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Middle East

Two weeks after Iran’s disputed election, Reuters reported Thursday that the Iranian government had succeeded in quelling the mass protests through its heavy-handed measures, while infighting continued behind the scenes in the clerical establishment. An American Thinker article contends that these political differences were the reason defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi was on the presidential ballot to start with—not because he was a reformer. “[T]he main point of contention was whether it would be advantageous to dump Ahmadinejad in favor of a new more ‘moderate’-seeming face to buy more time to complete Iran’s nuclear weapons program,” the article stated (June 24). According to American Thinker, U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo directly affected the outcome of the Iranian election. “After President Obama’s self-abasing speech in Cairo and his clear signals that he had no problem with a nuclear Iran, any changes were seen to be simply unnecessary by the mullahs. Khamenei was able to swing the majority of the Supreme Council in his favor and get his man, Ahmadinejad, back in office.” Nevertheless, the article went on to say, “If Obama’s speech had been hard line and Mousavi—or more accurately Rafsanjani, his patron—had taken power, absolutely nothing of importance would have changed in Iran.” These so-called reformists and pragmatic conservatives would only put a more acceptable face on Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons, hatred of Israel, goals for regional domination, support for terrorism and so on. TheTrumpet.com has detailed in the past how the split among the conservatives, and between the conservatives and reformists, actually hides the fact that all the factions are unified in their goal for regional supremacy.

Al Qaeda’s third in command and leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, threatened last Sunday to use Pakistan’s nuclear weapons against the United States if the terrorist group gained access to them. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Yazid said, “By God’s will, the Americans will not seize the Muslims’ nuclear weapons and we pray that the Muslims will have these weapons and they will be used against the Americans.” It is known that al Qaeda and the Taliban are loosely cooperating and working together on large, high-profile operations, especially in Pakistan. “When the military in Pakistan … was making peace agreements with the Taliban,” said author Michael Griffin, “they were effectively making peace agreements with al Qaeda ….” This reinforces the danger posed by a nuclear Pakistan with a raging Islamist insurgency.

During a press briefing on Monday, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly confirmed that Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem are included in the U.S. demand that Israel halt “settlement” construction, including for natural growth, the Jerusalem Post reported. Israel has always maintained it has the right to build anywhere in Jerusalem. These latest statements further show that America has abandoned its ally Israel. For more, read Stephen Flurry’s June 12 column, “The End of the U.S.-Israeli Alliance.”

Europe

The British Conservative Party has formed a new group in the European Parliament based on “Eurorealism” called the “European Conservatives and Reformists Group.” With 55 members from eight countries, the new group, which announced its membership list on Monday, will be the fourth largest in the European Parliament. The group believes in the “sovereign integrity of the nation state, opposition to EU federalism and a renewed respect for true subsidiarity.” It also supports “[f]ree enterprise, free and fair trade and competition, minimal regulation, lower taxation, and small government,” “[f]reedom of the individual, more personal responsibility and greater democratic accountability,” and the “importance of the family as the bedrock of society.” The makeup of the European Union is about to significantly change. Bible prophecy indicates that a solid group of 10 nations or groups of nations will soon emerge from the current configuration of the EU. Watch Euroskeptic movements like this new one as political divisions within the EU lead to an inevitable fracturing of its present unwieldy structure into 10 separate entities, all yielding to one overriding, dominant power (Revelation 17:12-13).

French President Nicolas Sarkozy backed the banning of the burqa in France on Monday as he gave the first presidential address to parliament since Charles Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in the 19th century. “The issue of the burqa is not a religious issue. It is a question of freedom and of women’s dignity,” Sarkozy said, describing the garments a minority of Muslim women wear to cover their faces and bodies. “The burqa is not a religious sign. It is a sign of the subjugation, of the submission, of women.” A parliamentary commission will now investigate the legality of banning the burqa in France.

A new study released Thursday found that there are several hundred thousand more Muslims living in Germany than previously thought. The study by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees found that between 3.8 and 4.3 million Muslims live in the country. The study also found that many Muslims are better integrated into German life than previously thought. Nevertheless, a clash of cultures is coming. As the economy gets worse, and the EU becomes more catholicized, Europe will turn against its Muslim population. Watch for such things as France’s idea of banning the burqa to spread, as well as increased talk about the dangers of a large Muslim population.

Although the U.S. is heavily criticizing Israel for its stance in the peace process, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conditions for a Palestinian state. During Netanyahu’s trip to Europe this week, Berlusconi stated that it was “absolutely necessary” that any Palestinian state be unarmed, and that that state must recognize the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. As the U.S. becomes more critical of Israel, watch for Israel to turn to Europe for help instead.

