Week in Review: Russia on Move in Syria and Libya, Pressure on Germany, European Nuclear Superpower?, and More

Week in Review: Russia on Move in Syria and Libya, Pressure on Germany, European Nuclear Superpower?, and More

Mateusz Wlodarczyk/NurPhoto/Getty Images, Dmitry Serebryakov\TASS via Getty Images, ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images, Xinhua/Li Gang/Getty Images

Week in Review: Russia on Move in Syria and Libya, Pressure on Germany, European Nuclear Superpower?, and More

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

February 10, 2017

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Highlights:

What Russia wants in Libya

  • The Times of London wrote Wednesday that “Italy is turning to Russia to help combat the [Libyan] immigration crisis, despite warnings from European allies about Vladimir Putin’s motives.”
  • Russia’s involvement in Libya via eastern Libyan warlord, Khalifa Haftar, could spark a civil war in the country and trigger a refugee crisis reminiscent of Syria.
  • Hafter (and Russia) does not recognize the United Nations-backed government based in western Libya—the government European officials pledged to support with $200 million during a conference in Malta last weekend.
  • “[R]efugees are not Putin’s priority in Libya,” Leonid Bershidsky wrote for Bloomberg View. “He’s far more interested in restoring Russian influence there and establishing a military presence if he can.”

    • What Russia wants in Afghanistan

  • On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Russia will host a conference on the future of Afghanistan later this month.
  • The conference, which is expected to involve representatives from Russia, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Iran and India, is the latest instance of Russia hijacking the American-led operation in Afghanistan.
  • Geopolitical Futures assessed on January 18 that Russia’s involvement in Afghanistan provides Moscow with “the additional benefit of inserting itself in an area of interest for the U.S. in hopes that it can increase its leverage over Washington.”
  • “The Bible warns us to expect a great power rising from the east,” we wrote in our free booklet Russia and China in Prophecy. “It calls it ‘the kings of the east’ ….” Those “kings,” as our booklet explains, represent some of the very nations that are embedding themselves deeper into Afghanistan: Russia, China, Pakistan and India!

    • ‘An EU nuclear superpower’

  • Poland would welcome a European Union “nuclear superpower,” Jarosław Kaczyński, head of Poland’s ruling party, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview published February 7.
  • Kaczyński made his remarks to the German newspaper before a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. According to the Telegraph, “it is thought” that Kaczyński “may have pressed [Merkel] on the issue” of nuclear weapons during the meeting.
  • Kaczyński also called for the EU to “be prepared for huge expenditures” on its military.

    • Germany’s resurgent military

  • Germany is “usually portrayed as a civilian and economic power par excellence, but rather allergic to military issues,” wrote Claudia Major in an article for Carnegie Europe titled “Germany: The (Not So) Timid Leader.
  • In reality, Germany is “one of four allies to lead a battalion of nato’s Enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltic countries and Poland; [it] is the biggest European contributor to nato’s deterrence measures in Eastern Europe; and [it] has soldiers deployed in 12 operations from Mali to Iraq.”
  • “Almost silently, Germany has changed its defense policy over the last four years.”
  • For where this is leading, listen to this week’s Trumpet Hour program and read our articles “Germany’s Urgent and Dangerous Military Decision” and “New German Paper Signals Dramatic Military Shift.”

    • Russia and China’s meaner weapons of war

  • Russia and China are developing more advanced weapons of war, improving existing arms systems, and possibly practicing for preemptive strikes on American targets.
  • Several reports have emerged in recent days showing that the military capacity and resolve of these Asian giants is on the rise. Taken together, these developments paint a picture of a world primed for conflict.
  • Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry said in a January 2014 episode of the Key of David television program that the increasing military might and determination of Russia and China is far more threatening to global stability than most analysts realize.

    • Other news:

  • The United Kingdom’s House Speaker John Bercow said on Monday that United States President Donald Trump should not be allowed to address Britain’s Parliament because of his “sexism” and “racism.”
  • More than half of United States Navy aircraft cannot fly, mostly “because there isn’t enough money to fix them,” Defense News reported on Monday. That means that 1,700 combat planes and support aircraft are grounded.

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