Win-Win for Russia
Win-Win for Russia
Good morning!
Vladimir Putin is in a good spot right now. America is pushing hard for a peace agreement that heavily favors Russia, and European leaders are quibbling over its terms. If they hash out a deal he truly can’t refuse, he probably won’t: It would give him new Russian territory, hobble Ukraine’s military, provide other perks, and enable him to regroup.
If they don’t, Trump will probably lose interest in Eastern Europe, and Putin can just proceed about his business of making life a nightmare for Ukrainians.
On Friday, Putin told Russian security officials that Trump’s plan might lead to something, but if not, Russian forces can continue punishing Ukraine. They will take more Ukrainian cities, “perhaps not as quickly as we would prefer, but inevitably.” The New York Times reports that Putin “said such a path ‘also suits us,’ because Moscow was content to pursue its interests ‘through armed confrontation.’ His message: His authoritarian system can outlast the resources and will of its adversaries.”
Beyond that, some analysts say Putin would be vulnerable politically if he ended the war without a plausible victory. After all his nation has endured for three years, and all his assurances that his people will prevail with a bit more perseverance, Putin has no interest in admitting anything that might look like defeat.
It’s hard to make peace with a power so uninterested in peace. And as Josué Michels wrote yesterday, Germany has its own interests in prolonging this war.
Judge rescues Trump foes: Political lawfare continues to rage in the United States. On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Cameron McGowan Currie tossed out the Trump administration’s cases against former fbi Director James Comey and current New York Attorney General Letitia James.
- Comey was indicted in September on allegations that he lied to Congress in his 2020 testimony about his involvement in the Russian collusion hoax.
- James was indicted a couple of weeks later on allegations that she lied to her lender on her mortgage application.
Judge Currie’s dismissal of these indictments had nothing to do with innocence or guilt. Rather, she threw out the cases on the grounds that the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, was not properly appointed as U.S. attorney.
- President Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, appointed Halligan as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert refused to pursue indictments against Comey and James and resigned.
- Judge Currie’s rationale was that Bondi violated Section 546 of the U.S. Code on filling federal prosecutor vacancies in order to find an attorney who would go after Comey.
- The U.S. Constitution establishes that “[a]ll executive power is vested in the executive branch.” Legal analysts like former Florida assistant state attorney general Keith Gross say that Section 546 might violate this provision and might be struck down as unconstitutional if the case is appealed to the Supreme Court.
While we wait for a potential Supreme Court decision, however, federal judges appointed by Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are doing their best to ensure that no Democrats face consequences for their role in the Russia collusion hoax.
As Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote last year in “Injustice and Lawlessness: A Prophet’s Warning,” “Justice in America today is under attack. The Department of Justice, courts of law and lawmakers are in the news daily for rank corruption, favoritism, cronyism, targeting and twisting of the law for their own benefit and to the unjust destruction of their opponents.”
America (sort of) threatens Muslim Brotherhood: The U.S. is taking steps to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization after an executive order from President Donald Trump yesterday. It paves the way for a crackdown on Hamas, a recognized terrorist group that is affiliated with the Brotherhood and is infiltrating the U.S. Yet only “certain chapters” will be targeted.
Melanie Phillips calls the Muslim Brotherhood “a real and present danger to Western civilization”:
A jihadi outfit with thousands of affiliates in America, Britain and the West, its aim is to Islamize Western nations, tailoring its tactics to encompass terrorist violence, infiltration of the democratic process, and having lots of children to create Muslim majorities. It has achieved critical mass in its efforts because of the almost total absence of any pushback by Western governments.
However, U.S. law may require President Trump to prove in court that each chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood has been involved in terrorism. While it supports terrorism and the overthrow of the West, not every chapter has directly committed terrorist acts. This is why the designation is far more limited and, therefore, far less effective.
Beyond that, the Muslim Brotherhood has strong ties to Turkey and Qatar, which President Trump has been reluctant to confront.
Phillips warns that the threat the Muslim Brotherhood poses goes far beyond specific terrorist acts:
The threat is civilizational. It aims to subvert Western democratic processes—call that political jihad—and to produce Muslim majorities by mass migration and having lots of children—call that demographic jihad. It is a subversive threat on a par with, say, the Chinese Communist Party and should be treated as such (or how the ccp ideally should be treated) by declaring it and its affiliates personae non gratae and shutting them down.
The U.S. has been too weak-willed to confront this threat. That problem did not begin with this administration—it goes back decades.
Gerald Flurry warns in his booklet The King of the South:
In Leviticus 26:19, God warned that if our peoples descended into abject sin, He would break the pride of our power. And so He has! … Our nations fear to use their power—because of our sins. The “pride of [our] power” has been broken! We have seen a collapse of will and power in America. Our shameful surrender in Afghanistan was terrible proof. And though U.S. President Donald Trump has tried to reverse the damage to some degree, there is still a bigger underlying spiritual curse that weakens America on the global stage. What a terrible end to a superpower!
The terrorist nations see America’s shameful division and weakness and are encouraged to support terrorism even more. Iran and terrorists are preying on our weakness. State-sponsored terrorism exists because of America’s cowardice.
Read more about what’s ahead for the radical Islamist bloc in The King of the South.
IN OTHER NEWS
NATO warns Russia with “Freezing Winds” military drills: Large-scale naval exercises began yesterday in the Baltic Sea, involving 5,000 personnel, 20 ships, and aircraft from 11 nations: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and the United States. The exercises run through December 4 and focus on securing critical infrastructure, clearing mines, and defending against amphibious landings. Finland, which joined nato in 2023, largely organized the drills. During World War ii, it sided with Germany against Russia, and there are indications that it would choose the same side in a future conflict, for which Germany is already preparing.
13,000 Chinese firms doing business in Russia: More than 13,000 Chinese companies are operating in Russia, Boris Titov, a representative of the Russian government, said at the sixth Russian-Chinese Business Forum in China on Tuesday. “Russia and China are getting ready to launch more than 80 joint projects worth some $200 billion,” he said. “New opportunities for business are expanding.” About 95 percent of transactions between Russian and Chinese businesses use either Russian rubles or Chinese yuan, bypassing not only Western sanctions but also the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency. Bible prophecy shows this growing alliance will lead to the formation of an Asian economic and military superpower.
Japan plans to deploy antiaircraft missiles near Taiwan: The nation’s defense minister announced the plan on Sunday during a visit to a Japanese island about 70 miles from Taiwan. This is the latest of several moves by Japan to deter the Chinese regime from invading Taiwan. But Bible prophecy shows that such divisions between Asian nations will be bridged, either by diplomacy or by force, as “the kings of the east” build the largest military alliance in human history.
Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s military chief of staff: Israel Defense Forces air strikes near Beirut killed Haytham Ali Tabatabai on Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tabatabai was responsible for rebuilding the terrorist group after Israel decimated it last year. “My policy is clear,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement. “Under my leadership, Israel will not allow Hezbollah to build its power anew and again constitute a threat.” Hezbollah remains powerful in many parts of Lebanon, but the Bible says that another power is about to move in: Europe.
