemblance to the one faced by Jews in another staunchly anti-Western, anti-Zionist country: Iran.

“But even with Chavez gone, felled by an undisclosed cancer at age 58 just weeks into his fourth term, Venezuelan Jews aren’t quite ready to exhale. For one thing, Chavez leaves behind a country wracked by violent crime and mired in economic turmoil. For another, Chavez played such a commanding role in Venezuelan life and politics that nobody is quite sure what will happen to the country. Perhaps most notably for Venezuela’s Jews, far fewer of them are still around to find out.

“Over the past 14 years, Jews have been leaving the country in droves. When Chavez was elected in 1999, there were more than 20,000 Jews living in Venezuela. Today the community is estimated to have fallen to less than half that number… Jews were not the only ones to take flight from the Chavez regime. Hundreds of thousands of upper- and middle-class Venezuelans left during the Chavez years, seeking to escape Venezuela’s anti-business climate, the government’s nationalization of private companies, economic crises and a soaring crime rate…”

It has been proclaimed that one should not say anything negative about a person who just died, and it is common knowledge that worldly preachers love to preach their sheep into heaven, no matter how evil they might have acted during their lives. The truth is that Hugo Chavez was an unscrupulous dictator and a despot—a radical enemy of the Western World. As the article above points out, he was a totalitarian and an intolerant intimidator.

In addition, as the Criminal Justice International Associates (CJIA) reported, “the personal fortune of the Castro brothers [in Cuba] has been estimated at a combined value of around $2 billion. The Chávez Frías family in Venezuela has amassed a fortune of a similar scale since the arrival of Chávez to the presidency in 1999… Cuba is receiving about $5 billion per year from the Venezuelan treasury and in oil shipments and other resources. We believe that organized Bolivarian criminal groups within the Chávez administration have subtracted around $100 billion out of the nearly $1 trillion in oil income…”

In light of these devastating facts, the international comments from Western politicians regarding Chavez’ death are incredible, but then—they are true to spineless political correctness.

Der Spiegel Online wrote on March 6:

“German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle issued a statement saying Chávez’s death, not unexpected after the leader’s long battle with cancer, was ‘a heavy blow.’ He added that Venezuela would move on to ‘new times,’ and that the country ‘has great potential, and democracy and freedom are the right paths to realize this potential.’ [According to The Local, Westerwelle added: “We feel sympathy for the pain of the deceased’s family and the grief of the Venezuelan people.”] French President François Hollande, a Socialist whose electoral campaign’s focus on social justice was akin to the spirit of Chávez’s message, noted that ‘not everyone shared’ his political views. But he praised the leader’s ‘undeniable will to fight for justice and development.’

“British Foreign Secretary William Hague expressed condolences to Venezuela and the Chávez family. He said Chávez’s 14 years in the presidency ‘left a lasting impression on the country and more widely.’ European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said they received the news with ‘sadness.’ In a joint statement, the two said: ‘Venezuela has stood out for its social development and for its contribution to South America’s regional integration.’… President Vladimir Putin called Chávez ‘a close friend of Russia’ and ‘an unorthodox and strong person.’…

“The response in the United States… was much more restrained. President Barack Obama issued a statement expressing Washington’s support for the ‘Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government.’ Obama’s statement said the country was now entering a ‘new chapter,’ and that ‘the United States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principles, the rule of law and respect for human rights.’

“Just hours before the announcement of Chávez’s death, Vice President Nicolas Maduro made an angry speech denouncing enemies he said were trying to undermine democracy in Venezuela. Maduro added that two US military attachés had recently been expelled for trying to destabilize the country. In the months leading up to Chávez’s death, Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, emerged as the all-but-certain successor to the presidency. Polls suggest he maintains a comfortable lead against conservative challenger Henrique Capriles as a new vote looms.

“Chávez beat Capriles just five months ago in elections that were criticized by the West for favoring Chávez from the beginning. New elections are to be held in 30 days, according to the Foreign Ministry in Caracas. Maduro is to assume the role of interim president.”

So it appears that nothing will change, and Venezuela’s anti-Western, anti-Semitic and anti-American politics will continue, despite nice words from European politicians. To add insult to injury, and blasphemy to stupidity, the Guardian reported on March 8 that “Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been… saying that Hugo Chávez will be resurrected along with Jesus Christ in his tribute to the Venezuelan president who died on Tuesday.” Of course, this is total nonsense, insofar as Chavez is concerned, but it also reflects the false teaching of the Koran claiming that Jesus Christ is dead and needs to be resurrected in the future. According to the Bible, such a teaching constitutes blasphemy and as long as such false religious views are embraced, any access to God the Father is blocked.

Sequestration in Place

Deutsche Welle reported on March 2:

“President Barack Obama on Friday signed an order that begins across-the-board budget cuts of $85 billion (65 billion euros) known as the ‘sequester’ after last-ditch talks between Republicans and Democrats failed. The ‘sequestration’ means that government agencies must now begin to hack a total of $85 billion from their budgets between Saturday and October 1. However, Congress can stop them at any time if the two parties agree on how to do so. New US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the cuts, half of which will fall on the Pentagon, put at risk ‘all of our missions.’

“The sequester was passed as a bipartisan solution to an earlier fiscal emergency in 2011. The cuts were meant to be so dire, that it would act as an incentive for the two parties to reach a more better [sic] compromise to reign in the country’s massive debt. On Thursday the Senate voted down two separate proposals that would have replaced existing legislation and prevented the automatic austerity measures from kicking in.

“President Obama’s Democrats presented a bill in the Senate designed to generate more revenue for the government by increasing taxes on high earners. The Republicans’ proposal did not include provisions to raise more tax revenue, but would have given the president the power to determine which spending programs to cut. However, neither proposal got the 60 Senate votes needed to pass, with members of the two parties blaming each other… Washington must now turn to the issue of slashing the budget deficit and the $16 trillion national debt. On March 27 a temporary federal budget, agreed on to avoid the ‘fiscal cliff,’ is due to expire.”

No solutions are in sight, and what might perhaps look like a solution is not even pursued…

USA a Kindergarten?

In an accompanying article, Deutsche Welle wrote on March 2:

“It makes you shake your head in disbelief. US President Barack Obama was touring the country and repeatedly explained that the automatic budget cuts ‘will jeopardize our military readiness; it will eviscerate job-creating investments in education and energy and medical research’ as well as endangering borders and airspace. Criminals would have an easy laugh as FBI staff would be forced to take time off. In short: it would be a national catastrophe. Then, the crucial day arrives: March 1. The president once more faces the press to warn about the consequences of the cuts. But he seems surprisingly relaxed and in the end even goes as far as saying that, in fact, it’s not an apocalypse – but merely stupidity. So it’s not the end of the world after all? Fact is that the cuts of around $85 billion (65 billion euros) this year will only be felt gradually and they can be stopped any time – should there be a deal in Congress. Or should elected representatives decide to spread the cuts in a more sensible way…

“It is, indeed, silly to cut all national expenses by the same percentage without setting any priorities. Sequestering the money was supposed to be a tool to apply some pressure on Democrats and Republicans to find a compromise in the budget debate when the parties got locked in a struggle back in 2011 over the debt ceiling. But one thing’s become clear since then: Setting an ultimatum doesn’t get this Congress to get it to solve the problem, all an ultimatum does is get them to postpone making a decision. The debate on raising the debt ceiling will be back on the agenda in May. And the government will again be unable to pay its bills should Congress fail to agree that the 2012 budget can be transferred to 2013. The reason behind that move? A budget hasn’t been passed in years; the president hasn’t even proposed one for 2013. The deadline for doing so passed on (the) first Tuesday in February. The explanation was that things were too busy with the debate on the fiscal cliff at the end of 2012; it’s not exactly competent leadership skills that the government is showing here…

“And so the country is tumbling from one deadline to the next self-imposed deadline; from one pseudo crisis to the next. But it’s not the arbitrarily fixed debt ceiling of the haircut approach to cuts that is the problem, but the inability of elected officials to come up with a constructive solution. The problem is also the mountain of debt which is far beyond $16 trillion and still growing and the social programs, which without reform will be impossible to finance in the future.

