Europe
Ireland will vote again on the Lisbon Treaty this year. The only country to hold a referendum on the refashioned European Constitution, it voted no last June. But after tweaking a few things, Brussels is insisting that the Irish vote again. The European Union’s “democracy” is the kind that does not take no for an answer.
On Dec. 17, 2008, the European Parliament voted to make it illegal for employees to work for more than 48 hours a week—without any exceptions. If the vote stands when EU chiefs meet to make a final decision, countries will no longer be able to opt out of the Working Time Directive. The fact that Brussels can make such a law—against the wishes of member states—shows just how powerful the EU bureaucracy has grown.
After many delays and a year of backroom dealing, on December 9 the EU officially deployed the largest police mission ever launched under the European Security and Defense Policy to Kosovo. The eulex force, which is made up of over 2,000 policemen and justice workers, is helping Germany cement its hold on the Balkans. For more than a decade, Gerald Flurry has been warning that Germany would be “the future administrator of Kosovo and of the whole Balkan Peninsula” (The Rising Beast; request your free copy).
Union between the Catholic and Orthodox churches is the only solution to the world’s economic, political and social crises, according to Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I and Cardinal Walter Kasper. Speaking on November 30, Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, stated that unity between the two churches “is not an option, it is a duty.” On December 15, Pope Benedict xvi praised the steps toward unity that the Orthodox and Catholic churches have taken. The Catholic Church is rallying its daughter churches to its banner, as prophesied in the Bible.
Europe’s relations with Russia continue to improve. The European Commission wants to draw former Soviet satellites closer to Europe, according to a draft communiqué seen by the EUobserver in November. The document also stated: “The conflict in Georgia in August 2008 and its broader repercussions have resulted in increased awareness of the vulnerability of Eastern partners.” Historically, when Germany—the real leader of the EU—has become aware of how vulnerable Eastern nations are, its reaction hasn’t been to provide aid and support. In reality, Europe is looking to absorb as many of the Eastern states as it can without harming its relationship with Russia.
The spirit of compromise shown in the communiqué is also evident in Europe’s other dealings with Russia. After a two-day meeting of foreign ministers at the beginning of December, Europe led NATO to compromise with Russia. The U.S. and the UK wanted the former Soviet satellite states of Georgia and Ukraine to receive formal roadmaps toward membership in NATO, something that would infuriate Moscow. Instead, Germany and Old Europe won out. Georgia and Ukraine were given a fuzzy “maybe,” and Russia was appeased. NATO agreed to a “conditional and graduated re-engagement” with Russia. Over the past year, an obvious difference has appeared between the U.S. and Germany regarding Russia. The U.S. wants to oppose Russia, but Germany wants to come to some kind of an arrangement, as it did before World War ii.
Middle East
Hamas declared an end to its six-month “truce” with Israel on Dec. 18, 2008, a day before the truce was scheduled to expire. Since early November, when the Israeli military destroyed a tunnel being dug from Gaza into Israel, Gaza terrorists have escalated their rocket attacks on southern Israel. Hamas has said it will consider renewing the lapsed truce—but in truth, truce or no, Hamas will continue to strengthen its terrorist capabilities and strike at Israel while seeking international sympathy and Israeli concessions.
The danger on Israel’s northern border also appears to be growing. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset November 24 that Hezbollah is now three times stronger than it was during the Lebanon War in summer 2006. He said the terrorist group has 42,000 missiles, and that they could reach towns and cities over 125 miles from Israel’s border with Lebanon.
Meanwhile, terrorist-sponsoring Tehran has indicated it has expanded its nuclear work, claiming it is now running 5,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges.
