The Week in Review

Hezbollah’s official sponsor, Catholicism’s hostile takeover, the EU’s super-sovereignty, and Ukraine’s return to Russia
 

Middle East

Just two days after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said the Lebanese government will officially support Hezbollah in any future conflict with Israel, the United States announced a boost in military aid to Lebanon. On February 12, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr, who was on a visit to Washington, that the U.S. would provide Lebanon $267 million in military aid. Of course, as U.S. think tank Stratfor points out, “If the United States were to train and equip the Lebanese military, it would run the very real risk of having those trained individuals and all that equipment fall into the hands of one of the many militant groups operating out of Lebanon” (February 17). To avoid this scenario, the U.S. offer reportedly includes the development and training of an elite army unit separate from the main Lebanese military, specifically to combat Hezbollah. However, there is no guarantee that Hezbollah would not be able to infiltrate such a force, just as it has the Lebanese Army. The U.S. is seeking to undercut the Iranian-supported Hezbollah. Its desperation, however, is evident in that to do so, it is increasing military aid to a government that is openly promising to support Hezbollah in any conflict with Israel.

Turkey continues to increase cooperation with Iran, with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu visiting Tehran on Tuesday and meeting with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as well as Iran’s foreign minister, parliament speaker and chief nuclear negotiator. According to the memri Iranian Media Blog, “Davutoglu said that Turkey’s fate was tied to Iran’s, and that Turkey recognized Iran’s critical role in the region and sought closer cooperation with it” (February 17). The meetings reportedly focused on Iran’s nuclear program and negotiations.

Also on Tuesday, Iran announced a new advancement in its nuclear production capability. “We have tested a new generation of centrifuges that is now in its final phases. Their capacity [to enrich uranium] is five times greater than that of the existing centrifuges,” President Ahmadinejad said at a news conference in Tehran.

Europe

The Catholic and Orthodox churches must unite in order to defend Europe’s Christian roots, Pope Benedict xvi told a group of Romanian bishops on February 12. As the bishops concluded their regular consultation with the pope, Benedict emphasized the need for them to work with their Orthodox counterparts. This comes less than a fortnight after the pope admonished English and Welsh bishops to be generous toward any Anglicans wishing to return to Rome. “Of particular importance is the witness of fraternity between Catholics and Orthodox,” he said. “It prevails over divisions and disagreements and opens hearts to reconciliation.” “A particularly important realm of collaboration between Orthodox and Catholics today has to do with the defense of Europe’s Christian roots and of Christian values, and with common witness on subjects such as the family, bioethics, human rights, honesty in public life and ecology,” he said. Back in 1963, Mr. Armstrong wrote: “The final—albeit short-lived—triumph of Catholicism is recorded in literally dozens of Bible prophecies. Right now—whether we want to believe it or not—the stage is being set for the greatest revolution in religion the world has witnessed. … The mighty problem of achieving unity is twofold. First, it involves reconciliation of the Orthodox Schism that officially commenced in 1054 and divided the churches in the East. … Second, it involves restoration to the Roman Communion all Protestantism which developed from 1517 onward” (Plain Truth, November 1963). This final short-lived triumph is almost here.

Greece’s economic crisis continues to dominate the news. While the European Union has issued vague promises that Greece will not go bust, it is yet to reveal what it plans on doing if Greece cannot pay its bills. The EU, led by Germany, is showing its muscle. It has taken the unprecedented step of denying Greece its right to vote at an EU meeting next month as a show of disapproval. It has also threatened to invoke Article 126.9 of the Lisbon Treaty, whereby the EU would force Greece to follow the EU’s program of taxation and spending in order to cut its deficit.

Italy has experienced its second major race riot of the year in northern Milan. It began after a group of immigrants believed to be from South America killed a 19-year-old Egyptian on February 13. Around 100 north African youths went on a rampage, damaging 17 cars—nine of which they overturned—and vandalizing five shops. Riccardo De Corato, Milan’s deputy mayor, called the area a “Wild West between north African and South American gangs.” The riots have led to right-wing groups calling to tighten Italy’s already hard-line immigration law. Watch for immigrants to become less tolerated in Europe as the Continent grows more nationalistic.

Asia

It came to light on Tuesday that China’s holdings of U.S. government bonds fell by a record amount in December, removing Beijing from its long-held position as the largest foreign official holder of U.S. debt. The Department of the Treasury reported that overall foreign demand for treasury securities fell by more in December than in any month ever recorded. China led the trend, decreasing its holdings by $34 billion, which is 4 percent of its total reserves. The decrease comes amid heightened tension between Washington and Beijing regarding a host of issues, including U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, President Obama’s visit with the Dalai Lama, currency manipulation, human rights, Internet surveillance and trade. Investors wonder whether China’s drop in holdings is simply a sign of Beijing restructuring its portfolio in the short-term or if the move signals the beginning of a structural move away from the greenback. The latter could mean serious trouble for the dollar. America depends on foreign lenders more than ever, and if its most important creditor diversifies out of the dollar, Washington’s epic budget deficit would be unsustainable.