“Although Obama trying to create a bit of panic wasn’t his finest hour, it was still the Republicans who are at fault. They have lost the last presidential vote and again got bogged down with their no-new-taxes policy after they had to make concessions in the fiscal cliff showdown of 2012… Boehner, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, has no authority within his own party, while in the Senate the Republicans have a large enough minority to block the Democrats – a policy they pursue with disregard for the consequences…

“The financial world so far remains unimpressed by the recent theater in Washington. The population, however, believes that the cuts will have massive consequences on the US economy. According to a poll by the Pew Institute, 45 percent of people blame the Republicans in Congress and 32 percent the president. Another 13 percent believe that both sides are to blame. But an increasing number of Americans are simply turning away in frustration. They don’t even follow the debate anymore… Currently though, Congress is like a kindergarten where little kids sit in a sandpit and fight over a shovel while the teacher repeatedly threatens sending everyone to detention but eventually gives up. It’s a sad picture of the oldest democracy and last superpower on the globe.”

Even though one may or may not be ready to agree with every aspect and opinion stated in the above-quoted article, as to who is to be blamed for what, one thing is clear: the picture that the USA is painting of itself for the rest of the world is embarrassing, appalling and self-destructive. Deutsche Welle—which cannot be classified as liberal— is by far not the only news agency with their assessment and conclusion. Note the following excerpts from other news reports.

USA Chooses Not to Govern

On February 28, Newsmax discussed with approval a piece by the Washington Post on the debacle of America’s sequestration:

“The Washington Post on Thursday slammed both Congress and President Barack Obama for choosing ‘not to govern’ and reaching a deal to avert the $85 billion in broad government cuts scheduled to take place on Friday. ‘To govern is to choose,’ The Post said in an editorial. ‘Congress and President Obama have chosen not to govern. Instead, each side has concluded that its interest lies in letting the “sequester” proceed as scheduled — and then trying to win the political blame game. ‘This abdication is bad public policy,’ The Post said. The newspaper attacked the idea of indiscriminate agency cuts — and how these cuts will lead to employee furloughs and loss of pay. In addition, sequestration will do little to solve the nation’s long-term budget issues…

“‘Washington has reached a strange place indeed when the opposition party offers the president more control over spending — and he refuses it,’ The Post continued. ‘A strange place, and a sad one,” The Post concluded.”

A strange and sad place indeed.

Woodward Did Not Exaggerate

Newsmax wrote von March 1:

“Newspaper editor and book author Bob Woodward continued his battle with President Barack Obama’s administration on Thursday, saying the White House is playing the ‘old trick’ of attacking the messenger because he accurately reported the president’s reversal on the upcoming sequester. ‘They got caught and — this is an old trick — make the conduct of the press the issue rather than their conduct,’ Woodward told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Thursday night…  Woodward, an associate editor for The Washington Post, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that he received an email he interpreted as threatening from a top White House official — since identified as Gene Sperling, economic adviser to the president — regarding Obama’s actions on the upcoming sequester…

“The White House also has been very successful at controlling the press, Woodward said. ‘The barriers have come up,’ he told Hannity. ‘We know less about what’s going on.’”

Newsmax wrote in an accompanying article on March 1 :

“Political analyst Dick Morris believes Bob Woodward was right on the money and not exaggerating about what has been called a threat against him by an Obama Administration official. ‘If there’s one guy in Washington who people can and should trust, and only one guy, he’s Bob Woodward,’’ Morris [said]… ‘This man has written 10 to 15 books … all going out on a limb and identifying confidential stuff that went on in the White House in every administration. He’s always been proven right, he’s never been contradicted successfully, and he’s always sticking his neck out and he’s always correct.’… Morris, a former advisor to President Bill Clinton, said since Woodward’s complaint, the press has ganged up on him… ‘When the chief economic adviser says you will regret having taken that position – that is not an expression of ideological discontent. It’s a threat.’’”

America’s Support of Egypt’s Radical Brotherhood

The Washington Times wrote on March 4:

“Secretary of State John F. Kerry’s release of $250 million in economic and budgetary aid to Egypt added fresh fuel to an already fiery debate in Washington over whether the U.S. should be helping to fund a government run by the Muslim Brotherhood. But while several lawmakers have called for a halt of U.S. assistance to Egypt, most analysts agree Congress lacks the will to divert the roughly $1.3 billion in military aid that Washington continues to sends to Cairo each year.

“With lawmakers caught up in ‘dysfunction and gridlock,’ the Obama administration will ‘probably continue to have broad leeway to continue the current military and economic assistance,’ said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress…

“The issue of U.S. assistance to Egypt has for months driven a foreign policy wedge between the White House and Congress, where several lawmakers have cited concerns about everything from the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government’s handling of security to its treatment of women and opposition groups, to the Islamic party’s relationship with Israel… The United States, according to analysts, has channeled some $71.6 billion in bilateral foreign assistance to Egypt between 1948 and 2011…”

A Wrong Move at the Wrong Time

On March 4, Fox News published an article by Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice:

“Secretary of State John Kerry has made exactly the wrong move. Releasing $250 million in aid to Egypt’s fragile Muslim Brotherhood government — based on nothing more than hopes and promises — is the worst possible course of action and gives a hostile and repressive regime a lifeline at precisely the wrong time. In fact, given the Muslim Brotherhood’s recent record, it’s impossible to believe any promises of ‘reform.’

“As Egypt’s economy continues to crumble, and periodic violence flares in Cairo and in cities along the Suez canal, and Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi’s consistent priority has been pressing his radical anti-American and anti-Israel agenda. The list of the Muslim Brotherhood’s sins is long and growing:

“Egypt is violently persecuting its Coptic Christian minority, even going so far as arresting small children for allegedly defiling the Koran. Its security forces failed in their legal responsibility to protect the American embassy as protestors stormed the embassy, tore down the American flag, and replaced it with the black flag of jihad. Egypt is now becoming not just a source of terrorists but also a launching pad for terror attacks; deadly terror attacks have been launched against Israel from Egyptian soil and Egyptian terrorists were present in the 2012 Benghazi attack and in the recent attack and violence in Algeria.

“Despite getting credit for brokering the Israel/Hamas cease fire last November, Egypt loudly and publicly backed Hamas, a terrorist organization and a wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt has passed a Shariah-based constitution that restricts religious freedom and provides a legal basis for continued persecution of Egypt’s embattled Christian minority… Egyptian authorities denied the U.S. direct access to a Benghazi terrorist suspect, a shocking act from an alleged ‘ally.’ Finally, let’s not forget that Egypt’s president is a blatant and outspoken anti-Semite who calls Jews the ‘descendants of apes and pigs’ and said that Egyptian children should be ‘nursed’ on ‘hatred’ for Israel.

“Egypt’s repressive failures have become so obvious that even the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman has begun to sour on Egypt’s version of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ (more like an Islamist Winter). The Muslim Brotherhood’s ruthlessness is matched only by its own economic incompetence. As the people grow restless, the Morsi government is looking for something, anything, to validate and consolidate its hold on power. Fortunately for (the) Mohammed Morsi, the U.S. State Department is there to lend a hand. In addition to this recent infusion of cash – courtesy of the American taxpayer – the U.S. has given the Brotherhood something more valuable than cash: modern weaponry.

