The Week in Review
Middle East
Iranian leaders are working to solidify ties with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq in a move that highlights Iran’s goal of taking a lead role in the region, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. At a meeting in Tehran on June 24, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke to the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan about “many issues … that might come up after the nato military force goes out of Afghanistan,” according to Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. Tehran’s overtures to these three key U.S. allies coincide with the U.S. military’s withdrawal from the region. On June 22, President Barack Obama announced U.S. plans to withdraw 33,000 troops from Afghanistan over the next 15 months. Previously, Washington announced that it would pull all of its remaining 45,000 troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011. The U.S. is packing up and leaving, and Iran wants to fill the void it leaves behind. Iran’s overtures to these three nations also come amid rising tensions between the U.S. and the three separate governments.
Hundreds of Muslim extremists surrounded a Christian church in the Egyptian village of Beni Ahmad and threatened to kill the local priest on June 24. Hard-line Muslims had ordered the church to stop restoration work and to expel the priest back in March. A similar incident took place on June 25 in Awlad Khalaf in southern Egypt. The Assyrian International News Agency reports that 200 Muslims torched eight Christian homes. The news agency states that the Muslims were acting on rumors that a church was being built. “The police arrived three hours after the looting and torching had ended,” it reported. The violence comes after the Egyptian government promised to deal with this kind of anti-Christian violence after attacks on a church in the Imbaba neighborhood of Cairo last month. While police arrested over 200 people connected with the attacks, a priest told a Wall Street Journal correspondent that “These are all simply gestures. The government has made the gesture of arrests, of trials, but when you look at action, nothing has happened. Even the churches they promised to reopen have not been opened.” Neither the current Egyptian government nor the increasingly influential Muslim Brotherhood have shown that they are prepared to do anything about these anti-Christian attacks.
A new report by two French think tanks indicates that the West is on the side of Islamic terrorists in the war against Muammar Qadhafi in Libya. The report concludes that jihadists have played a predominant role in the eastern Libyan rebellion, and that “true democrats” represent only a minority in the rebellion. It also found that the justifications given for Western military intervention in Libya were largely based on media exaggerations and “outright disinformation.” The two organizations sent a six-member expert mission to Libya at the end of March to evaluate the situation and consult with representatives on both sides of the conflict. The report reveals that the Libyan National Transitional Council (ntc) is comprised of four factions: “true democrats,” which are a minority; partisans of a restoration of the monarchy that was overthrown by Qadhafi in 1969; Islamic extremists seeking the establishment of an Islamic state; and former figures in the Qadhafi regime who defected for opportunistic or other reasons. Many of the monarchists are also Islamists. The president of the ntc is a “traditionalist” who is “supported by the Islamists,” according to the authors of the report. The al Qaeda-affiliated Libyan Islamic Fighting Group is the “main pillar of the armed insurrection,” the report says. “Thus the military coalition under nato leadership is supporting a rebellion that includes Islamic terrorists,” the authors write. “No one can deny that the Libyan rebels who are today supported by Washington were only yesterday jihadists killing American GIs in Iraq.” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry pointed out on May 5 that “nato is considering arming the rebels. That’s practically handing Libya over to the radical Islamic camp!” It appears the current military campaign in Libya may well facilitate that country falling to Islamists and into the Iranian orbit—an outcome prophesied by the Prophet Daniel.
Europe
The European Commission on June 29 proposed that the European Union raise its own taxes. The budget proposals include plans for the EU to raise funds through a so-called Tobin tax—a tax on financial transactions—as well as through an EU-wide sales tax. Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski said these taxes could bring in more than 40 percent of the EU’s revenue. Britain, Germany and other nations condemned the size of the new budget—€1 trillion, an increase of 5 percent on this year’s. This news ties into two trends the Trumpet has been watching. The first is Europe’s growth toward a superstate. The ability to raise its own funds through taxation is a major part of a state’s power. Even if the EU only manages to enact a small sales tax, that is a start; it will expand to take more taxation and spending powers from member states, just as it has expanded its power in other areas. Secondly, introducing a Tobin tax would be a direct assault on the City of London. It would give the EU a small percentage of every single trade by European banks and other funds. With London being the financial capital of Europe, this tax would disproportionally hit the UK. Eighty percent of all hedge fund transactions take place in London. Already Britain has surrendered oversight of key areas of its financial sector to the EU.
Germany and China agreed an estimated €10.6 billion (us$15 billion) worth of trade deals in the past week as Chinese President Wen Jiabao toured Europe. Germany and China held their first joint cabinet meeting as well as a meeting of over 300 business leaders as Wen visited Germany June 27-28. On his tour, Wen also visited Britain and Hungary. Trade between China and Germany will increase to €200 billion a year over the next five years, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Wen agreed. In 2010, their bilateral trade was worth €130 billion. China is currently Germany’s third-largest trading partner. Germany is “a very important strategic partner,” said Wen. Wen also told the bbc that China would keep buying EU nations’ debt. While in Hungary on June 25, he finalized an agreement to buy more Hungarian debt. China is expanding its store of euros, but has stopped buying dollars. “China has expressed support for Europe at various times. In other words, when Europe is in difficulty we will extend a helping hand from afar,” Wen said during a news conference with Merkel. Wen’s visit helped advance this economic cooperation.
The Greek Parliament approved unpopular austerity measures by 155 votes to 138 on June 29. Without the measures, Greece would not have received more funds from the EU or the International Monetary Fund (imf), causing it to go bankrupt within weeks. Meanwhile, rioters clashed with police on the streets of Athens. They threw Molotov cocktails and burnt buildings, while the police threw stones and tear gas grenades. The economic crisis is far from over, and as the streets of Athens show, still has the potential to stir up a lot of violence and unrest.
