The Weekend Web
Americans along the Gulf Coast are evacuating their homes this weekend ahead of Hurricane Gustav’s arrival sometime tomorrow night. “This is the storm of the century,” the mayor of New Orleans said yesterday, after the storm left Cuba and briefly swirled into a Category 5 hurricane. It has since slowed to a Category 3, but the intensity will undoubtedly fluctuate over the next 24 hours.
Hurricane Katrina, remember, hit New Orleans three years ago as a Category 3, but caused massive flooding throughout the low-lying city because of the storm surge. According to the National Weather Service, Gustav is expected to produce 6 to 12 inches of rain and a storm surge about 12 to 16 feet above normal tide levels. Significant flooding is expected.
With Gustav set to make landfall at about the same time the Republican convention kicks off tomorrow night in St. Paul, Minnesota, there is talk of the political rally being turned into a disaster relief fundraiser or possibly even being postponed. President Bush and Vice President Cheney have already decided to skip the convention. Three years ago, many commentators characterized the Bush administration’s handling of Katrina as slow moving, disorganized and insensitive. So Republicans are no doubt frantically deliberating about the proper reaction to a possible disaster.
Beyond the political and domestic implications of the storm, Gustav will likely impact America’s position geopolitically. With its hands full in Russia and Iran, Stratfor wrote last week, “Having to turn back to take care of domestic needs is something that could seriously limit U.S. capabilities abroad.”
Sarah Palin: Not Feminist Enough?
The Weekly Standard features this interesting exposition of the reaction by the National Organization of Women to John McCain’s selection of a woman as his running mate. now’s self-stated purpose is to “take action to bring women into full participation in society—sharing equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities with men, while living free from discrimination.”
Is this feminist group excited about the choice? No—it calls it “a cynical effort to appeal to disappointed Hillary Clinton voters and get them to vote, ultimately, against their own self-interest.” “Sadly, she is a woman who opposes women’s rights, just like John McCain.”
Sarah Seltzer of the liberal Huffington Post agrees, saying, “A lot of feminists out there are appalled by the cynicism and condescension inherent in this choice.”
In this view, a woman dividing her attention between her family of seven and a campaign for the vice presidency apparently doesn’t represent “full participation … equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities with men” simply because she doesn’t share the orthodox feminist commitment to abortion and other leftist causes. Instead she is a pawn of cynics.
Meanwhile, “conservative” America is ecstatic over the choice of a tough, outspoken mother of a four-month-old, a woman who, McCain says, “knows when to stand up and doesn’t let anyone tell her to sit down,” who is excited to “shatter that glass ceiling once and for all!” This is the conservative position in America today.
Russia Courting the Dragon
With many Western nations still angry with Russia over its invasion of Georgia, Moscow is looking east—surprise, surprise!—for allies. According to the Washington Times, “Russia claimed Thursday it won support from China and Central Asian states in its standoff with the West over the Georgia conflict” at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperative Organization, a group established to counter nato’s influence. The Australian added,
The statement released by the six nations at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit voiced support for Russia’s “active role” in “assisting in peace and co-operation in the region” but also called for dialogue and respect for “territorial integrity.” … [Russian President Dimitry] Medvedev described the “united position” of the sco members as a “serious signal” to the West. “I am sure that the united position of the sco member states will have international resonance,” he said.
Chinese President Hu Jintao made these remarks after the meeting:
China-Russia strategic cooperative partnership maintains a good development impetus. Not long ago, both sides exchanged in-depth views on major issues related to China-Russia energy negotiating mechanism and energy cooperation, and conducted explorations on the operation of the China-Russia strategic security consultation mechanism and the third round of consultations. The smooth operation of the aforesaid two mechanisms and other mechanisms between the two countries will increase both sides’ political mutual trust, strengthen the two countries’ strategic cooperation, and play an important role in upgrading the level of China-Russia strategic cooperative partnership.
Medvedev said Russia hopes to “sign with the Chinese side the implementation outline for the Russia-China Good-Neighborly and Friendly Cooperative Treaty as soon as possible, and deepen cooperation in various fields.” He said that “Russia-China cooperation plays an important role in Central Asian regional development.”
