Europe
A Fraud from its beginning
Ever since the European Union was created nearly two decades ago, the annual audit of its books has revealed increasing fraud—currently reaching mammoth proportions. And each year the figures are swept under the plush rugs at the Union’s headquarters in Brussels. As one EU official mused, the only thing that changes in this yearly exposé of EU fraud is the year on the cover of the annual audit report.
Over the years, three whistle-blowers have sought to force EU officials to contend with this criminal misuse of funds. Each has been sacked for his trouble. And why not? Founded on a huge lie from its beginning, this most undemocratic of institutions thrives on lying and deceit.
One would assume that, amid an enormous, accelerating, continent-wide financial crisis, EU technocrats would be more careful. But no: In 2010, EU fraud reached record proportions.
The EU’s Court of Auditors reported in its latest report that “3.7 percent of the EU’s €122 billion budget in 2010 [a total of €4.6 billion] was spent in error or against EU rules. … In the samples used by the Court of Auditors around 50 percent showed ‘errors.’ … It is the 17th year in a row the court has been unable to give the EU’s accounts an unqualified statement of assurance” (TheParliament.com, Nov. 10, 2011).
“In the real world of business—or properly democratic politics—heads would roll,” said Martin Callanan, leader of the UK’s Conservative members of the European Parliament. “But not in Brussels, where this costly fiasco just carries on unchecked.”
Marta Andreason is one of the three whistle-blowers with the courage to expose the unbelievable scope of EU fraud over the years. She has since become an elected member of the European Parliament for the UK Independence Party. Of the current audit results she remarked, “Despite repeated assurances from the European Commission and pressure from the European Council, the way the EU makes payments from its budget is getting worse not better. This should send alarm bells ringing across member states’ governments.”
But it hasn’t.
German elites now largely have EU member nations just where they want them. None of the other 26 EU members dare cross Germany during a time of financial crisis, for they are now so dependent on Germany for their economic survival. To challenge EU fraud would effectively threaten the whole EU technocracy, which is substantially manned or influenced by German nationals.
German philosopher Nietzsche declared that people are better fed myths than the truth—that myths are better for the masses than absolutes. Europe’s biggest myth of all, the EU, is founded on a lie. From its beginnings, it has been a cloak for Germanic imperial ambitions, a means by which its elites have tenaciously pursued their Holy Roman imperialist vision.
Germany
War: Legitimate foreign policy
The German Council on Foreign Relations is opening up a debate in Germany via its leading periodical InternationalePolitik on how Germany views its military. Its senior editor observed that postwar German society has difficulty “openly discussing power—which in the end includes military force” (No. 6/2011). The periodical quoted Germany’s defense minister, Thomas de Maizière, as declaring, “Military means are the ultimate and not merely the last means.” On the continuing reform measures of the Bundeswehr (initiated by his predecessor Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg), de Maizière stated, “The question of the deployment of our armed forces will most likely be posed more often in the future,” with the Bundeswehr becoming “consistently oriented toward deployability and … a large range of capabilities” also involving “high-intensity combat missions.” The article sums up: “The culture of military restraint must give way to a culture of responsibility.” Mindful of Germany’s history, German-Foreign-Policy.com observed that “culture of responsibility” means “nothing more than the readiness to willingly support a growing number of the Bundeswehr’s combat missions” (Nov. 2, 2011).
Greece
Cleaning out the brass
Greece’s minister of defense sacked and replaced the entire upper echelon of the country’s defense services Nov. 1, 2011. The sackings included the chiefs of the Greek National Defense General Staff, the Greek Army General Staff, the Greek Air Force and the Greek Navy General Staff. It was a complete rout of the entire chiefs of staff of the whole of Greece’s defense establishment. Was this clearing out a senior officer cadre not sufficiently attuned to EU motives in Greece? What were these defense establishment heads up to? Were they planning rebellion against the Greek government, perhaps a military takeover akin to the coup of the colonels of Greek history? It certainly is suspect, coming at a time of increasing social disruption in Greece because of resistance to austerity measures forced on the Greeks.
China
Hocking counterfeits
Some of the largest defense contractors on the globe have been tricked into installing counterfeit parts into U.S. military systems—and China is the primary source, Sen. Carl Levin said at a hearing on Nov. 8, 2011. The Senate Armed Services Committee identified Boeing, L-3, Raytheon, and their suppliers as firms that had unknowingly used faulty components in equipment such as aircraft video displays and helicopter night vision systems. When this news is added to reports of China’s cyberespionage, satellite developments, and warnings about the dollar, it is clear that China will undermine the U.S. in any way it can.
