The Week in Review
Middle East
Egypt’s ruling party won a sweeping victory in parliamentary elections according to results released Monday following a final round of voting. The National Democratic Party (ndp) won 83 percent of the seats and, if independent candidates join with it as expected, the party could control 96 percent of the legislature. The runoff election, held Sunday, was boycotted by the two main opposition groups, including the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, because of alleged massive vote-rigging. In the last elections, held in 2005, the Muslim Brotherhood won 20 percent of the seats in parliament. This time around, despite increased popularity, the Brotherhood failed to win a single seat outright in the first round of voting. The party has promised to mount legal challenges against the results, and Egyptian rights groups are demanding that President Hosni Mubarak annul the elections and dissolve the newly elected parliament. Opposition figure and former head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency Mohammed ElBaradei called for a boycott of next year’s presidential election, dismissing Egypt’s election process as a “farce.” While the elections leave the ndp firmly in control of the new parliament, this could instigate a backlash resulting in greater support for its main rival, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Brazil announced on December 3 that it now recognizes an independent Palestinian state, with Argentina following suit three days later and Uruguay saying it intends to do the same in 2011. The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said that he expected Paraguay and other South American nations to recognize a Palestinian state soon. Stratfor reports that the endorsements are a result of a campaign by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to gain support and to put pressure on the Israeli government to freeze “settlement” activity. Abbas praised the moves, while Israel reacted by saying they breached its 1995 agreement with the Palestinian Authority that any Palestinian state would only come about by mutual negotiations. These Latin American countries join some 100 other states, including most Arab countries, in recognizing an independent Palestinian state, and while the development is unlikely to make much if any difference on the ground, it is another psychological victory for the enemies of Israel.
British Jewry’s relationship with Israel is undergoing seismic change, the Telegraph reported this week. One of the most senior leaders of Britain’s Jewish community, speaking at a meeting at the London Jewish Cultural Center on November 13, shattered a longstanding taboo by publicly criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the peace process, voicing concerns about Israeli policy and calling for criticism of Israel to be voiced freely. Mick Davis, chairman of the leading Anglo-Israel charity, the ujia, and the executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, was supported in his statements by other Jewish leaders. The British government and society have long shown hostility against Israel; now it is emerging that even the Jewish community in Britain is withdrawing its support for the Jews of Israel. This trend was foretold in Bible prophecies that reveal that the time is coming when Israel will no longer be able to rely on the U.S. or Britain for support in the peace process and will instead look more to Europe.
A massive wildfire in northern Israel that overwhelmed Israeli firefighters was finally contained, with the help of international firefighting crews, on Sunday, after claiming 42 lives and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes as the fires raged for three days. Haaretz criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu’s handling of the crisis, calling it his “Hurricane Katrina, his BP oil spill.” Blame has also been pointed at the interior minister, whose ministry is responsible for the country’s firefighting services. The brushfire, which destroyed about 50 square kilometers of forest land and caused extensive damage to homes and infrastructure, is considered the worst natural disaster in Israel’s history, Xinhua reports. The fire is just one more end-time curse on a nation—biblical Judah—that does not have God’s protection.
In another WikiLeaks disclosure, Lebanon’s Western-backed government told the U.S. that “Iran telecom” was taking over the country when in April 2008 it discovered a secret Hezbollah communications network operating across the country, according to a U.S. State Department cable. The Lebanese minister of communications, Marwan Hamadeh, told the Americans that the Iranian Fund for the Reconstruction of Lebanon financed the network. The group was accused of laying telecommunications lines in tandem with the rebuilding of roads and bridges. It was shortly after this that Iran solidified its control of Lebanon politically following a show of Hezbollah’s strength.
Europe
German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg argued for greater European military cooperation on December 9 as he met with other European defense ministers in Brussels. “The commitment to European defense must be more than just lip service,” wrote Guttenberg in an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, published on the same day. “By intensifying our military cooperation, we will all benefit in the end.” Guttenberg worked with Swedish Defense Minister Sten Tolgfors to present EU defense ministers with a plan to streamline Europe’s militaries as nations cut their defense budgets. The “scarcity of resources in all nations,” wrote Guttenberg, means that nations need to pool their military equipment. A lot of politicians have talked about integrating Europe’s militaries, but often it has yielded little results. In the short time that Guttenberg has been German defense minister, however, he has begun a complete revolution of the German military. His advocating European military cooperation could well achieve significant results.
Germans have more negative views of Muslims and Jews than the French, Dutch and Danish do, according to a survey by the University of Muenster, published on December 9. “Compared to France, the Netherlands and Denmark, there is a more rigid and intolerant understanding of extrinsic religions in Germany,” said the leader of the study, sociologist Detlef Pollack. The survey found that in western Germany 28 percent had negative attitudes toward Jews, and in eastern Germany 29 percent. In the Netherlands, this figure was only 10 percent, in Denmark 12 percent, and in France 21 percent. Two thirds of French and Dutch surveyed approved the construction of mosques, and half of Danes. However, fewer than 30 percent of Germans did. This type of dislike of foreign religions is a dangerous trend in Germany. Watch for populist politicians to take advantage of this kind of discontent. For more information, see our August 2003 Trumpet article “Death by Prejudice.”