The EU agreed this week to guarantee that Ireland’s military neutrality, taxation and abortion laws would not come under the authority of Brussels as part of the Lisbon Treaty. This paves the way for Ireland to have another referendum on the treaty. As these guarantees will have to be approved by all EU member states, they will probably be tagged on to the end of the Croatian accession treaty when it comes time for Croatia to join the EU. This would mean that any nation trying to veto these exemptions would also have to veto Croatia’s accession. The Irish already said no to the Lisbon Treaty once. Now they are being asked again. This just shows the undemocratic nature of the EU.

Asia

In what could be the largest-ever foreign takeover by a Chinese firm, state-owned oil-refining firm Sinopec bid $7.2 billion for the Swiss oil-exploration and -producing firm Addax on Thursday. The deal, which is yet to be approved by regulators, would give Sinopec access to Addax’s oil fields in Gabon, Nigeria and Iraqi Kurdistan. Addax was one of the first firms to win a drilling license in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq in 2005. China is now the world’s number-two oil importer after the U.S. The Chinese are resource-hungry, and are reaching around the world to get what they need. For information on where this is leading, see our October 2008 Trumpet article “What the China Miracle Means.”

The Kyrgyzstan Parliament approved an agreement with the U.S. over the strategically important Manas air base on Wednesday. This motion reverses the decision made in February to kick the Americans out. Russia gave Kyrgyzstan a $2 billion loan to encourage its cooperation with regard to the air base, so this decision has probably been approved by the Russians. They certainly will have plenty of time to stop it before it is fully implemented, should they wish to. Russia will probably use this base to extract concessions from the U.S. For more on this, see our February 9 article “Russia Kicks U.S. Out of Kyrgyzstan.”

Africa/Latin America

A North African branch of al Qaeda on Thursday claimed to have killed an American teacher in Mauritania just one day after a religious leader called for al Qaeda to “mobilize their soldiers.” The group said: “Two knights of the Islamic Maghreb succeeded Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. to kill the infidel American Christopher Leggett for his Christianizing activities.” Though there is no evidence that the group is powerful enough to carry out large scale attacks in the area, any Westerners in the area could conceivably be at risk.

The United States and Venezuela are restoring full diplomatic ties, and ambassadors are returning to both countries. It would be a mistake to think President Chavez is suddenly a fan of the United States though. Chavez has already lambasted President Obama more than once and is continuing to build relationships with Iran and China that will undermine U.S. interests in the region. For now, Venezuela still needs the U.S.; when that is no longer the case, expect President Chavez to close the door again.

Anglo-America

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted on Wednesday that he has been committing adultery with an Argentine woman for over a year. The husband and the father of four sons disappeared from the country over Father’s Day weekend to visit the woman, and security, law enforcement, and staff—including the lieutenant governor—did not know his whereabouts. Sanford was considered to be a stalwart conservative and potential candidate for the 2012 Republican nomination, as was Sen. John Ensign, who admitted last week to “cheating” on his wife with one of his married staffers. Ensign and Sanford are just the latest in a cascade of conservative and liberal elected officials who have admitted their sexual indiscretions: John Edwards, David Vitter, Larry Craig, Jim McGreevey and Eliot Spitzer. Expect such revelations to increase as Americans pretend character in a leader doesn’t matter.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc) stated Thursday that up to 1 million Americans are now carrying the new H1N1 swine flu. Nearly 28,000 U.S. cases of the illness, including more than 3,000 hospitalizations and 127 deaths, have been reported to the cdc. According to the center’s mathematical models, this means another 970,000 or so cases could exist.

Symptoms of America’s financial system maladies showed up in a Texas federal court Thursday. R. Allen Stanford, billionaire financier, was there accused of heading a gigantic Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of $7 billion and of using money from a secret Swiss bank account to pay bribes to his auditors. The hearing comes just days before infamous con man Bernard Madoff is to be sentenced for his notorious $177 billion investment sham.

In other financial news, American business executives are losing faith in their companies’ ability to increase in value and are selling shares in their companies at the quickest pace in two years. Insiders like corporate executives have access to the most information about how their companies are doing, and although they are not a conclusive leading indicator of stock market collapse, strong insider trading could certainly mean that bad news is just over the horizon.

At the same time, the number of Americans receiving welfare and food stamps has increased. Today, 19 percent more people received food stamps than did in March 2008. Welfare caseloads have increased in 23 of the 30 most populous states.

Eight hundred British Airways staff members have volunteered to work unpaid for the airline as it battles its own economic turbulence. Another 4,000 will go on unpaid leave, and 1,400 have volunteered to work part-time. •