Pakistan
A foothold for Beijing
China would like to establish military facilities in Pakistan’s tribal regions or its northern regions that border China’s Xinjiang province, Pakistani sources said on Oct. 26, 2011. The sources said Chinese and Pakistani military officials have discussed the project for months, and that Pakistan has asked China to build a naval base at its strategic southwestern seaport of Gwadar. The Trumpet has often warned of the danger of Pakistan and its nuclear arsenal falling under the control of either radical Islam and Iran, or China. Either way, America’s tattered alliance with Pakistan is all but over.
Asia
Asia’s big anti-U.S. crowbar
Russia and China are building an Asian combine to challenge American influence in the strategic Central Asia region. On Nov. 7, 2011, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hosted his counterparts from China and four other Asian nations for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (sco). The 10-year-old sco connects China and Russia with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in a security bloc that Moscow and Beijing hope to develop into an entity unified enough to rival nato.
At the summit, Putin lashed out at “arrogant world powers,” accusing Western nations of hypocrisy for their support of revolutions in North African nations. Putin and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called for major infrastructure investments to stimulate economic growth throughout the region. Members also discussed expanding the sco to include Pakistan and Iran, and Russia officially supported Pakistan’s bid to become a full member of the alliance. Wen said a top sco priority should be developing Central Asia’s transport and energy infrastructure, adding that nations should conduct bilateral transactions in their own currencies rather than the dollar.
The time ahead will prove significant for the Asian bloc as it expands to include new nations and unifies. China and Russia are the regional behemoths driving the unification of the East; the sco may well be a vehicle they use to attain that goal.
Russia
Get your hands off Iran!
After the UN published a report confirming long-standing Western suspicions that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, Moscow spoke out on Nov. 10, 2011, against military strikes on Iran, saying such action would be a serious mistake with unpredictable consequences. The previous day, veto-wielding Russia said it would not support another set of sanctions against Iran and expressed anger over the UN’s publication of the report. Since the report provides evidence that Russia aided Iran in its nuclear program, Moscow’s defense of Tehran comes as no surprise. As Russia works to regain its former Soviet-era influence, it will become increasingly confrontational toward the West.
Philippines
On China’s bad side
On Oct. 23, 2011, the Philippines rejected Beijing’s demand that it return Chinese boats that Philippine officials had seized. Included in China’s demand was a statement that China had indisputable sovereignty over the territory—even though the Reed Bank, where the vessels were seized, is well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. On October 26, China’s state-run Global Times responded with an editorial threatening military force if the Philippines, Vietnam and other countries that claim parts of the South China Sea do not heed Beijing’s current gentle approach to the territorial disputes: “If these countries don’t want to change their ways with China, they will need to mentally prepare for the sounds of cannons. No known method exists to solve these issues in a peaceful way.” As China’s power increases, so will its belligerency.
Middle East
Libya
Liberated Libya thanks West by becoming ‘an Islamic state’
Libyan dictator Muammar Qad-hafi was killed by rebel forces on Oct. 20, 2011. While his death was met with euphoria in parts of Libya and the West, in truth, the West’s interference in Libya has set the stage for an Iranian coup.
nato “has armed, trained and financed the creation of an Islamist Libya,” wrote the Washington Times (Oct. 25, 2011). The very day Libya’s National Transitional Council officially declared an end to the war, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the council’s chairman and de facto president, decreed that polygamy in Libya is now legal, explaining that Qadhafi’s law against it conflicted with Islam. He also promised that in future, banks would no longer be permitted to charge interest, to bring them into compliance with sharia law. “We are an Islamic state,” he said.
U.S. officials have admitted that Islamic terrorism could be a problem in post-Qadhafi Libya, with counterterrorism and intelligence agencies producing classified papers detailing the strength, role and activities of Islamic militants in the country. Bruce Riedel, a former senior cia analyst, said there was particular concern that Islamic militants could use Libya as a base to spread influence and weaponry into surrounding areas such as Algeria and Egypt’s Sinai. A further worry is that individuals with a militant background could install themselves in the upper echelons of Libya’s new government.