“Just as Egypt seethed with unrest, the Muslim Brotherhood and American embassy staff celebrated the delivery of four new American-made F-16 fighter jets, the first batch of 20 new jets – a $213 million gift from American taxpayers. The celebration reportedly even included glossy American photos of the deadly and agile jets staged under a huge Egyptian flag. Some have justified this delivery on the basis that the Egyptian military is a force for moderation, but it is now firmly under President Morsi’s control after he fired its Mubarak-era leadership. Others claim that we’re obligated to deliver the weapons under the terms of the Camp David accords, yet Egypt has breached the Accords repeatedly since the Arab Spring – even to the point of moving tanks into the Sinai.

“Every new F-16 or tank delivered to Egypt is another weapon that can be used to consolidate the Muslim Brotherhood’s grip on power. Every new dollar of economic aid buys the Brotherhood more time. For Mohammed Morsi, this aid represents far more than a marginal increase in military and economic strength, it also represents an American seal of approval and a stamp of legitimacy on his repressive regime. Every F-16 is a propaganda victory for the Morsi regime…”

And so, the USA is creating and financing another Frankenstein monster which will in time turn against its master…

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” – Killing of US Citizens Permitted on American Soil Through Drones?

The Telegraph reported on March 7:

“President Barack Obama has the authority to use an unmanned drone strike to kill US citizens on American soil, his attorney general [Mr Holder] has said… His statement was described as ‘more than frightening’ by Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, who had demanded to know the Obama administration’s position on the subject. ‘It is an affront the constitutional due process rights of all Americans,’ said Mr Paul, a 50-year-old favourite of the anti-government Tea Party movement, who is expected to run for president in 2016…

“Mr Paul on Wednesday evening took to the floor of the Senate to launch an old-fashioned filibuster in an effort to delay a vote on the approval of Mr Brennan for CIA director. ‘I won’t be able to speak forever, but I’m going to speak as long as I can,’ he said, before embarking on several hours of criticism of Mr Obama’s compliance with the US constitution. Mr Obama has been sharply criticised for the secrecy surrounding his extension of America’s ‘targeted killing’ campaign against al-Qaeda terrorist suspects using missile strikes by unmanned drones.

“The secret campaign has killed an estimated 4,700 people in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. A quarter are estimated to have been civilians prompting anger among human rights campaigners. According to research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, drone strikes killed between 474 and 881 civilians – including 176 children – in Pakistan between 2004 and last year. Criticism within the US has focused on the implications for terror suspects who are also US citizens, after Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric born and educated in the US, was killed in Yemen in 2011.

“The administration claims it has the legal authority to assassinate Americans provided that they are a senior al-Qaeda operative posing an imminent threat and it would be ‘infeasible’ to capture them. This justification emerged only last month in a leaked memo from Mr Holder’s department of justice. Mr Obama this week agreed to give Congress his full set of classified legal memos on the targeting of Americans.”

The Washington Times added on March 6:

“After years in the shadows, the administration’s secret drone program burst into very public view Wednesday with lawmakers grilling the attorney general over legal justification for targeted killings and Sen. Rand Paul launching an old-style one-man filibuster to demand answers from President Obama. The Kentucky Republican held the floor for hours, effectively blocking a vote on the nomination of John O. Brennan, whom Mr. Obama has tapped to be CIA director. He said he would relent only if the administration publicly vowed not to target Americans on U.S. soil… ‘This is a long, drawn-out day, but it’s to try to get some answers,’ Mr. Paul said after he crossed the eight-hour mark late Wednesday evening. ‘It’s to try to shame the president into doing the right thing.’

“Democrats, who control the chamber, were forced to delay a vote on the Brennan nomination until at least Thursday, and it could go into the weekend, depending on what other blockades Republicans erect. At issue is the administration’s argument that it can kill those it suspects have ties to terrorism, including U.S. citizens, without having to put them on trial.

“The fulcrum of the debate is the drone program, started under President George W. Bush and expanded by Mr. Obama, which many lawmakers said gives too much power to the executive branch — and raises tricky questions about whether drones could be used to execute Americans in the United States. The administration has only recently acknowledged the drone program…

“Mr. Paul described the legal situation as one in which one person — the president — holds the power to be the accuser, the judge and the executioner, since terrorist-designation proceedings are all contained within the executive branch and conducted generally in secret. ‘Are we so afraid of terrorism, are we so afraid of terrorists that we’re willing to just throw out our rights and freedom?’ he said…

“Mr. Brennan’s nomination cleared the Senate intelligence committee on a 12-3 vote Tuesday, but the full Senate had just begun its debate when Mr. Paul grabbed the floor at 11:47 a.m. Wednesday and refused to relinquish it. ‘“I rise today to begin to filibuster John Brennan’s nomination for the CIA. I will speak until I can no longer speak,’ he began.”

After almost thirteen hours, Rand Paul sat down. Maybe some will listen to Rand Paul’s very legitimate legal and practical concerns. To even contemplate such clearly unconstitutional violations, justifying executions of US citizens without any charges or trial, is indeed “beyond frightening”… (Italics) Subsequently, as the Washington Examiner reported on March 8, Attorney General Eric Holder completely changed his position. He “wrote Sen. Rand Paul… to confirm that President Obama does not have the authority to kill an American on U.S. soil in a non-combat situation, Obama’s spokesman announced today.” So, Rand Paul’s action did accomplish something. It is with utter amazement to hear that some in the Republican Party, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, openly disagreed with Rand Paul, calling his action “unfounded and ridiculous.” Incredibly, they even went further. As reason.com reported, they “took to the Senate floor this morning to defend killing American citizens at presidential discretion.”

Canada Not Happy with USA and Europe

BBC News wrote on March 1:

“The European Union and the US announced this month that they will soon begin talks on the biggest free-trade deal in history. This news was not greeted with joy in Canada, which launched its own, so far inconclusive, trade talks with the EU some four years ago… The press release said the group, the Council of Canadians, wanted to ‘put Ceta on ice’ – Ceta being the planned Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union. Ceta is the biggest bilateral trade deal that Canada has negotiated since the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement in 1988.

“Back then, there were vociferous protests across the country. The 1988 election was fought entirely on this one issue… The writer Margaret Atwood said the deal would ‘kill Canada’, and other public intellectuals lamented it would turn us all into Americans…

“Canada may be on the brink of a massive trade agreement with Europe that some feel could have negative repercussions for the country. Health costs could rise because the Europeans are looking for an extension on pharmaceutical patents – meaning Canadians couldn’t access cheaper generic drugs. An influx of European cheese could destabilise the heavily-protected dairy industry here.  And city councils would no longer be able to prefer local firms over international bidders. But, unlike 25 years ago, most Canadians don’t seem worried…

“The protesters in the 1980s were wrong, but in some ways they were also right. After the agreement came into force, Canada was thrown into a recession, partly because of free trade. Two hundred thousand manufacturing jobs were lost in the first two years. And while trade with the US has more than tripled, some analysts still think the deal didn’t encourage Canadian companies to become more productive, or to invest in research and development the way it was predicted they would…

“Laura Dawson is an expert on Canada-US trade… But now she is worried about the Americans again… Trade negotiations with both Korea and Central America failed when Canada’s would-be partners noticed the big guy from next door walk on to the dance floor. Laura thinks the fact that Europe is batting its eyelashes at the US spells trouble for Canada. And Nafta’s (North America Free Trade Agreement) chief negotiator agrees with her… So, in one respect, Canada’s attitude to free trade is exactly the same as it was in the 1980s… In the meantime, Ceta negotiators haven’t come to an agreement yet and so the talks will continue to wobble along…”

Is Canada losing the game of free trade agreements… signaling a downward trend? Biblically speaking, such a development IS prophesied.

Italy’s Future Within the EU

The EUobserver wrote on March 4:

“While seemingly a threat to EU stability and at the heart of possible contagion, Italy is historically used to navigating through uncertainty, short-lived governments and catastrophic economic forecasts… Undoubtedly, Italy’s elections have produced an uncertain political situation, but the world should be aware by now that uncertainty is the norm, not the exception for Italy.