Despite contention over his recent election victory, the emerging new leader of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, began the process this week of rebuilding Kiev’s relationship with Moscow. On Saturday, Yanukovych announced several pro-Russian defense policies and said nato integration will no longer be a goal for Ukraine. He declared his support for the Kremlin’s plan to create a post-nato European security treaty, and renewed a call for a Russian-led consortium to take ownership of Ukraine’s strategic gas transit pipeline network. Although the final winner of the election is yet to be decided, Russia has already announced a resumption of diplomatic ties with Ukraine and plans to send an ambassador to Kiev. The message is clear: Yanukovich owes his power and position to the Kremlin, and Moscow expects Ukraine to begin cooperating more wholeheartedly. Rather than launching a “hot” war, Russia has clearly been engaged in a campaign of intimidation, subversion and propaganda. And it seems to have worked. The more pro-European western part of Ukraine may still give the Kremlin some trouble, but the east (and the national government) is now firmly in Russia’s grasp.

Latin America/Africa

Warships from the Royal Navy are on standby to protect ships traveling to the Falkland Islands, as tensions escalate between Britain and Argentina. Argentina said February 16 that it would prevent ships from traveling through Argentine waters to the Falkland Islands, reviving a controversy that has been quiet for nearly 30 years. The Times writes that Argentina is “in effect awarding itself the power to blockade the disputed islands” and that the “decree amounts to an Argentine move to control all traffic from South America towards the islands.” The cause of the row is not the islands themselves, but the oil reserves within the Falklands’ territorial waters. British firms are scheduled to begin exploring for oil around the Falkland Islands soon. Despite being soundly beaten in 1982, and the complete absence of any strong historical claim to the islands, the Argentines still maintain that the Falklands and their surrounding waters are theirs. In 1982, Britain fought Argentina to preserve its right to these islands because of the gutsy leadership of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. But there are no leaders in Britain with such backbone today. “British possession of these islands has meant British control of one of the great sea gates of the world,” wrote Herbert W. Armstrong in the early 1980s. “These gates included the Suez Canal, Panama Canal, Cape of Good Hope, Gibraltar, Singapore, and these Falkland Islands. God prophesied that, because of disobedience, we should lose these islands in this end time. All have been lost except these Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong and some other incidental islands” (member and co-worker letter, April 21, 1982). Now Hong Kong is gone. The EU threatens Gibraltar. Watch for Britain to lose the Falkland Islands soon.

Niger’s president, Mamadou Tandja, was taken hostage in a coup on February 18. Soldiers now patrol the capital’s streets. So far it is unclear who is behind the coup, but it looks like the troubled country is in for even more violence ahead.

Anglo-America

An airplane crashed into the first two floors of a government building in Austin, Texas, on February 18. The lower floors of the building house the Internal Revenue Service (irs). The Austin field office of the fbi is in the same office, but was not affected. The crash appears to have been a direct attack by a single individual on the irs. As the economic situation gets worse, and people to get more desperate, such acts of violence could become more common.

American forces in Iraq will stop all combat operations in Iraq on September 1 and transfer all operations to Iraqi forces. On that date, “Operation Iraqi Freedom” will be officially replaced by “Operation New Dawn.” This announcement highlights America’s rush to get out of Iraqi. As the Trumpet has long forecast, its haste will allow Iran to consolidate its hold over the country.

Six Anglican parishes in Australia are converting to Roman Catholicism. On February 13, Forward in Faith Australia unanimously voted to join the Roman Catholic Church. The group’s chairman, Bishop David Roberts, said that his organization “receives with great gratitude the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus of Pope Benedict xvi and directs the National Council to foster by every means the establishing of an Ordinariate in Australia.” Disgusted with the liberalism in the Anglican Church, most of the group’s 200 members are expected to convert. Look for this trend to continue and to even accelerate as Orthodox communities follow the Anglican example and return to the religion that mothered them all.

The British government ran a deficit in January—the first time this has ever happened—according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics on February 18. January is usually a tax bonanza for the government because it is when corporation tax payments become due, and citizens submit their tax returns. In January 2009, the government ran a surplus of ₤5.3 billion. This January it had to borrow ₤4.3 billion.