Democracy in Europe Suffers Another Blow, German Military Spending Spree, Boost in European Arms Imports
Democracy suffers another blow in Europe: When Romania annulled its November election result and then canceled the runoff in December, people were outraged. Romania’s Constitutional Court alleged that Russian meddling on social media had unfairly awarded the victory to far-right populist Călin Georgescu. The Trumpet’s Richard Palmer wrote about the antidemocratic turn in this EU nation at the time: It “looks like the EU’s ‘Wrong answer; try again’ style of democracy has reached national elections.” The government scheduled redo elections for May of this year.
The original excuse that Georgescu was Russia’s candidate has since been disproved. Nevertheless, the election authority just barred Georgescu from running again. Georgescu is anti-NATO and has praised Romania’s fascist regime in World War II. He has called Romanian politicians who helped murder Jews in the Holocaust “heroes.” He is an extremist, and there are causes of concern if he becomes Romania’s leader. But in the name of defending democracy, Romania’s authorities are being anti-democratic themselves. Fraser Myers at Spiked wrote:
[T]his anti-democratic coup in Romania speaks to a broader, worrying trend. Establishment national parties in Europe and the European Commission in Brussels have found plenty of ways to ride roughshod over the wishes of voters. … Romania’s turn against democracy is yet more proof that the real threat to democracy in Europe comes not from anti-establishment outsiders, but from the centrist, technocratic elites and their backers in Brussels.
Bible prophecy shows that the combination of Europeans shifting right and democratic norms being disregarded is going to produce a truly explosive outcome.
Will the Greens stop Germany’s military spending spree? Friedrich Merz’s plans to ease the debt brake for defense spending hit a speed bump on Monday, when the Greens party threatened to block it. They are not necessarily opposed to freeing up hundreds of billions for the military, but they want to force more investments to protect the climate. The Greens will probably get bought off and the plan proceed, but at what price? Hiking military spending through debt without making other budget cuts is a dangerous mix. It darkens the clouds over Germany.
Europe has been boosting arms for years: European NATO countries more than doubled their arms imports in the past five years—2020 to 2024—according to findings by SIPRI published Monday. Sixty percent of the weaponry was imported from the United States. Expect Europe’s militarization to continue with greater investments in its own industry.
Syria’s president says “don’t blame me” for government forces killing hundreds of Alawite civilians in northwest Syria. Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa said those responsible will be punished. “We affirm that we will hold accountable, firmly and without leniency, anyone who is involved in the bloodshed of civilians or harming our people,” he said in a video speech.
The Trumpet is watching how Germany will cement a hold on Syria. For the moment, Sharaa’s disavowal of this barbaric violence will give Europe the cover it needs to continue to work with the new government.
Dow drops nearly 900 points: Markets in the U.S. don’t like President Trump’s tariffs and unpredictable economic policy. Yesterday, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 2 percent of its value, the S&P 500 dropped about 2.7 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 4 percent. Investors are concerned about trade war. President Trump says his policies will demand a “transition” and declined to rule out the possibility of a recession.
Just like that—migrants have stopped crossing into U.S. illegally: February was the lowest month on record for apprehensions at the southern border. The flow of migrants trying to reach the U.S. through the Darién Gap plunged 99 percent last month compared to February 2024, Bloomberg reported. CBS visited the southern border and it could not have been more boring. The reporter said he “did not see a single migrant or asylum-seeker” over the course of four hours. Joe Biden said the only way to fix the border was to get congressional Republicans to pass his spending bills. False.
Elon Musk is being targeted for his efforts to downsize the federal government through DOGE. In Boston, someone set Tesla charging stations on fire. In Portland, someone fired shots into a Tesla showroom. At a dealership in France, cars were lit on fire. In Seattle, four cybertrucks were set ablaze at an industrial yard. And in addition to arson attacks at a few dealerships, someone is organizing peaceful protests at other Tesla dealers. Tesla stock dropped 15 percent yesterday. And Musk’s website X was down most of the morning yesterday because of cyberattacks.
Some people clearly don’t want the government to be cleaned up. But truly, how many Americans are truly upset over DOGE? Most of the people who are really mad are fired federal workers. Is someone organizing them?
Amazon is cozying up to the president by starting to stream his old reality TV show The Apprentice on Prime Video. In light of DOGE downsizing the federal workforce, I find it ironic that Donald Trump had a show for years most famous for him saying, “You’re fired.”
March 11: Today marks an important date for us. On this day in 1989, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry began work on his book Malachi’s Message. This book got him fired from the Worldwide Church of God nine months later, marking the beginning of our work today. As explained in Chapter 6 of his booklet The Epistle of James, the date March 11 was prophesied in the Bible.