Sudan
New rulers’ shadowy allies
Back in June, the International Criminal Court (icc) accused Muammar Qadhafi of crimes against humanity and issued an arrest warrant against him. This reinforced the supposedly humanitarian justification for the international military intervention in Libya. Qadhafi was just the second sitting head of state to be made the object of an icc arrest warrant—after Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, accused of crimes against humanity in Darfur. Now, catch the irony. The government that Western allies helped install into power in Libya hosted an interesting visitor in September. Mahmoud Jibril, chairman of the executive board of Libya’s National Transitional Council (ntc), hosted the vice president of Sudan, Ali Osman Taha, who came to show his support for the new interim government. Reports are that the Sudanese government had given military support to anti-Qadhafi forces. The thing is, Taha himself has also been accused by both the U.S. State Department and the icc of complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur. In other words, the de facto allies of Western powers in ousting Qadhafi are themselves allies with the Sudanese forces the West has charged with genocide.
Bahrain
Shiites force a stalemate
Turnout was low in parliamentary elections held in the Gulf Arab state of Bahrain on Sept. 24, 2011, with less than 20 percent of voters casting ballots after the Shiite majority boycotted the polls. The boycott came in response to the crushing of protests in the country earlier in the year by the ruling Sunni monarchy. The election had been called to fill the 18 parliament seats abandoned when Shiite lawmakers resigned in February in protest of the government crackdown on demonstrators. The ruling Sunnis accuse the Shiite-dominated protest movement and opposition groups of having a sectarian Shiite agenda and of acting in coordination with Iran. The result is a stalemate in Bahrain. Though martial law ended in the country in May, regular clashes continue in Shiite areas. Bahrain is a battleground for the power struggle that is going on between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Tunisia
And the winner is …
Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda party, an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, obtained first place in the country’s election held on Oct. 23, 2011, winning around 40 percent of the Constituent Assembly’s seats. The election created the first freely elected political body in Tunisia’s history, tasked with drafting a new constitution and appointing a new government. The victorious party seeks to sweep aside Tunisia’s secular traditions and create a Muslim theocracy based on sharia law. Ennahda’s success is a clear indication of what the results of the wave of uprisings will be throughout the Middle East.
Israel
Another move toward statehood
The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (unesco) accepted the Palestinians as a full member state on Oct. 31, 2011, the first UN affiliate body to do so. The results of the vote were 107 states in favor, 14 against, and 52 abstentions. The unesco acceptance is a great diplomatic victory for the Palestinians, who hope to build on this victory by seeking membership of other UN agencies. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas requested full membership in the UN on September 23. Such moves serve to further isolate Israel, though the United States has promised to use its veto power in the Security Council and has cut funding to unesco.
One wildly lopsided exchange
In October Hamas freed kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons. Hamas leaders responded by openly declaring they would launch more kidnapping attempts in order to free thousands more terrorists. The swap clearly strengthened Hamas and undermined Israel’s deterrent capability. Though Israel says it will create a new policy for prisoner exchanges so such lopsided deals won’t happen again, it is increasingly operating from a position of weakness—and its enemies know it.
Iraq
Losing the peace
U.S. soldiers’ withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2011 was announced in October. Under pressure from Iran, Baghdad refused Washington’s request to keep several thousand troops in the country past December 31. Retired Army Gen. John M. Keane, who was instrumental in the 2007 troop surge in Iraq, called the decision an “absolute disaster” that puts the new Iraqi government at risk of an Iranian “strangling.” “We won the war in Iraq, and we’re now losing the peace,” he said. “[T]he number one strategic enemy we have in the region is Iran. And as a result of us pulling away from Iraq, we’re losing our influence in Iraq. And the Iranians are gaining influence in Iraq.” The Washington Times wrote, “Iran’s mullahs have won. Once Tehran acquires the nuclear bomb, it will be able to blackmail its neighbors, dominate the region and impose a stranglehold over the world’s oil supply. The trend is clear: American power is in retreat” (Oct. 25, 2011).