On December 8, hundreds of Iranian students gathered in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Tehran to protest Egypt’s alleged cooperation with Israel against the Gaza Strip. Students held up signs glorifying the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat as well as signs against Egypt’s current president, Hosni Mubarak, calling for his death. In addition, in early December, leading Iranian-government newspapers called for Egyptians to rise up against their government and follow the example of Khaled Islambouli—the man who assassinated President Sadat. If President Mubarak does pass from the scene, Egypt’s radical Muslim Brotherhood would likely become the dominant political force in Egypt.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told members of the European Parliament December 2 that Israel wants a stronger relationship with the EU. On the same trip, Livni attended a nato ministerial meeting, where the nato council ratified an Individual Cooperation Program agreement with Israel. While Israel appears to be getting closer to Europe, European leaders continue to criticize Israel. In early December the EU circulated an internal document outlining its plans for advancing the peace process. Among other things, it called for the opening of Orient House, a building that once served as the Palestinian Authority’s de facto Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, and for Israel to freeze all settlement activity and to transfer large parts of the West Bank to the control of Palestinian security forces. Bible prophecy tells us that Israel’s appeals for closer ties with a seemingly pro-Palestinian EU are preparing the ground for the Jews to seek military help from Europe at a time when the U.S. will no longer be there for them.
Meanwhile, Islamist terrorist activity in Pakistan is increasingly threatening the 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 in early December, about 300 vehicles and containers loaded with U.S. and nato supplies were destroyed or damaged. The U.S. has few resources to spare to fight the terrorists endangering its supply lines through Pakistan, which are used to transport at least 70 percent of the supplies for coalition forces fighting in Afghanistan. The U.S. is already failing to make headway against the Taliban in the hostile terrain of Afghanistan. Should things spiral further out of control in Pakistan, that battle could become even harder.
Asia
India was brought to a gut-wrenching standstill Nov. 26, 2008, as Islamic terrorists armed with guns, grenades and explosives went on a 59-hour rampage through Mumbai’s bustling financial district. While it is still unknown exactly who was responsible for this complex attack, which killed nearly 200 people, Indian security agencies believe the attack was orchestrated by the Pakistani-based Islamist militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba.
As a result, relations between India and Pakistan have soured. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh vowed to take whatever measures necessary to punish those responsible for the attacks and said India would not tolerate neighbors that provide safe haven for hostile militants. Pakistan fired several dozen individuals from its intelligence service, but it refused to hand over any suspects to New Delhi. As a result, there is significant pressure on India to take military action against Pakistan. Such action, however, would likely play into the Islamists’ hands—and make the U.S.’s fight against terrorism even more complicated.
The rising antagonism between India and Pakistan could push Pakistan further into the arms of the Iranian mullahs and India further toward its East Asian allies.
The militaries of Asia are already broadening their cooperation and interoperability as a reaction to increasing acts of terrorism worldwide. 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 on December 6. 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 worked toward increasing military cooperation during a meeting in the Philippines on December 10. There, military leaders agreed to share military information with each other in the fight against terrorism, and discussed the possibility of holding joint military exercises in the future.
On December 7, during talks with visiting Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Chinese President Hu Jintao called for stronger military ties with Moscow. The two nations also announced that their third round of joint anti-terror military exercises will be held sometime this year. 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 emerge from Asia to fight a coming United States of Europe. Watch as Asian military power and cooperation continue to rise.
The rise of the Asian nations has far-reaching consequences for the U.S. As Chinese technology improves, Beijing has stepped up computer espionage against the U.S. in order to gain an advantage in any future conflict. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission released a report on November 20 stating that China has hacked into American databases containing diplomatic, military and corporate secrets. Such security breaches have the potential to bring the American military to its knees.
Latin America, Africa
At the end of November, the Mexican government reported that almost half the police officers examined to determine their competency and honesty failed the test. In Baja California, which abuts the U.S., nearly 90 percent received a “not recommended” rating. Nevertheless, the Mexican government runs the risk of providing the drug cartels with new blood possessing a higher level of training if they were to dismiss the bad police officers.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is again pushing to scrap the presidential-term limits that could eventually push him from office. He last attempted to remove the limits in December 2007. The potential for violence, even armed violence, in the lead-up to the possible March vote is high.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev paid Latin America a visit in November, touring Peru, Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba. Commenting on Moscow’s foreign-policy motives, Stratfor wrote: “Russia’s true aim is to secure a compromise on key strategic issues, such as U.S. plans for installing ballistic missile defense systems in Europe and Russia’s dominance of its near abroad. One of the tools Moscow has is the intrusion of Russian influence in the U.S. near abroad—Latin America. A tried-and-true method of igniting tension between the two rivals, this strategy was pursued by the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was later revived by former Russian President (now Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin” (Nov. 17, 2008). During the visit, Russian warships were deployed in the region to mark the occasion. In December, the Russian Navy sailed a warship through the Panama Canal for the first time since World War ii. Russia is flexing its muscle in the region right under the U.S.’s nose.