Regarding Georgia, China’s government and state-run press has remained largely silent—even about Russia’s decision to formally recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations. According to Deutsche Welle, the Russians are interpreting China’s silence as a lack of criticism and more specifically as “tacit agreement.”
We wrote in Russia and China in Prophecy, “The deterioration of relations between the U.S. and both Beijing and Moscow has pushed the world over the threshold from the post-Cold-War period into this period of emerging new global alliances. … It is evident that both Russian and Chinese officials are eager to form a new alliance and counter perceived American dominance of world affairs. Russian diplomats want to create a multi-polar world, and they know that the most expedient way to do so is to cement relations with their closest neighbor to the south.”
Russia Threatens to Supply Iran
Besides strengthening its ties to the east, Russia is threatening to supply Iran with sophisticated weapons if the West doesn’t back off its support for Georgia and the Ukraine. Today’s Sunday Telegraph reports,
U.S. intelligence fears the Kremlin will supply the sophisticated S-300 system to Tehran if Washington pushes through Nato membership for its pro-Western neighbors Georgia and Ukraine.
The proposed deal is causing huge alarm in the US and Israel as the S-300 can track 100 targets at once and fire on planes up to 75 miles away. That would make it a “game-changer,” greatly improving Iranian defences against any air strike on its nuclear sites, according to Pentagon adviser Dan Goure. “This is a system that scares every Western air force,” he said. Senior US intelligence operatives believe that Russia is planning to use a stand-off over the S-300 to create a foreign policy showdown that would test the mettle of a new US president.
According to the report, officials in Iran and Israel both believe a deal is already in place. But since it would take about a year before it could become operational, Israeli leaders still believe there is time to block the measure.
British Financial Crisis Worst in 60 Years
Britain is facing its worst financial crisis in 60 years, according to Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling. The economic downturn will be more “profound and long-lasting” than most people feared, he warned.
This week has certainly been a bad one for the British economy. The pound suffered its worst month against the dollar since 1992, when the UK left the Exchange Rate Mechanism. When measured against its main trading partners, the British pound is at a 12-year low. “Few observers expect the pound to recover from its current slump so briskly,” reports Britain’s Financial Times.
That is not the worst news to come from Britain this week, however. House prices fell at their fastest pace since 1991 this August. Retail sales are at their lowest level in 25 years.
Economic growth in Britain has been driven primarily by consumer spending. And this spending has been driven by rising house prices. As in America, too many British homeowners believed the continued increase in property values would give them an endless fountain of wealth. With housing prices now plummeting, the fountain is now running dry.
Alistair Darling is right, the UK is in for a dramatic downturn, far worse than what most people feel. No system with so much debt can stand. Sometime in the near future it must all unravel. For more information, read “The Coming Storm.”
Cologne Approves Mosque’s Construction
In Germany, the city of Cologne has decided to allow construction of a massive mosque that will send minarets 177 feet into the skyline, despite protests from residents and Cologne’s Roman Catholic archbishop.
Approximately 120,000 Muslims live in Cologne, and the city’s mayor says, “It will take some time, but someday the mosque will be integrated into Cologne’s cultural heritage.” Those who oppose the project obviously disagree.
The construction of the mosque has served as a rallying cry against the “Islamification” of Germany for extreme-right political parties, Catholics and Jews. For more information on where the Islamification of Germany is headed, read “Cathedrals vs. Mosques: Tremors of a Coming Conflict” and “Islam Pushes, Europe Reacts” from the June/ July Trumpet.
Elsewhere on the Web
The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Thursday that it was closing 15 small military facilities in Germany. Bible prophecy tells us that the rising superpower in Europe will soon force all American military personnel to withdraw from the Continent. You can read more about this prophetic development here.
The New York Times published an interesting story on Friday about the flow of traffic on the Internet. “During the network’s first three decades, most Internet traffic flowed through the United States,” the Times reported. That era is now coming to an end. “Data is increasingly flowing around the United States, which may have intelligence—and conceivably military—consequences.” Read the whole thing.
And Finally …
For our readers in Utah and Oklahoma, if you are interested in buying gas for 87 cents a gallon, read this.