Egypt
Hamstringing Israel
Gaza terrorists hit Israel with a barrage of rockets in late October, prompting Israel to respond with air strikes. Egypt stepped in to try to mediate a truce. The official line is that Israel is refraining from a major attack on Gaza due to these efforts. However, it seems Egypt has privately issued a serious threat to Israel over taking any military action in Gaza. Courcy’s Intelligence Service reported November 3 that according to Palestinian sources, “prominent Egyptian security commanders” have warned Israel that Cairo would not permit a wide-scale military operation in Gaza because the Egyptian position has completely changed since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted. “Egypt is not threatening a direct military response, but it has said that the military would not be able (or willing) to prevent thousands of Egyptian youths marching towards the Israeli border,” JKC de Courcy wrote. Already, it appears the Islamist-leaning post-Mubarak Egypt is taking away Israel’s ability to defend itself.
‘Vote for me … or it’s a sin!’
Islamist activism increased in Egypt ahead of parliamentary elections, according to the bbc Monitoring Service. Prominent clerics issued fatwas against voting for supporters of the former regime, or for liberal, secular or Christian candidates. Salafist preacher Sheikh Mahmud Amir, for example, pronounced: “Voting for these people is religiously prohibited. Whoever does this will be committing a major sin and should expiate for it.” He also prohibited votes for any Muslim candidate who doesn’t call for the implementation of sharia law. Such sheikhs are gaining large followings in Egypt. Watch for Egypt to turn radical.
Afghanistan
Head of peace council, RIP
A Taliban suicide bomber killed the head of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council on Sept. 20, 2011, in a dramatic demonstration of the Taliban’s reach. The bomb exploded while two men posing as Taliban peace emissaries were meeting with Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was also a former Afghan president, at his home. The attack comes as U.S.-Taliban negotiations, mediated by Pakistan, are in their initial phases. Rabbani’s assassination creates a power vacuum within the factions in the north, and “allows the Taliban to push their demands for political dominance in any postwar political arrangement,” wrote Stratfor (Sept. 21, 2011). Still, America feels it has no option but to seek a political settlement involving the Taliban so it can extract itself from Afghanistan.
Latin America/Africa
Brazil, Cuba
Reach out to your neighbor
Latin American giant Brazil wants to help Cuba update its economic model and increase exports to its mainland neighbors. The Cuban foreign trade and investment minister, Rodrigo Malmierca, emphasized on Nov. 2, 2011, that Brazil and Cuba are promoting joint projects in the areas of health care, education, computers, and agriculture and livestock. Expect the Communist-ruled island of Cuba to forge strong ties with the rest of Latin America in the near future as it returns to its Roman Catholic roots.
Argentina
More forceful about Falklands
Cristina Kirchner’s sweeping reelection in October is set to ratchet up tension over the Falkland Islands. Argentina’s strong economic growth was widely seen as the main reason for her huge victory, but it is also being taken in some quarters as an endorsement of her strong-arm approach to gaining sovereignty over the Falklands—a popular position. Since coming to power, Kirchner has clamped down on trade with the islands, harassed merchant vessels, prohibited British military ships from docking in Argentina, and pushed the United Nations to force Britain to the negotiating table. As Britain continues to suffer the effects of recession, expect Argentina to become more belligerent.
Liberia
The man and message Liberia forgot
The weeks leading up to presidential elections in November were divisive and bloody in the West African country of Liberia. Low numbers of voters turned out for a run-off poll on November 8 amid a boycott by political challenger Winston Tubman. As a result, incumbent Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf won another term by default, and Tubman demanded a new round of elections. Any prospect of a peaceful road ahead for this contentious nation lies in question.
Since the 1800s and Liberia’s establishment as a safe haven for freed slaves from North America, Liberians have wanted and searched for peace. November’s troubled election proves they do not know how to find it. The reality is that the country did receive a profound witness from one who proclaimed a message that contained the key to establishing peace. Today’s deep divisions show that the message went unheeded.
As far back as the 1950s, Liberia heard over the air, via the World Tomorrow program, the very gospel message Jesus Christ preached. That message told of two divergent ways of life. One centered on give and the other on get. Herbert W. Armstrong declared a message of peace, abundance, joy and unified coexistence among all peoples based on God’s immutable law. However, stable governance within the bounds of that law is only attainable under the almighty hand of God and His government, which mankind has rejected since Adam’s sin and Eve’s deception in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3).
Almost 20 years onward from those radio broadcasts into Liberia, during the summer of 1977, that renowned ambassador for world peace, without portfolio, Herbert Armstrong, visited Japan, Hong Kong and Israel. In addition, this trip was highlighted by a successful two-night public appearance campaign in Liberia, where its citizens heard, in person, the very gospel message of Jesus Christ as recorded in Matthew 24:14.