Nearly 2,000 people said they had been sexually or physically abused as minors by Roman Catholic Church personnel in the Netherlands, an independent commission reported on December 9. This makes the Netherlands the second-most abused nation by the Catholics, after Ireland.
Hungary had its credit rating cut by two notches by credit-rating agency Moody’s on December 6. Its rating is now Baa3, Moody’s lowest investment grade. Moody’s said its outlook for Hungary is negative, meaning it may downgrade it to junk status in the next three months.
Asia
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s trip to Europe this week has improved his country’s relations with the Continent and brought Russia closer to joining the World Trade Organization (wto). Medvedev visited Brussels for an EU-Russia summit on December 7, where he signed a bilateral trade agreement between Russia and the European Union which European Commission President José Manuel Barroso called “a milestone.” Russia has been negotiating to join the wto for 17 years, and Barroso said that “We expect Russia to join the wto next year.” Russia came to a similar agreement with the U.S. in September, meaning that few obstacles bar it from wto membership. On the same trip, on December 6 Medvedev visited Poland, where he worked to improve relations in the first official visit to the country by a Russian leader in nine years. Medvedev said that in order to attain better relations with nato and the EU, Russia must draw closer to Poland. The Russia-EU, and specifically the Russia-Germany, relationship is an important one to watch. If the two work together, as they have several times in recent history, they can rise in power quickly—putting them in a better position to wage war.
Gen. Ricardo David Jr., the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (afp), traveled to Beijing on Tuesday to meet with Chinese military officials and sign a military logistics deal between the two nations. Although the details of the agreement haven’t been divulged, an afp spokesman said it was a step in the direction of bolstering military ties between Beijing and Manila, which would greatly benefit the Philippine’s 130,000-man army. The afp is too weak to control either internal threats in the Philippines or external security challenges involving the nation’s many sea-lanes and islands. Historically, Manila has depended on the U.S. for the military assistance it needs in these areas, but the U.S.-Philippines military relationship is cooling as Washington becomes distracted by pressures in the Middle East and elsewhere. Meanwhile, Beijing sees the void as a chance to gain a foothold in the Philippines and expand its sphere of influence in Southeast Asia, while simultaneously elbowing the U.S. out. As America’s influence in the Philippines and all of Asia wanes, China’s soft-power diplomacy and hard-power buildup will fill the void and steadily solidify the Asian nations into a global power.
Africa/Latin America
The Ivory Coast continued to slide toward unrest or even civil war this week as protests were held over the results of its November 28 elections. Both incumbent President Laurent Gbago and his opponent Alassane Ouattara claimed victory after the run of elections. The Ivory Coast’s Constitutional Court ruled that Gbago won 51 percent of the votes, and Ouattara 49 percent. However, the Independent Electoral Commission says that Ouattara won. The U.S., UN, EU and AU have all called for Gbabo to step down.
Somali pirates hijacked a Bangladeshi ship only 300 miles from the coast of India on December 5. The Jahan Moni was 1,300 miles east of Somalia when it was seized. Western efforts to combat Somali piracy have mainly involved patrolling the Gulf of Aden. They have not dealt with the cause of the problem, but rather merely tried to protect a small area from pirates. This means that the problem has not gone away—the pirates are just spreading out over a much larger area.
Haiti was shut down by violent protests this week after preliminary election results were announced on December 7. The nation’s electoral council announced the two leaders who would go forward to a run-off election in January. Jude Celestin—protégé of the current president, Rene Preval—took one of the spots at the expense of Michel Martelly, a popular singer. In response to the unrest, the electoral council announced it would recount the votes.
Anglo-America
British protesters attacked a car carrying Prince Charles on Thursday. The prince and his wife were riding to an evening show when crowds surrounded their Rolls Royce; kicked it; threw bottles, bins and paint on it; and cracked a window on Prince Charles’s side. The throng was leaving a major protest in Trafalgar Square where they had been denouncing Parliament’s 323-302 vote to remove much of the government’s subsidizing of university education. Protesters had bombarded police with flares, sticks, paint balls and other objects and set fire to benches in Parliament Square, the Telegraph reported.
The Office for National Statistics reported Thursday that more than 1 in 10 Britons were born abroad. The number of Europeans who reside in the United Kingdom has increased sevenfold since the expansion of the EU. Africa, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were the other major sources of immigration. The proportion of foreign-born Britons doubled to 11 percent, or 7 million people, between 1981 and 2009. England is also one of Europe’s most congested countries, the report said, with an average of about 400 people per square kilometer.
A study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released Tuesday found that students in the United Kingdom and the United States lag behind in tests of math, science and reading. Asian nations dominated the top spots, while Britain ranked 16th in science, 25th in reading and 28th in math. In 2000, it was eighth or higher in all three categories. Despite its affluence, the U.S. ranked only just above the average: 17th in reading, 23rd in science and 32nd in math.
Making headlines this week in the U.S. was the closing of a notorious housing project. Originally an attempt to provide affordable housing for Chicagoans, the 70-acre Cabrini-Green housing project has become an open sore to the city of Chicago and an infamous symbol of failed planning, urban crime and unending murder. The project is scheduled for demolition as another attempt by human government fails to find the way to right living.
Authorities in Escondido, California, deliberately burned a house Thursday that was so full of homemade explosives that it could not be entered. The house was rented by an unemployed software engineer and was stuffed with a stockpile of chemicals and substances similar to those used by suicide bombers and insurgents.
