Get all the important news from April 9-15 by downloading the Trumpet Weekly.Click here to receive it by e-mail every week.
Highlights:
Putin’s private army
Is Vladimir Putin the prophesied ‘Prince of Rosh’?Last week, the Russian president announced the creation of the National Guard—a domestic paramilitary force of 400,000 soldiers that will be led by a former kgb agent and personal bodyguard for Putin, Victor Zolotov.“Putin is too paranoid about losing his own power, so, today the officers’ loyalty to him personally is the priority,” Moscow political scientist Dmitry Oreshkin told the Daily Beast.The National Guard will answer to Putin personally. It’s a “Praetorian Guard” of sorts that’s intended to seal Putin’s hold on power.Is Ukraine about to fall apart—again?
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk resigned from the endemically corrupt government in Kiev this week. But his resignation is not likely to end Ukraine’s corruption scandals or assuage discontent from the public.
Foreign Policy wrote on April 13: “The man at the center of Kiev’s problems, President Petro Poroshenko, still refuses to combat the endemic corruption that infuriates Ukrainians and strangles their economy. … Sooner or later, Poroshenko, or someone in his circle, will do something so unforgivable and outrageous that it’ll ignite a new wave of protests. …“Neither Ukraine nor Europe can afford for this to happen now. … Syria and Libya are straining Europe to the breaking point—imagine what a failed state of 45 million people in the middle of Europe will do.”Europe wants unified European army
France has confronted Germany on a combined European military force. At a joint meeting of French and German officials on April 7, French President François Hollande said, “Our two countries must agree to a budgetary effort on defense. And to act outside Europe. Let’s not rely on another power, even a friendly one [read the United States], to do away with terrorism.”America’s retreat from conflict zones is frightening Europe into action. And so have comments from Donald Trump about how dispensable nato is and about Europe not paying its “fair share.”For more on how a united, robust European army will develop, read Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s article “The Terrorist Attacks That United Europe.”America’s casino stock market
“Warren Buffett’s right-hand man gave a dark warning about American finance,” reported Business Insider on April 11. According to Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger, America has developed “a vast gambling culture, and people have made it respectable.”But could this mentality give rise to a modern-day Hitler?“What really enabled Hitler to rise was the Great Depression,” Munger said. “You put on top of the Weimar inflation the Great Depression, and people were just so demoralized that they were subject to being snookered by a guttersnipe like Adolf Hitler. So I think this stuff is deadly serious.”‘Sale’ of Red Sea islands angers Egyptians
During Saudi King Salman’s state visit to Egypt last weekend, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ceded control of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.Located at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, the uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanafir are important because they could virtually control access to Israel’s Red Sea Port of Eilat from the Indian Ocean.The Egyptians’ public display of outrage against the government is reminiscent of the start of the Arab Spring. Is another revolution coming to Egypt? And what are the implications of this deal for Israel?Other news:
Refugees on their way to Europe may reroute from the Balkans to Libya. European Union President Donald Tusk warned, “The numbers of would-be migrants in Libya are alarming.”Russian Su-24 attack planes flew close to America’s uss Donald Cook Navy destroyer in the Baltic Sea multiple times Monday and Tuesday. According to the U.S. commander, the Russian planes flew a simulated attack profile.During his visit to India last week, deputy administrator for the Chinese National Space Agency, Wu Yanhua, announced that China and India would begin collaborating on a proposed satellite constellation for brics nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).Get more details on these stories and more by subscribing to the Trumpet Weekly!