Mr. Armstrong was met by the mayor of Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, who took Mr. Armstrong to see the president, William R. Tolbert Jr. Mr. Armstrong spent 40 minutes with the president, who held a luncheon in his honor. Monrovia, its political elite, the president and many citizens were witness to God’s message of peace.
The African continent is today wracked with poverty, rampant tribalism, and the schisms that result from radical Islamic insurgencies and Babylonian deceptions via a false form of Christianity. As Satan’s rule on Earth draws near its end, it becomes increasingly important for an ambassador of the Kingdom of God to reach many nations with Christ’s words of warning of the coming Great Tribulation and the promise of peace that follows God’s imminent correction for mankind’s rebellion against its Creator.
At present there is a special urgency attached to reaching the nations of the developed world, for prophecy reveals that the Anglo-Saxon nations face the greatest threat, one that will be triggered within Europe via a crisis that is already extant there. This will catapult the human race into the final global trial of trials (Matthew 24:21-22).
But after that, the Gentile masses of the world, of which Liberia is but one small nation, will be given an opportunity to learn a powerful lesson from God’s correction of the descendants of Israel, most especially the Anglo-Saxon peoples of America, and Britain and its dominions.
Anglo-America
‘Muslims Against Crusades’ is not a peaceful bunch
A British member of Parliament was threatened during a meeting in a London mosque on Nov. 4, 2011, forcing him to abandon the event. M.P. Mike Freer was holding a constituency surgery at the North Finchley mosque when a dozen Islamists from the Muslims Against Crusades group stormed the building. Freer, a homosexual and a member of Conservative Friends of Israel, abandoned the meeting and hid in a locked section of the facility. The strife started after Muslims Against Crusades posted messages on their website urging supporters to target Freer. The online message stated that “as a member of the Conservative Party,” Freer “has the blood of thousands of Muslims on his hands”; it also targeted him because of his decision earlier in the year to demand that Palestinian extremist Sheikh Raed Salah be banned from visiting Britain. As in most such incidents, no arrests were made.
At least they have two parents?
British citizens will soon be able to identify “parent one” and “parent two” instead of their father and mother, and decline to identify themselves as male or female on their passports. The changes are designed to cater to transsexuals and homosexuals. The Daily Mail reported that the changes have been made in response to lobbying from the homosexual rights group Stonewall. America has already made a similar change to its passport application form. Director of the Family Education Trust Norman Wells said, “Fathers and mothers are not interchangeable but have quite distinct roles to play in the care and nurture of their children. To speak of ‘parent one’ and ‘parent two’ denigrates the place of both fathers and mothers. Much as the equality and diversity social engineers might wish it were otherwise, it still takes a father and a mother to produce a child.”
Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em
The number of foreign offenders who have served their sentences but cannot be deported from Britain has crossed the 5,000 mark, according to an inspection report published on Nov. 3, 2011. John Vine, chief inspector of immigration, said the UK Border Agency needs to ramp up its efforts to manage the 5,375 foreign prisoners who have served their sentences and now remain in detention or have been freed into the community. As the will of Britons to preserve their culture continues to erode, expect bureaucracy to render more and more of their immigration policies ineffective for the state.
The leaderless protest movement
Over 700 protesters were arrested on Oct. 1, 2011, for blocking traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge as they took part in the 15th day of the Occupy Wall Street protest. Occupy Wall Street is a leaderless protest movement comprised mostly of Americans under 30 years old who are upset with anything from rampant foreclosures to climate change, from the low number of vegan farms to the high unemployment rate, from the war in Afghanistan to high gasoline prices, and from corporate greed to the general state of America and the planet. These protesters are only thousands strong, but they claim to speak for millions. The degree to which these protesters represent mainstream America is questionable, but a cbs poll showed that 64 percent of Americans believe taxes on millionaires should be raised to reduce the nation’s deficit. Such a sentiment is parallel to many of the protesters’ anger over what they perceive as a broken system serving a wealthy elite at the expense of the rest. Political division in America is escalating to a crippling level.
Winter comes early
A massive storm battered America’s East Coast in late October, dumping record snowfall and shuttering schools and businesses in a half-dozen states. The storm caused enormous damage, including widespread power outages, damage to homes and infrastructure, and at least 15 deaths. The storm caught the region by surprise as such historically major snowstorms are rarely if ever seen before Thanksgiving.