“Italy’s case has time and again struck foreign observers. How is it possible that such a dysfunctional system, ineffective institutions, widespread corruption and generalised limited care for rules would allow the country to become the eighth economy worldwide? Italy has developed in a constant state of emergency, short-term planning and flexible interpretation of laws. However inexplicable, this is the way it works in the peninsula…

“Italy indeed is a difficult beast to understand – let alone tame – for the other European countries, but it is an anchor, not an iceberg, for the European integration process… Italy will deal with its domestic uncertainties…”

Indeed, a beast it is, and Italy will become one of the ten core European nations or groups of nations, comprising the final revival of the ancient Roman Empire.

Rome Founded in Worship of Jupiter, “King of the Gods”

The website of archaeology. tumblr. com wrote on February 28:

“The temple built by Romulus to celebrate the hand of Jupiter giving Roman troops their unstoppable force has been found at the foot of the Palatine Hill, Italian archaeologists say. The ruins of the shrine to Jupiter Stator (Jupiter the Stayer), believed to date to 750 BC, were found by a Rome University team led by Andrea Carandini. ‘We believe this is the temple that legend says Romulus erected to the king of the gods after the Romans held their ground against the furious Sabines fighting to get their women back after the famous Rape (abduction),’ Carandini said in the Archeologia Viva (Living Archaeology) journal.

“According to myth, Romulus founded Rome in 753 BC and the wifeless first generation of Roman men raided nearby Sabine tribes for their womenfolk, an event that has been illustrated in art down the centuries. Carandini added: ‘It is also noteworthy that the temple appears to be shoring up the Palatine, as if in defence’. Rome’s great and good including imperial families lived on the Palatine, overlooking the Forum. Long after its legendary institution by Romulus, the cult of Jupiter the Stayer fuelled Roman troops in battle, forging the irresistible military might that conquered most of the ancient known world. In the article in Archeologia Viva, Carandini’s team said they might also have discovered the ruins of the last Palatine house Julius Caesar lived in – the one he left on the Ides of March, 44BC, on his way to death in the Senate.”

Ancient Rome worshipped Jupiter, a pagan god of war. Modern Rome—the modern revival of the ancient Roman Empire—will also worship a pagan god, called in Scripture the “god of fortresses” (Daniel 11:38).

… And Now Taco Bell Guilty of Selling Horsemeat for Beef

The Associated Press reported on March 1:

“Taco Bell is the latest restaurant chain to acknowledge that its food has been adulterated with horse meat, yanking a variety of ground beef products from its three British outlets and issuing an apology to its patrons Friday. Meanwhile, in Iceland, a food official said his team had found a beef product which contained no meat at all… Taco Bell joins a long list of food providers — Nestle, Burger King, Tesco, Birds Eye, Findus and even Ikea — that have had to remove products amid horse meat revelations…

“Taco Bell stressed that its U.S. restaurants do not use meat from Europe and are not affected… the company said it would not reveal the information as the matter was being investigated by Britain’s Food Standards Agency. A spokesman could not immediately say how long the supplier had been providing food to Taco Bell, or how many customers were thought to have been affected…”

…and the revelations keep on coming… because nothing is hidden that will not be revealed…

False and Damaging Reports about the Vatican?

Newsmax and Reuters reported on February 23:

“The Vatican on Saturday accused the Italian media of spreading ‘false and damaging’ reports in what it condemned as a deplorable attempt to influence cardinals who will meet in a secret conclave next month to elect a new pope. Since Pope Benedict announced his resignation on Feb. 11, Italian newspapers have been full of rumors about conspiracies, secret reports and lobbies in the Vatican that they say pushed the pope to abdicate, including a rumor that involved a shadowy ‘gay lobby’ within the Vatican…

“The Italian reports have painted an unflattering picture of the Vatican’s central administration, known as the Curia, depicting it as being full of prelates more concerned with their careers than serving the Church or the pope. Some Church officials, speaking privately, have said foreign cardinals coming to Rome to choose the next pope have been alarmed over reports of corruption and might be inclined to elect someone not connected with the Curia, which is predominantly Italian.”

The German mass tabloid Bild has been running a series on previous horrible scandals in the Vatican and the terrible history of certain corrupt popes in the past.

… While the Lord Was Sleeping?

The Telegraph reported on February 27:

“A day before he becomes the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years, Benedict acknowledged that his papacy had been rocked by ‘rough seas’, in an oblique reference to paedophile priest sex scandals, controversy swirling around the Vatican bank and the theft of confidential papers by his butler…

“Wearing his traditional white vestments, he told the huge crowd: ‘There were moments of joy and light but also moments that were not easy … there were moments, as there were throughout the history of the Church, when the seas were rough and the wind blew against us and it seemed that the Lord was sleeping.’”

Benedict XVI Remains “Your Holiness” and Becomes “Emeritus Pope”

The Guardian reported on February 26:

“Pope Benedict XVI will be known as ‘emeritus pope’ in his retirement and will continue to wear a white cassock, the Vatican has announced, again fuelling concerns about potential conflicts arising from having both a reigning and a retired pope… The Vatican spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi, said Benedict himself had made the decision in consultation with others, settling on ‘Your Holiness Benedict XVI’ and either emeritus pope or emeritus Roman pontiff as his titles following his resignation this Thursday. Lombardi said he did not know why Benedict had decided to drop his other main title: bishop of Rome…

“Benedict’s decision to call himself emeritus pope and to keep wearing white is sure to fan concern voiced privately by some cardinals about the awkward reality of having two popes, both living within the Vatican walls. Adding to the concern is that Benedict’s trusted secretary Monsignor Georg Gaänswein will be serving both pontiffs – living with Benedict at the monastery inside the Vatican and keeping his day job as prefect of the new pope’s household… Benedict himself has made clear he is retiring to a lifetime of prayer and meditation ‘hidden from the world’. However, he will still be very present in the tiny Vatican city state, where his new home is right next door to the Vatican Radio and looks out over the dome of St Peter’s Basilica.”

Unconditional Obedience?

BBC News reported on February 28:

“Pope Benedict XVI has vowed ‘unconditional obedience and reverence’ to his eventual successor. He was speaking on his final day in office at the Vatican to his cardinals, one of whom will be elected next month to replace him…”

Others report that Benedict has vowed “unconditional reverence and obedience.” The difference could be great. To pledge “unconditional obedience” to any man would be a colossal mistake. And God is the only one to whom we owe “unconditional reverence.”

Archbishop of Edinburgh Resigns

The Atlantic Wire reported on February 25:

“The Archbishop of Edinburgh, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, has been forced to resign just days before the Pope Benedict XVI steps down, leaving Great Britain without a representative at the upcoming papal conclave. O’Brien, who heads the Catholic Church in Scotland and was the only British Cardinal eligible to vote for the new pope, has recently been accused of ‘inappropriate behavior’ with some of his priests. He denies all the charges, but the growing storm over the accusations had created an unwelcome distraction at a pivotal time for the [Church], and threatened to throw a cloud over the upcoming conclave. O’Brien announced that the Pope has accepted his resignation and he won’t be going to Rome next month for the vote…

“O’Brien has been a somewhat controversial figure in the majority Anglican nation, speaking out harshly against homosexuality, gay marriage, and abortion. However, he did recently state that the new pope should consider relaxing the rules on celibacy among the clergy. The Vatican said they would investigate the accusations, but it’s not known if they will drop the matter now that Pope Benedict XVI has accepted O’Brien’s resignation. He would have retired in a few weeks anyway, when he turns 75, but his participation in the selection of the next pope would have been the cap on a long and successful career…”

Britain’s influence in Europe—politically and now even religiously—is constantly declining.