The EU launched its anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia on December 8. It has sent six warships and three aircraft to patrol the region. Germany’s cabinet approved the deployment of one frigate and up to 1,400 soldiers as part of the mission (article, page 24). Meanwhile, Iran unloaded an undisclosed number of troops, unmanned aerial vehicles and ballistic missiles in Eritrea, according to media reports on December 9.
Crises continue to overtake Zimbabwe, including a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 1,100 people since last August. Meanwhile, no progress has been reported in resolving the political standoff, and inflation was at 231 million percent last July but is now believed to be much higher, necessitating the release of the world’s first $10 billion bills. In response to calls for him to step down, President Robert Mugabe told his party at its annual conference, “I will never, never, never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine.” Opposition leader Morgan Tsvingarai again threatened to quit in the wake of the abductions of 42 members of his party. Zimbabwe, once a prosperous, free and fair country, has sunk to the depths of disease and poverty due to wretched leadership.
Anglo-America
As Americans asked themselves in late November, What is going on—and whatever happened to that one $700 billion bailout?, they were walloped with news of an additional $800 billion stimulus package, most of which would notionally go to buying mortgage-backed securities from banks, and some of which would purchase credit card debt and individual loans.
Bloomberg reported that the $700 and $800 billion plans are just the beginning: “The U.S. government is prepared to provide more than $7.7 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers”—which amounts to half the value of everything the nation produced in 2007 (Nov. 24, 2008).
But as these astronomical figures are thrown this way and that, a new figure is popping up in economic reports: zero. In December, the Federal Reserve cut its interest rates to their lowest levels in history in an attempt to stave off the Great Recession a little longer. The rates, which were around 1 percent, dropped to a range of 0.25 to zero. In spite of this historic event, banks are still unwilling to lend and Wall Street is nonplussed.
Also in December, investors who bought U.S. treasury bills received zero percent interest. With inflation, that means those who buy treasuries lose money on the “investment.” Some traders exchanged T-bills that actually returned a negative yield. Institutional investors use government debt as part of their investment strategies since it is backed by the government’s ability to tax. “That’s how extreme the market anxiety is,” one analyst said. “Some are willing to give up a little of their money just to park it in a relatively safe place.”
Meanwhile, the government is passing a multi-billion-dollar bailout plan to meet the demands of American automakers and their unions, and 554,000 Americans filed for jobless claims in one week in December. The Wall Street Journal reported in mid-December that 50 percent of all U.S. companies could be at risk of failure in the coming years if the credit situation does not improve.
A front-page Guardian headline confirmed in late November what the Trumpet has declared since its inception: “Sun sets on U.S. power: report predicts end of dominance.” The report, produced by America’s National Intelligence Council, says the days of American power are over and that Washington will now be unable to call the shots alone (article, page 2).
A quarter of Britain’s major retailers are in trouble, with about 60 percent of the top 200 in a loss-making position. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that one in five stores could be empty by the time the current economic downturn is over. Retail output composes 20 percent of Britain’s gross domestic product.
The Telegraph reported November 25 that the government had slashed its UK growth forecasts by the biggest amount since it started projecting annual output in the 1970s. The government also acknowledged for the first time that Britain is facing a recession. In what the Telegraph said “was billed as the most important Treasury statements in decades,” the chancellor of the Exchequer ordered numerous tax cuts and a massive increase in spending in an effort to prevent the slowdown.