Europe Wants to Keep Ukraine War Rolling

Good morning!

Europe wants to keep the Ukraine war rolling. That’s what the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft believes after seeing European amendments to Donald Trump’s 28-point peace plan.

The biggest would surely torpedo the deal. The Europeans want to chop out this promise: “Ukraine agrees to enshrine in its constitution that it will not join nato,” leaving the door ajar for Ukrainian membership in the trans-Atlantic alliance.

[BRIEF]

“This was the absolute core of the [Trump] proposal,” Eldar Mamedov writes of that promise, which allayed Russia’s fears. Keeping the possibility of nato expansion alive “appears a strategically cynical move, allowing European leaders to posture as defenders of Ukrainian sovereignty while ensuring the war continues. … Europe is scripting a scenario where Moscow refuses, the West demands more sanctions on Russia, more and better weapons for Ukraine, and the war escalates into a bloody next chapter, leading, down the road, to a potential nuclear standoff.”

This is essentially what Josué Michels argued on Monday: Germany in particular has too much interest in letting the bloodshed continue: as a pretext for militarization, as a playground for weapons testing, as a means of keeping Russia busy.

The posturing on all sides of this conundrum well illustrates why peace is not achievable in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4). Yet world peace is coming soon.

Why millionaires are fleeing Britain: Tax increases of £30 billion will hike Britain’s taxation rate to an all-time high of 38.3 percent of gdp in five years, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced today. Benefits will rise with inflation; pensions, faster than inflation. Meanwhile, tax thresholds will remain fixed—so working people will see their spending power shrink, while government dependents will be better off.

Other changes announced:

• A “mansion tax” on homes worth more than £2 million
• Higher tax rates on income from renting out property and returns on savings
• A new pay-per-mile road pricing scheme for electric and hybrid vehicles

Despite raising taxes by £70 billion across the last two budgets, Britain’s debt will also reach an all-time high, exceeding £3 trillion.

The budget has been a months-long farce, with the government leaking details then changing its mind. It caused turmoil in the stock market and ground the housing market to a halt. To cap it off, the Office for Budget Responsibility accidentally published the full budget early, before all the details had been announced in Parliament.

Margaret Thatcher famously said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” That’s Reeves’s problem. The wealthy were already leaving the UK at a record rate: More than 10,000 millionaires left last year; another 16,500 are expected to follow this year. The top 1 percent of earners in Britain pay 30 percent of the nation’s taxes.

In 1964, the Trumpet’s predecessor, the Plain Truth, wrote:

[T]he British public remains apathetic! … The new generation insists only on less work and more benefits. The welfare state, supported by each government in turn, encourages just such an attitude. … But as the cry grows louder for wage increases, unemployment pay, sick benefits, pensions, allowances, national assistance, grants and payments—the entire economy staggers, unable to stay afloat!

We’ve had decades of this approach. It’s unsustainable. The wheels are about to fall off Britain’s economy. The only solution is massive changes to our economy and lifestyle. And that is coming. Herbert W. Armstrong articulated the hope for Britain in his free book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

Is Sharaa’s Syria coddling terrorists?: Terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (pij) has been building its capabilities in Syria, Israeli public broadcaster kan reported yesterday. kan says pij has been muscling up its armed wing, the al-Quds Brigade, in and around Palestinian refugee camps near Damascus. pij reportedly favored Syria for this purpose because of U.S. pressure on Israel not to strike Syria, which the U.S. views as a potential ally. pij denies the allegations.

kan says the Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa is fully aware of this militarization, even to the point of appointing a presidential envoy to facilitate communication between Syria and pij.

pij aided Hamas’s invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. It helped Hamas hold Israelis hostage throughout the war. It has its own heavily developed arsenal and has started its own wars against Israel for years. Some analysts consider the group to be even more radical than Hamas.

The U.S. said a condition for normalizing relations with Syria is to expel Palestinian terror groups. Sharaa agreed. If kan’s reporting is accurate, Sharaa either feels powerless to enforce the agreement or is deliberately flouting it and hoping the rest of the world won’t notice. Either way, Syria is becoming a haven for Palestinian terrorists.

Psalm 83 prophesies that Syria and the Palestinians will join forces in a covert alliance “that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” (verse 4). Syria’s current government is an offshoot of al Qaeda, the terrorist group that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. It is this same group that President Donald Trump claims can be a partner for peace. This news on pij is another proof that Sharaa is not the friend of the West he claims to be.

IN OTHER NEWS

Hamas delivers body of hostage to Israel: Israel announced the Red Cross handed over the coffin of a hostage held in Gaza on Tuesday. Before this, three bodies of hostages (two Israelis and one Thai) were still held in Gaza. Israel has yet to comment on the body’s identity. Despite flare-ups, the Trump-negotiated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears to be holding. But once Hamas has handed over all hostage remains, negotiations for “phase two” of the ceasefire will continue. This phase entails Hamas laying down its weapons, something the terrorist group has refused. Hamas may be willing to hand over dead bodies to buy time, but it clings to its goal to destroy Israel.

Russian strike on Kyiv kills seven: Last night, Russia struck energy infrastructure in the capital city of Ukraine with 22 missiles and over 460 drones, killing seven and injuring 21. This attack is the latest example of Russia’s ruthlessness under Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly said he will consider peace deals yet has responded to extremely favorable offers from the U.S. and Europe with continued war and strikes on civilians. Kyivans waking up to death and destruction this morning is the latest reminder that men simply do not know the way to peace.

Vatican implements new constitution: Pope Leo XIV approved the publication of new regulations of the Roman Curia on Sunday. These implement the reform established by the new Apostolic Constitution introduced by Pope Francis on March 19, 2022. As the Trumpet wrote in October 2022, these reforms reveal “the most radical shakeup of the Curia in a generation.” By reestablishing the teaching that each diocese is led by a bishop who reports to the pope, this constitution reemphasizes that the Roman Curia does not lead the church but exists only to assist the pope and the bishops with certain tasks. The stated reason for this new constitution is to restructure all Curia activities under one simple mission: support the pope in his crusade to convert all nations to Roman Catholicism.

German rail transit plagued by sexual offenses: A Federal Police report published on Monday showed that sexual offenses on trains and at train stations rose by 19 percent to 2,262 last year. Most cases involved sexual harassment. Sexual assault, coercion, rape, and abuse of children and adolescents accounted for 5 percent of cases. Germans increasingly feel unsafe in their own country and blame the large influx of refugees. The German people understandably want change. Bible prophecy reveals that a strong German leader will soon exploit their fears.

Senator faces possible court-martial: Mark Kelly was one of six Democratic members of Congress to release a video urging military servicemen and intelligence agents to disobey the president and “refuse illegal orders.” (They and other critics of President Trump have declined to define any of his existing orders as illegal.) The Department of War announced on Monday that it is reviewing the federal law that forbids encouraging disloyalty and insubordination in the armed forces, and it might recall Kelly, a retired Navy captain, to active duty for a court-martial. The rule of law is disintegrating in America as political division becomes so bad that even senators and soldiers cannot be trusted to obey the law.