German Catholic Church Approved Morning-After Pill in Rape Cases

Der Spiegel Online reported on February 22:

“In a significant reversal just one month after two Catholic hospitals refused to treat a victim of sexual assault, Germany’s bishops on Thursday approved the use of the ‘morning-after pill’ in rape cases… This time, it didn’t take the Catholic Church long to react. In mid-January, the church in Germany was blasted after two Catholic hospitals in Cologne refused treatment to a rape victim due to concerns about the provision of emergency contraception in the form of the ‘morning-after’ pill.  On Thursday, the German Bishops’ Conference completed an about-face on its approach to the treatment, saying that Catholic facilities in Germany were now free to prescribe such pills in rape cases, provided that the medication was used to prevent a pregnancy and not to abort an already fertilized egg.

“Robert Zollitsch, head of the Bishops’ Conference, announced the decision in Trier… It applies to all Catholic facilities in Germany and follows a similar change made unilaterally by Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne in the immediate wake of the scandal… Zollitsch, however, was careful to note that ‘medical or pharmaceutical methods that lead to the death of the embryo are still not permitted.’ In addition to the resolutions regarding the ‘morning-after’ pill, the Bishops’ Conference also announced its intention to increase the number of women working in church leadership positions…

“Left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung takes a broader look at what the change of course on the ‘morning-after’ pill says about the state of the Catholic Church. ‘… using the pill as a means of family planning remains forbidden as does ordination for women. That won’t be enough to confront the deep crisis facing the Catholic Church in Germany. Even conservative Catholics have lost faith in the church, and the church has distanced itself from many of the faithful. The bishops might see their faint-hearted reforms as a great step. For the public it looks at best like a purely cosmetic improvement that will do little to change the devastating image the church in Germany has developed in recent years.’”

HOWEVER, the negative image of the Catholic Church will drastically change—regardless of their teachings or practices—when a powerful miracle-working charismatic personage will become pope. The Bible warns of that individual, calling him the false prophet and the man of sin, of iniquity and lawlessness, who will appear with the power and under the directive of Satan himself (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 8-10).

Catholic Church Now Has Seat on Mount Zion

Israel National News reported on February 1:

“An historic agreement has been drafted between Israel and the Vatican. The Israeli authorities have granted the Pope an official seat in the room where the Last Supper is believed to have taken place, on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and where David and Solomon, Jewish kings of Judea, are considered by some researchers, to also be buried. It is the culmination of a long campaign by the Catholic Church to regain religious stewardship over the place where Jesus is supposed to have broken bread and drunk wine with his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion.

“This is an enormous issue pushed through without any public debate. According to our sources, the agreement, which is expected to be ratified next June, gives the Pope a ‘special authority’ over the second floor of the building… The agreement constitutes Israel’s capitulation to the Vatican’s efforts to ‘Christianize’ the holy site… The Catholic Church has long wanted control over part of the area on Mt. Zion so as to turn it into an international religious center for Catholics…

“In the long term, the gesture will increase tensions between Jews and the large assets of the Vatican. The Church has long been working to reduce Jewish rights in Jerusalem and in the Old City. Now, after the Muslim Waqf authority expelled the Christians from the Temple Mount and turned it into a mosque, it’s the turn of the Vatican to lay its hands on the Jewish Jerusalem. The Custody of the Holy Land, the Franciscan order who, with Vatican approval, is in charge of the holy sites, campaigns with the Arabs against Israel.

“As far back as May 2000, Yasser Arafat met Islamic and Christian clergymen at the presidential offices in Ramallah to back Palestinian Arab sovereignty over Jerusalem. Among the clergymen who attended the meeting [were] Diodoros I, patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, Torkom II, patriarch of the Armenian Orthodox Church, Catholic Patriarch Michel Sabbah and officials from the Custody of the Holy Land…

“The Vatican is also asking that Israel hand over to the Vatican’s control dozens of sites, 19 in Judea and Samaria and 28 in Jerusalem. The Catholic Church want to discuss some properties on [the] Mount of Olives, Har Hazeitim, which is the very history of the Jewish people. If you want to keep Jerusalem united, you have to keep Har Hazeitim. The Vatican knows that…

“Should the Vatican gain sovereignty over Mount of Zion, millions of Christian pilgrims will flock to the site, and this will threaten the Israeli presence in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter and Jewish access to the Western Wall. The Vatican wants the Jews out of the Old City and apparently Israel’s government is agreeing with them. Turning the Cenacle into an active church is also a way of desecrating the holiness of the site known as the Tomb of David…”

The Bible makes it very clear that in these end times, the Catholic Church, as “representative” of “orthodox Christianity,” will gain access to and control over the Temple Mount and the city of Jerusalem.

Italy in Turmoil — Again

The New York Times wrote on February 25:

“Italian voters delivered a rousing anti-austerity message and a strong rebuke to the existing political order in national elections on Monday that threatened to plunge the country into political paralysis after early results failed to produce a clear winner. Political experts said the situation would most likely lead to a shaky coalition government and once again expose Italy and the euro zone to turmoil if financial markets question the new government’s commitment to measures that have kept the budget deficit within a tolerable 3 percent of gross domestic product.

“In an election marked by voter anger and low turnout, the center-left Democratic Party appeared to be leading in the Lower House… and in the Senate… But the results were not a clear victory, because the center-right People of Liberty Party of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was leading in several populous regions that carry more Senate seats, raising the prospect of political gridlock.

“Even without a final result, the election was a victory for the Five Star Movement of the former comedian Beppe Grillo, which in its first-ever national elections appeared… to win 25 percent of the vote in the Lower House. Italians from both right and left — and the wealthier north and poorer south — were drawn to Mr. Grillo’s opposition of austerity measures and cries to oust the existing political order.  And it was a stinging defeat for the caretaker prime minister, Mario Monti, a newly minted politician whose lackluster civic movement appeared to win around 10 percent in both houses…

“When he came to power in November 2011, after Mr. Berlusconi stepped down amid intense market turmoil [and intense personal problems and accusations], Mr. Monti was praised for restoring international confidence in Italy. Although he won plaudits from European leaders and President Obama, Italians remember him for raising the retirement age and taxes. ‘Taxes, taxes and more taxes, that’s what voters remember the most from Monti,’ said Stefano Sacchi, a professor of political science at the University of Milan…”

The Washington Post added on February 25:

“Silvio Berlusconi, the three-time Italian prime minister, billionaire playboy and perpetual criminal defendant, who was all but counted out of Italian political life when a debt crisis forced his resignation in 2011, shocked the country Monday by shooting back into a position of influence. Even by the chaotic standards of Italian politics, the resurgence of Berlusconi’s People of Liberty party… along with the astonishingly strong showing of a naysaying protest party led by Beppe Grillo, a seething ex-comedian opposed to the euro, has cast the Italian government into confusion…”

Der Spiegel wrote on February 26:

“An angry comedian and ‘Bunga Bunga’ Berlusconi won enough votes to block the formation of an urgently needed reform-minded government in Rome. They attracted millions of disenchanted people who feel they’ve lost out from the euro. Italy has descended into chaos and the whole of Europe will feel it… Incompetent political leadership has been running down the country for years…

“Berlusconi’s promises are outlandish, but many are intent on believing them, like one believes in the miracle cures of Catholic saints… they’re all hoping for a miracle… Germany and some other northern nations have become richer thanks to the euro but other regions, especially in the south, have become poorer…”

Deutsche Welle added on February 26:

“Italian newspapers, more or less, came to the same conclusion on the morning after the country’s parliamentary election: ‘Italy is ungovernable.’”

