Week in Review: U.S. Ambushes Israel in UN, Xi’s Power Grab, Iran Presses Advantage, and Much More

Week in Review: U.S. Ambushes Israel in UN, Xi’s Power Grab, Iran Presses Advantage, and Much More

Albin Lohr-Jones/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images, Sebastián Vivallo Oñate/Agencia Makro/LatinContent/Getty Images, NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images, AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

Week in Review: U.S. Ambushes Israel in UN, Xi’s Power Grab, Iran Presses Advantage, and Much More

All you need to know about everything in the news this week

December 31, 2016

Get all the important news from December 24–30 by downloading the Trumpet Weekly.Click here to receive it by e-mail every week.

Highlights:

United against Israel

  • The United States joined the United Nations in condemning Israel by allowing the passage of Security Council Resolution 2334.
  • The resolution condemns Israeli homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal.
  • Even though the U.S. refrained from vetoing the resolution, “the Obama administration initiated it, stood behind it, coordinated on the wording, and demanded that it be passed,” according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
  • It was a “shameful ambush,” he said.

    • Xi’s power play in China

  • Chinese President Xi Jinping could be seeking to change the Communist Party rules to extend and expand his grip on power.
  • “Xi [Jinping] has taken personal charge of the economy, the armed forces and most other levers of power, overturning a collective-leadership system introduced to protect against one-man rule after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976,” wrote the Wall Street Journal, December 26.
  • Elites in the Chinese leadership fear that Xi wants to remain in power after his second term expires in 2022.

    • From Mosul to Raqqa?

  • The battle for Mosul is now into its 10th week, and Iraqi security forces, which now include Iranian-sponsored Popular Mobilization Units, have since retaken 25 percent of the city.
  • As they continue their advance, “will the militias stop at the border—or cross the line and risk new sectarian strife?” asked the Wall Street Journal.
  • Iraq is clearly in the bag for Iran. Will Syria soon fall to Iran as well? How will the Syrian crisis end?

    • Refugees ‘overcrowding’ Europe

  • Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, admitted on Austrian television on December 23 that he was rethinking his stance on the migrant crisis.
  • An “unbelievable number” of migrants are causing a “feeling of overcrowding” in Austrian society, he said during a Christmas discussion program. “We cannot accommodate all refugees.”
  • Previously, Schönborn has warned about “a third attempt at an Islamic conquest of Europe” if Europeans don’t return to their “Christian roots.”
  • The Trumpet has also warned about that “third attempt.” Read “The Last Crusade” for more detail.

    • Other news:

  • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a historic visit to Pearl Harbor on December 27. He expressed his “sincere and everlasting condolences” for the 2,403 Americans and the 64 Japanese killed there during the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack. Abe did not apologize.
  • New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is leading a coalition of mayors—including the mayors of Atlanta, Los Angeles and Chicago—to press the Obama administration for last-minute executive actions that favor illegal immigrants.

    • Get the details on these stories and more by subscribing to the Trumpet Weekly!

    Sidebar
    𝕏