The Week in Review
Middle East
Islamist terrorist activity in Pakistan is increasingly threatening supply lines that the U.S. and nato rely on for the war in Afghanistan. In three separate attacks on truck terminals in northwest Pakistan this week, about 300 vehicles and containers loaded with U.S. and nato supplies were destroyed or damaged. As such attacks increase, the U.S. has no good alternatives for getting the massive amount of supplies it needs into Afghanistan. At the same time, the U.S. has few resources to spare to fight the militants that are attacking its supply lines through Pakistan. The U.S. is failing to make headway against the Taliban in the hostile terrain of Afghanistan as it is. Should things spiral out of control in Pakistan, that battle could become a whole lot harder.
Meanwhile, pressure is mounting for India to take military action against Pakistani militants in response to the Mumbai attacks. Islamabad will have to either adequately demonstrate a forceful crackdown on Islamists within Pakistan or else risk India doing so instead. Such action, however, would likely play into the Islamists’ hands and make the United States’ fight against terrorism even more complicated. Stratfor reported December 3: “[W]ith a weak and fractured government, a military and intelligence establishment that has lost control, a spreading jihadist insurgency and an economy on the brink of bankruptcy, Pakistan is not in good shape. A military confrontation on its eastern border easily could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in Islamabad, thereby frustrating U.S. military operations in the region and creating an even more fertile environment for jihadist activities in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and the wider world.” The U.S., increasingly, is finding it has no good options—whether it be in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan. To learn why America’s war efforts are failing and how this was prophesied in the Bible, read “America Has Won Its Last War” in our Sample Issue of the Trumpet magazine.
It is feared that terrorists in the Gaza Strip have increased the range of their rockets to 19 miles, putting hundreds of thousands more Israelis at risk than in the past. Israel’s Home Front Command this week handed out some 30,000 leaflets to residents of Ashdod, Kiryat Malachi and other communities explaining how to deal with a missile attack. Thus far, rockets from Gaza have reached only as far north as Ashkelon, 10 miles north of the Gaza border. While taking precautions may be wise, the greater problem is that Israel lacks the will to take action to prevent terrorists firing rockets.
It has been confirmed that Pope Benedict xvi will visit Israel in the second week of May 2009. Preliminary details of the trip were worked out this week at a meeting between a papal delegation and Israeli Foreign Ministry representatives. Israeli President Shimon Peres made the invitation while on a trip to Rome earlier this year. Watch for the Vatican’s interest and involvement in the Holy Land to continue to grow.
Europe
Thousands of rioters rampaged through Athens this week. Angry youths attacked the Athens court house with petrol bombs. Broken glass and burnt wreckage littered the streets. Rioters picked up leftovers from earlier protests to reuse against the police. Beyond Athens, roughly half of the country’s workforce is on strike. One resident of Thessaloniki described the city as “war zone.” In one night, protesters wounded 12 police officers in 10 different major cities. Now riots are spreading to other European capitals. Rioters also took to the streets in Madrid and Copenhagen. Although Greece is now showing some signs of calm, the underlying economic causes of the crisis have not gone away. Expect more social unrest in Europe until a strong centralized government enforces order.
Ireland has said it will vote again on the Lisbon Treaty, and this time it will get the answer right. Eurocrats in Brussels want Europe to be more centralized and unified, but their attempt at passing a European constitution met “no” votes in France and the Netherlands. After changing the name of the constitution to the Lisbon Treaty, Eurocrats avoided referenda in almost all EU countries. The only country to hold a referendum, Ireland, voted no. But the undemocratic folks in Brussels are asking the Irish people to vote again. They’ve tweaked a few things to try to appeal to the Irish public, but it is essentially the same thing. The EU’s “democracy” is the kind that does not take no for an answer.
A major terrorist attack in Europe was thwarted this week on the same day that all 27 EU leaders met in Belgium. The target of the potential attack is unknown, but one of the terrorists left a martyrdom video saying farewell to his family in Pakistan. The man did not believe he would return from his mission. Events like these will cause Europeans to wake up to the terrorist threat within their borders. As Europe rallies to Catholicism, expect a backlash.
After many delays and a full year of backroom dealing, the EU has officially deployed the largest police mission ever launched under the European Security and Defense Policy. The force, called eulex, will contain over 2,000 policemen and justice workers. The deployment is intended to ensure that Kosovo continues to proceed to being a province of a German-dominated, European empire. As Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote, “Game, set and match to Germany. Germany: the peace-broker in Kosovo, the future administrator of Kosovo and of the whole Balkan Peninsula—the lead nation in the Eurocombine shortly to rule the European continent and extend its powerful reach globally to impact all nations.”