After the end of World War II, Italy has had an extraordinary amount of shaky governments, so the present turmoil is no exception. Heavily taxing the people is never a popular or smart move. It is also condemned in the Bible. It led to a revolt of the Israelites under King Solomon’s son, and it apparently broke the neck of Mr. Monti and his politics, as well as Italy’s present “political order.” In such circumstances, controversial and unscrupulous men capitalize from unrest, as Benito Mussolini did prior to and during World War II. However, Italy will become one of the prophesied ten European core nations or groups of nations which will comprise the final revival of the ancient Roman Empire, but under German leadership.

More Europe—A “Defense” of the European Idea

Der Spiegel Online reported on February 22:

“German President Joachim Gauck made a passionate plea on Friday for greater European integration in the most important speech of his term in office thus far. He called on Britain to remain in the EU and said that Germany does not want to impose its will on the rest of its EU partners.

“When it comes to the European Union, many in Germany and around the 27-member club think first and foremost of mind-numbing bureaucracy in Brussels and the never-ending crisis facing the Continent’s common currency. Citizens feel powerless, helpless and oftentimes ignored. Such were the sentiments that German President Joachim Gauck acknowledged right at the beginning of his highly anticipated keynote address on Europe, delivered on Friday in Berlin. It was the first major speech of his 11-month-old presidency, and it comes at a time when euro-skepticism is widespread — most notably in Britain, but also in Germany and across the EU.

“Gauck, though, quickly moved on from the laundry list of complaints that are often directed at Brussels and from the fears felt by those countries in crisis. In the rest of the speech, he delivered an eloquent and passionate defense of the European idea. ‘We can travel from the Neman (River) to the Atlantic and from Finland to Sicily without at any point having to dig out a passport,’ he said. ‘We can use one and the same currency across much of Europe, and we buy Spanish shoes and Czech cars without paying extra customs charges…. In a very positive way, more Europe has become part of our everyday lives.’… First and foremost, he said, Europe needed to develop a common identity…

“Gauck is particularly well-liked in Germany. As a pastor in East Germany, he became a leading member of the New Forum, a citizens’ movement that ultimately played a key role in the GDR’s rapid switch from communism to democracy after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989…

“On Friday, Gauck seemed well aware of the attention that would be paid to his speech. ‘European identity is not about excluding those who are different,’ he said. ‘Rather, European identity grows out of our deepening cooperation and the conviction of those who say we want to be part of this community because we share common values. More Europe means making diversity more genuinely part of our lives and allowing it to unite us.’

“The German president noted the difficulties currently facing the EU and warned that further integration is needed in terms of financial and economic policy as well as foreign and defense issues… Toward the end of his speech, he made a direct appeal to the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union… ‘During the Second World War, your efforts helped to save our Europe — and it is also your Europe…. More Europe cannot mean a Europe without you… I want to assure all citizens of neighboring countries that I cannot imagine any of Germany’s policymakers seeking to impose a German diktat… It is my heartfelt conviction that, in Germany, more Europe does not mean a German Europe. For us, more Europe means a European Germany.’ Gauck received a standing ovation at the end of his speech…”

The Local ran an article on February 26, which had first been published by Die Zeit. Even though much of it is objectionable and misleading, the following excerpts are worth quoting:

“Since last Friday it has been clear that Germany’s ceremonial head of state is… a convinced European with the courage to make overhauling the European project a central theme of his presidency… Gauck developed what had been painfully absent in all of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s efforts to save the euro and push forward with reform of the European Union: a vision of how the crisis-hit bloc should move forward – as a community of common values, a European civil society…

“Gauck committed himself to a further ‘internal unification’ of the EU. His view of this deeper integration involves not only a common financial and economic policy, but also a unified foreign, security and defence policy…

“Europe will fail without a common narrative, without an idea of where the European journey should lead, whether as a loose confederation of states or a federal, tight union. That is Gauck’s central message – and his warning to politicians. What is needed, as he rather passionately said, is not doubters, but banner-wavers, not hesitators, but hard workers. There is no doubt about which group Gauck would like to belong to.”

There will be more Europe, and even though German politicians may not envision or desire it, it will be led by ten Eurozone core nations or groups of nations under German leadership, and Great Britain will not be a part of it.

Britain the Big Loser

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 28:

“In a bid to address widespread public outrage over greed in the financial sector, European officials have agreed to legislation capping bankers’ bonuses at a maximum of a year’s salary. Great Britain fought to prevent the measure, but failed to rally enough support… European Parliament and member states must still formally approve the compromise…

“Wednesday’s agreement to implement what will be the world’s strictest pay cap was hard-won after months of resistance from member states. Chief among them was Great Britain, which boasts Europe’s largest financial sector… The new rules will apply to all EU financial institutions and their foreign subsidiaries. It will also apply to the subsidiaries of American or Asian bank with branches in the EU…”

The New York Times added on February 28:

“The agreement… is a blow to Britain, which partly relies on generous remuneration packages to ensure that the City of London remains the biggest financial center in Europe and the overseas base for banks from around the globe.”

Europe is ganging up on Britain… as has been prophesied in the Bible.

Resistance IS Possible

Deutsche Welle reported on February 18 about the White Rose, a peaceful resistance group of students and other younger men and women in Germany who tried to educate the people by distributing leaflets informing the readers as to what was really going on in Germany:

“Franz J. Müller was part of the White Rose resistance group that called for active opposition against the Nazi regime. In an interview with DW he recalls what happened and why the White Rose is still significant…

“‘The Führer decided whether we were to live or to die. And then, all that pseudo-militaristic stuff. And we weren’t allowed to read what we wanted, either. Fortunately we were able to listen to Swiss radio broadcasts. That wasn’t exactly the voice of freedom, but at least they had information that was not available in Germany. And, of course, we then discussed all these things, too. We knew that if Germany didn’t lose the war, the Nazis would rule Europe. Under no circumstances did we want that! In our opinion Germany HAD to lose the war! Otherwise we wouldn’t see freedom again in our lifetime…

“‘The White Rose is seen as the prominent indication that resistance in Germany was possible, that one could do something…  Hans and Sophie [Scholl, leaders of the White Rose movement] didn’t want to be heroes. They valued friendship and freedom. The students should look for information as comprehensively as possible and have discussions with friends, in order not to be easily influenced by propaganda slogans, and to show civil courage when liberties are at stake…’”

This is still true for Christians today. We are told to come out of Babylon and not to share in her sins (Revelation 18:4). Rather, we are to cry aloud and spare not and show the people their transgressions and sins (Isaiah 58:1).

USA and Europe—No More Closeness

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 25:

“The new US secretary of state is visiting Berlin on Monday. He’s promising grand things — and he has a soft spot for Europe. But John Kerry has little room for maneuver. The Old World is of little interest to people in Washington, particularly President Obama… Kerry’s boss, President Barack Obama, is perhaps the first genuine ‘non-European’ in the White House…

“Obama used Berlin in 2008 as an election stage. He hasn’t made it back to the German capital since. And during his re-election campaign last year, the president didn’t shy away from scolding Europe. Obama’s support for a planned free-trade agreement between Washington and the European Union is so half-hearted that he only added a sentence about it to his recent State of the Union address at the very last minute — and even then, it only came after statements about the implementation of a trans-Pacific trade agreement.

“Above all, though, Obama is the ultimate pragmatist when it comes to diplomacy. Vali Nasr, the influential Washington politics professor, recently came to the damning conclusion in a new book that Obama’s foreign policy isn’t based on strategic considerations, but solely on public opinion in the United States. The desire of the American people is clear. They would rather rebuild their country’s economy than focus on the rest of the world. Right now America is looking inside rather than outside, and moving forward it wants to act in the background rather than march at the front, as evidenced by its positions on Mali and Syria…

“Kerry will be unable to do anything to change that. For one, America’s political system grants the secretary of state very little influence… The office holder can only wield power if he or she has the president’s ear. Ultimately, though, it is a small circle of confidants who influence Obama’s foreign policy, and not even [Hillary] Clinton, a political superstar, was able to crack it. ‘It is incredible how little support she got from the White House,’ Admiral Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently told the New York Times. ‘They want to control everything.’