Six members of a group of nuclear smugglers were arrested in Moldova, Moldovan police said Wednesday. The suspects said they worked in former Soviet Union and Arab countries and claimed to be selling bomb-grade uranium—though this has not been verified. Nuclear material left over from the former Soviet Union continues to be an issue.
Christine Lagarde became managing director of the imf on June 28. French newspaper Liberation wrote: “[T]he nomination of Christine Lagarde serves as a useful reminder of the power of the eurozone. The finance minister didn’t win because she is French but because she symbolizes European Monetary Union. Even violently shaken by the debt crisis, the euro is a major player in maintaining the stability, certainly with difficulty, of the global financial system.” Traditionally, the head of the imf comes from Europe, but this time several nations wanted to break from that. But another European is now head of the imf, showing that Europe continues to have economic clout.
Agriculture ministers from G-20 nations held their first-ever summit in Paris June 22 to 23 to address the problem of high and unstable food prices. The group produced an “Action Plan” that involves a system to share information on food stocks, a program to produce global production forecasts and a “rapid response forum” to deal with food crises. The fact that such a meeting took place at all shows that world leaders are worried about unusually high food prices. And high food prices are a major cause of civil unrest.
Asia
On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao attended the first-ever joint cabinet meeting between Germany and China, and Wen said he will continue to back purchases of European debt. Because China has around 26 percent of its currency reserves in euros, Beijing is committed to the currency’s stability. “If Europe has problems, we will lend a helping hand,” Wen said. He said that Beijing would be willing to purchase an appropriate amount of the sovereign bonds of eurozone countries if the situation warrants such an action. Merkel responded saying Germany “will take care of solidarity and solidity in the eurozone.” Wen also underscored the important role confidence can play in helping the European Union to correct its sovereign debt crisis. As Athens convulses, Beijing knows that holding euros is risky, but it sees that holding dollars is far riskier. Expect China to uplift the euro more and more as it edges away from the dollar.
Beijing and Moscow signed an agreement on Sunday permitting bilateral trade to be conducted in their national currencies in a move to decrease Russia’s and China’s dependence on the U.S. dollar. The terms of the deal say that Russian and Chinese companies will be able to settle their business in rubles and yuans, and in the freely convertible currency. The implementation of direct currency trading is viewed as a consequence of rising bilateral trade between the two Asian giants. Last year, bilateral trade between the two sides soared 50 percent to reach an amount equivalent to $59 billion, making China Russia’s biggest trading partner. Earlier in the month, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Russia and set the goals with Russian officials to increase Russo-Chinese trade to $100 billion by 2015 and $200 billion by 2020. Both countries stand to benefit from the switch to trading in their national currencies, but the move is an ominous sign for the ailing dollar.
Africa/Latin America
The Horn of Africa is currently engulfed in a devastating drought. The United Nations refugee agency recently reported that more than 20,000 Somali refugees have arrived in the Dadaab refugee complex in northern Kenya over the past two weeks. Many of the refugees have showed up in Kenya in a horrible state of malnourishment brought on by walking for days without food or water. To date, more than 50,000 refugees are currently living in makeshift shelters outside the structured camp. Expect droughts to increase in both frequency and severity as the world nears the end of this age.
Peruvian President Alan Garcia inaugurated a giant statue of Jesus Christ on Wednesday. This statue, dubbed “Christ of the Pacific,” is 72 feet tall and overlooks the Pacific Ocean from the Peruvian capital of Lima. Expect religion to play a much more central role in Latin American politics as leaders like Garcia look increasingly to Catholicism for direction. Alan Garcia is the same man who recently claimed that Osama bin Laden’s death was a miracle performed by the recently beatified and long dead Pope John Paul ii.
Anglo-America
Teachers and public sector works went on strike June 30 in Britain to protest cuts to their pensions and government spending. Unions and the government warn this could be the first of many such strikes. The government estimates that one in three schools were forced to close, and another one in three were partially closed. Beforehand, unions estimated that up to three quarters of a million people would join the strikes. Britain’s government is spending far more than it can afford and its “cuts” don’t cut the government’s debt—they just stop it from growing quite so fast. With these kinds of protests triggered by even meager cuts, is there any way Britain will be able to get its economy sorted?
Several cabinet ministers believe that Britain should leave the EU, according to an article published in the Spectator magazine June 30. Political editor James Forsyth wrote: “Both Oliver Letwin, the prime minister’s policy point man, and Steve Hilton, Cameron’s longest-standing political ally, have been known to end meetings by saying, ‘Well, the only solution is to leave the EU.’ At least two cabinet ministers share their view. … It’s not just the Tories on the Treasury bench who are becoming more Euroskeptic. One senior backbencher tells me that he expects a sizeable number of his fellow Tory MPs to vote for ukip (the UK Independence Party) at the European elections in 2012. Among the new intake of Tory MPs, who make up nearly half the parliamentary party, it is accepted that anyone who wants to be elected Tory leader will have to promise to renegotiate Britain’s membership of the European Union and put the result to a referendum.” The British Conservative Party is becoming increasingly Euroskeptic. Expect this trend to continue.
Hundreds of firefighters have been deployed to battle a wildfire near a top U.S. nuclear weapons research lab in New Mexico. Nearby residents have expressed concern that noxious fumes may be released into the atmosphere if the flames reach the facility. But officials are confident the fire will not reach the drums, and they say dangerous materials are safely stored. The Las Conchas fire has now scorched over 100 square miles of territory, fuelled by dry timber and powered by strong winds. Smoke from the blaze can actually be seen from space. This massive inferno is but the latest in a series of natural disasters that have hit the United States.