Asia
As acts of terrorism increase worldwide, the militaries of Asia are taking steps toward cooperation and interoperability.
The People’s Liberation Army of China sent nearly 130 troops to the Indian province of Karnataka to begin its second-ever round of joint military exercises with the Indian Army last Saturday. These exercises focused primarily on counterterrorism operations and were held to enhance mutual understanding and trust between the world’s largest armies.
Military leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (asean) also took a step toward increasing military cooperation during a meeting in the Philippines on Wednesday. During this meeting, it was agreed that asean member states need to share military information with each other in a bid to boost the fight against terrorism. The military leaders also discussed the possibility of holding joint military exercises at some point in the future.
Chinese President Hu Jintao called on Thursday for stronger military ties with Moscow. During talks with visiting Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Hu stated, “As the strategic partnership between China and Russia develops, the relationship between the two militaries has also continued to become more consolidated and stronger.” The two nations also announced that their third round of joint anti-terror military exercises will be held sometime next year.
The armies of Russia, China, India and Southeast Asia are training together in order to protect their region from terrorism and other outside threats. Plain Truth editor in chief Herbert W. Armstrong taught for years until his death in 1986 that biblical scriptures such as Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 9 reveal that a 200-million-man army would come out of Asia to fight against a coming United States of Europe. Watch as Asian military power and military cooperation continue to rise. For more information on this emerging trend, read Russia and China in Prophecy.
Latin America, Africa
The EU launched its anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia on December 8. It will send six warships and three aircraft to patrol the region. Germany’s cabinet also approved the deployment of one frigate and up to 1,400 soldiers to the area as part of the mission this week. Meanwhile, Iran unloaded an undisclosed number of troops, unmanned aerial vehicles and ballistic missiles in Eritrea, according to media reports December 9.
At the same time, in Latin America, Ecuador has said it plans to spend $580 million on Iranian military equipment, and the first Russian warship entered the Panama Canal since World War ii. These powers are very interested in the resources Latin America and Africa contain. For more information on the new phase of colonialism that is under way, read our December 3 article “The Treasure Tankers of Africa.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations is expecting 60,000 cases of cholera in Zimbabwe. South Africa has declared the Vhembe region, a region bordering Zimbabwe, a disaster area as hundreds of Zimbabweans flee the country. Zimbabwe, once a prosperous, free and fair country, has sunk to the depths of disease and poverty.
Anglo-America
Investors are now buying U.S. treasury bills with zero-percent interest, the Treasury Department said Tuesday, the first time this has happened since the government began selling the bills in 2001. “While everyday people can keep their cash in an interest-earning CD or savings account at the bank, institutional investors with hundreds of millions of dollars on their hands often use government debt” as a vehicle to stash their money, the Associated Press said, adding that in the Treasury market, the U.S. government is considered the most creditworthy of borrowers (December 9). When trading with each other, some investors bought T-bills that actually had a negative yield. “That’s how extreme the market anxiety is: Some are willing to give up a little of their money just to park it in a relatively safe place” (ibid.). “There’s a price for safety,” one analyst said. “Down slightly is the new up.”
The Pacific halibut fishing industry turned 120 years old in 2008. And it may not have too many years left. Alaskans are bracing for further reductions in catch limits as fishing stocks tumble. We “were pretty well staggered,” says Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association in Sitka. “We were braced for 10 to 15 percent reduction, [but] everyone will lose another 28 percent of their quota.” Besides the environmental concerns of overfishing and the health of the fish population, the quota reductions are also bad news for the Alaskan economy, where seafood composes half of all exports.
American airplane manufacturer Boeing announced Thursday that it will not deliver its new 787 Dreamliner until the first quarter of 2010, almost two years later than its original delivery date of May this year.
In political news, an ugly stain on the American democratic ideal came out of the shadows and into the spotlight on Tuesday when Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested at their homes. According to law, Blagojevich, as governor, is responsible for appointing someone to fill President-elect Obama’s now-empty seat in the U.S. Senate. Blagojevich was allegedly trying to sell it. According to fbi recordings of the governor, Blagojevich tried to trade his appointment for an ambassadorship, a Cabinet post, a lucrative nonprofit job or a profitable corporate position for his wife. Blagojevich’s lawyers denied the charges. This scandal involves more than just the current governor. It has resurrected awareness of Chicago’s well-established and long-corrupt “pay to play” political arena, where officeholders award appointments and contracts to the highest bidder. What few commentators are saying, however, is the larger truth: Since greed is an elemental part of human nature, gross political corruption is not confined to Chicago.