“Besides, Kerry wasn’t even Obama’s first choice for the post. US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice was initially supposed to be secretary of state, but that fell through after the scandal surrounding the US diplomats killed in Libya made her untenable for the position. Secondly, from Obama’s perspective, there is no alternative to America’s new foreign-policy restraint.

“The United States no longer wants to be the ‘irreplaceable nation’ that Madeleine Albright once touted. And even if the country wanted that role again, it is unlikely that it would suddenly increase its focus and pay more attention to Europe, as former NATO commander Wesley Clark recently reminded German listeners during a speech. When the Americans actually do look to Europe, it will only be when working together actually pays dividends, as with the planned free-trade agreement… Someone now just has to explain that to Kerry.”

The Atlantic Wire added on February 26:

“Brand-new Secretary of State John Kerry gave a speech Tuesday proudly defending Americans’ ‘right to be stupid’ in front of the very people who are most likely to think Americans are stupid, Europeans. ‘People have sometimes wondered about why our Supreme Court allows one group or another to march in a parade even though it’s the most provocative thing in the world and they carry signs that are an insult to one group or another,’ Kerry told students in Berlin, according to Reuters, which notes the remark prompted laughter.

“‘The reason is, that’s freedom, freedom of speech. In America you have a right to be stupid — if you want to be.’ Kerry explained to the German students that the freedom from brains is a good thing. ‘Now, I think that’s a virtue. I think that’s something worth fighting for… The important thing is to have the tolerance to say, you know, you can have a different point of view.’”

The relationship between the USA and Europe is prophesied to consistently deteriorate, until open hostility will be the result. Even Germany’s former euphoria for the Obamas is fading. The left-liberal magazine, Der Stern, wrote that the Oscar celebrations on Sunday were ok, but what on earth was Michelle Obama doing, announcing a reward for a movie from the White House. It was felt that she was totally out-of-place. As the next article shows, America is recognizing Germany’s strong leadership role in Europe. But this might not be good news for the USA.

Kerry Praises Germany’s Leadership Role in Europe

The EUObserver wrote on February 27:

“On his first trip to Berlin as US foreign secretary John Kerry on Tuesday… praised Germany’s leadership in Europe and made a strong case for an EU-US free trade agreement… ‘What you’re doing now in Germany is so remarkable in terms of leading Europe and expressing a vision about where we can go together,’ Kerry told the young audience [of German students.] He repeated the compliment when meeting Merkel, thanking ‘Germany’s exemplary leadership.’…

“Kerry also underlined the importance of signing a free trade agreement between the US and the EU… The trade deal will help raise standards for products and food all across the world and break tariff barriers, he added. ‘One of the difficulties with the Asian marketplace has been that they’re engaged in capitalism and they’re pursuing pretty intensive market opportunities, but they’re not always playing by the same rules,’ Kerry said.”

As the previous section points out, President Obama may not attach the same importance to the trade agreement. But it will increase Europe’s wealth.

Chuck Hagel Sworn In… but John Brennan Still Under Review

BBC News reported on February 27:

“Shortly after his swearing-in as defence secretary, Chuck Hagel has said the US should engage with the world rather than dictate to it… Mr Hagel was confirmed by a 58-41 vote after Republicans stalled his nomination, questioning his past positions on Israel and Iran and his qualification for the job… Hagel has stirred up a sudden storm in a chai glass, with past suggestions that India has been using Afghanistan as a ‘second front’ against its old rival Pakistan… 

“Also on Wednesday, the Senate intelligence committee delayed a vote on White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan, whom Mr Obama has nominated as the next director of the CIA… some Democrats have expressed concern over the government’s use of unmanned drones to carry out ‘targeted killings’; and have suggested a vote on Mr Brennan should be delayed until the committee can review certain secret documents relating to the programme.”

And Republicans oppose the confirmation “unless the Obama administration turns over more Benghazi documentation.”

Breitbart added on February 26:

“An unprecedented 41 Senators voted against Hagel’s nomination. In the history of the Republic, no other Defense Secretary had been approved with more than 11 votes in opposition. Hagel now has the job title, but he doesn’t have the political authority necessary to be successful. He won confirmation, but he failed his nomination…

“Hagel was always an odd choice for the job… he admitted he didn’t know a lot about specific military programs, but would be able to learn quickly on the job…

“The Pentagon is famously bureaucratic. In addition to tensions between uniformed and civilian employees, there is competition between the different services… With 41 votes against his confirmation, Hagel has [no] authority. Because of this, Hagel is a failed nominee. He won the office, but the questions raised during his confirmation debate have neutered him within the Department. America has never had a Defense Secretary who didn’t enjoy broad bi-partisan support on The Hill. Hagel’s confirmation is historic, but for all the wrong reasons.”

Big Banks a Threat to Global Economy?

Bloomberg reported on February 20:

“…  what if we told you that, by our calculations, the largest U.S. banks aren’t really profitable at all? What if the billions of dollars they allegedly earn for their shareholders were almost entirely a gift from U.S. taxpayers? Granted, it’s a hard concept to swallow. It’s also crucial to understanding why the big banks present such a threat to the global economy… The larger they are, the more disastrous their failure would be and the more certain they can be of a government bailout in an emergency. The result is an implicit subsidy: The banks that are potentially the most dangerous can borrow at lower rates, because creditors perceive them as too big to fail.

“Lately, economists have tried to pin down exactly how much the subsidy lowers big banks’ borrowing costs… Multiplied by the total liabilities of the 10 largest U.S. banks by assets, it amounts to a taxpayer subsidy of $83 billion a year. To put the figure in perspective, it’s tantamount to the government giving the banks about 3 cents of every tax dollar collected.

“… the banks occupying the commanding heights of the U.S. financial industry — with almost $9 trillion in assets, more than half the size of the U.S. economy — would just about break even in the absence of corporate welfare. In large part, the profits they report are essentially transfers from taxpayers to their shareholders.

“Neither bank executives nor shareholders have much incentive to change the situation. On the contrary, the financial industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars every election cycle on campaign donations and lobbying, much of which is aimed at maintaining the subsidy… the superbanks could ultimately require bailouts that exceed the government’s resources. Picture a meltdown in which the Treasury is helpless to step in as it did in 2008 and 2009…”

Frightening and scary indeed! Add to this our entitlement problems, our broken healthcare system, our unparalleled public debts and the myriads of other man-made economic dangers, coupled with our paralyzed government, we should not have to think twice to be able to comprehend that our economy is in grave danger, just waiting to collapse.

The Sequester–Is America Committing Suicide?

Deutsche Welle reported on February 27:

“With a series of automatic spending cuts set to take effect on Friday, Democrats and Republicans are playing a game of political chicken, with neither party willing to compromise in the latest round of America’s 18-month-old fiscal drama…The $85 billion (65 billion euros) in across-the-board cuts for fiscal year 2013, called sequestration, would equally impact both defense and social spending.

“… with hopes of a deal fading, both sides of the political aisle are pointing fingers as Washington prepares to fall on its own sword… As the world watches America go through these self-manufactured crises, to what extent does this say to the rest of the world, these guys in Washington may run the world because they have the biggest army and they have the biggest economy, but their disfunctionality is becoming really dangerous to us all…”

Bob Woodward vs. Barack Obama

Reuters reported on February 27:

“Journalist Bob Woodward on Wednesday criticized Barack Obama’s handling of the automatic U.S. budget cuts set to take effect this week, calling the president’s decision to hold back on military deployments ‘madness.’ His comments continued what has become a running dispute between Woodward, perhaps the country’s best-known print journalist, and the Democratic White House over who is responsible for the across-the-board cuts scheduled to begin on Friday…

“Woodward… first gained fame in the 1970s from exposing the Watergate scandal during the administration of President Richard Nixon…

“On Wednesday he attacked Obama for drawing national security into the budget debate. ‘So we now have the president going out (saying) “Because of this piece of paper and this agreement, I can’t do what I need to do to protect the country.” That’s a kind of madness that I haven’t seen in a long time’ Woodward told MSNBC on Wednesday… Obama’s decision to drag the military into the budget fight likely would not have happened in previous administrations, Republican or Democratic, Woodward added…”

The Business Insider reported on February 27:

“Bob Woodward said this evening on CNN that a ‘very senior person’ at the White House warned him in an email that he would ‘regret doing this,’ the same day he has continued to slam President Barack Obama over the looming forced cuts known as the sequester. CNN host Wolf Blitzer said that the network invited a White House official to debate Woodward on-air, but the White House declined.”

The White House is becoming desperate. But renowned journalist Bob Woodward will not be an easy target. Subsequently, the White House was anxious to downplay the incident, and CNN jumped on the bandwagon, but the fact remains that a hot phone discussion had taken place between Woodward and a senior official at the White House, followed by an “apologetic” email by that senior person at the White House—apparently Gene Sperling, a top economic aide–containing the above-quoted statement which Woodward interpreted as a threat. It was also stated by Ari Fleischer, a former White House Press Secretary, during an interview with CNN that other journalists had allegedly received similar threats from current officials at the White House.

Will It Be Avoided?

The Washington Post wrote on February 27:

“President Obama will meet with congressional leaders Friday at the White House to discuss a way to avoid the fallout of deep spending cuts, amid intensifying warnings that they could affect the daily lives of Americans in a variety of ways. Obama’s meeting with the top four Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate is scheduled for the day the so-called ‘sequester’ cuts begin to take effect…

“Among the sequester’s possible impacts… are major flight delays and the closure of hundreds of air traffic control towers at smaller airports across the country…  the sequester would wreak havoc on air travel across the country… increased delays, higher costs and lags in air-traffic upgrades would be felt by travelers, pilots, airlines, business and the military… the greatest impact of the cuts may be felt during the spring break and summer travel seasons when airports are busiest…

“The White House meeting Friday will be the first between Obama and congressional leaders on the issue… [House Speaker John] Boehner spokesman Michael Steel confirmed the meeting while complaining that it was scheduled too late. ‘At this point, the Obama administration isn’t even pretending to try to stop the sequester,’ he said in a statement. While the sequester technically begins Friday, its effects will not be felt for several weeks, as they are implemented… Both sides are hoping to resolve the battle by late March…

“Obama has said the $85 billion in cuts in domestic and defense spending would have a devastating impact on the government and harm the economy. Republican leaders agree that an alternative to the sequester is necessary. But the two sides have clashed over whether new tax revenue should be part of the solution. Senate Democrats and Republicans are expected to advance dueling proposals Thursday to resolve the sequester, but neither is expected to get the votes necessary to pass…”

Iran—Just Says “No”

The Los Angeles Times wrote on February 26:

“Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been doubling down on his hard-line message that all but rules out the possibility of direct talks with the United States… Khamenei characterized the latest efforts by the Obama administration to negotiate directly with Iran as ‘a marketing ploy’ designed to convince Islamic countries around the world that if the Islamic Republic, with its long history of resistance and endurance, finally relented and negotiated, then what hope would they have standing up against the West. The real aim of Western powers, Khamenei declared, was not good-faith negotiations but forcing Iran’s ‘surrender.’…

“Simply put, normalization of relations between Iran and the United States would deprive Khamenei and the deeply invested cohort of radical ideologues around him of a powerful justification for their arbitrary rule. Continued enmity with the United States has time and again proved to be a convenient excuse for silencing the reformist opposition…

“The difficult dilemma facing the Obama administration, therefore, is not simply one concerning the rights or responsibilities of Iran under the terms of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty… The implementation of an unprecedented regime of economic and political sanctions against Iran has been a godsend to Khamenei, because it presents him with a tangible set of grievances against American ‘arrogance’ and ‘hypocrisy.’

“Khamenei ended his latest speech with a telling observation. ‘The sanctions,’ he said, ‘did not in fact put any distance between the people and the Islamic Republic. They merely proved the point that belief in Islam and resilient leadership can help solve any problems. Surrender to the enemies [of the Islamic Republic] will not solve anything.’”

And so, Iran proves to be another irremovable thorn in the flesh of America’s botched up foreign policy.

More Horsemeat in Europe

The website of npr.org reported on February 25:

“Bad news for those whose shopping trips at Ikea are partly motivated by the allure of the store’s famous meatballs: The giant Swedish furniture retailer on Monday said it had recalled a batch of frozen meatballs sent to more than a dozen European countries after tests detected traces of horse meat… Ikea says it has pulled frozen meatballs from the same batch that were sent to its stores in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, France, the U.K., Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Belgium, The Wall Street Journal reports.

“The product was also removed from Ikea stores in Sweden… Ikea is the latest retailer to be swept up in the ever-widening European horse meat scandal. Horse meat has been detected in a wide array of products, from frozen lasagnas to burger meat sold to Burger King’s U.K. operations, and in a meat pasta sauce sold by Wal-Mart’s U.K. supermarket chain, Asda.”

Horsemeat is not fit for human consumption. Rather, it is dangerous for human health, if you believe the Bible.

No Tuna in Tuna

The Atlantic wrote on February 22:

“Nonprofit ocean protection group Oceana took 1,215 samples of fish from across the United States and genetically tested them in order to bring us the following astonishing facts: 59% of the fish labeled ‘tuna’ sold at restaurants and grocery stores in the US is not tuna. Sushi restaurants were far more likely to mislabel their fish than grocery stores or other restaurants. In Chicago, Austin, New York, and Washington DC, every single sushi restaurant sampled sold mislabeled tuna.

“84% of fish samples labeled ‘white tuna’ were actually escolar, a fish that can cause prolonged, uncontrollable, oily anal leakage. The only fish more likely to be misrepresented than tuna was snapper, which was mislabeled 87% of the time, and was in actuality any of six different species. If you’ve ever wondered why the sushi in the display case is so affordable, given the dire state of the world’s tuna supply, well, now you know.”

Free-Range and Organic Chicken and their Eggs Neither Free-Range Nor Organic

The Local wrote on February 25:

“Prosecutors are investigating around 200 German egg farmers suspected of falsely labelling their produce as organic or free-range, in what has been described as fraud on a massive scale. It would seem that millions of eggs had been sold under false pretences over the last few years, exploiting the willingness of some customers to pay extra for produce from more humanely kept birds…

“Those under suspicion were largely conventional farms, but some organic farms were also affected. Chickens and their eggs can only be described as free-range if each animal has access to at least four square metres of space, while the description organic, or ‘bio’ in German, requires further specific conditions.”

Donkey and Pork Found in South African Meat Products

The Guardian wrote on February 26:

“South African food scientists say there is water buffalo, donkey and goat meat in mislabelled South African foods including beefburgers and sausages. A study published by three professors at Stellenbosch University found that 99 of 139 samples contained species not declared on the product label, with the highest incidence in sausages, burgers and deli meats. The study found soya and gluten were not labelled in 28% of products tested, undeclared pork in 37% and chicken in 23%.

“Co-author Professor Louwrens C Hoffman said: “This study confirms that the mislabelling of processed meats is commonplace in South Africa and not only violates food labelling regulations but also poses economic, religious, ethical and health impacts.’”

Big and small governmentally-run or -subsidized, as well as private companies and businesses constantly defraud the people and may contribute to or even be responsible for sicknesses and ultimately, for their physical destruction. But God will soon send back His Son Jesus Christ to “destroy those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18).