Trumpet Weekly 9/26/09

‘‘ ‘‘ ‘‘ ‘‘ ‘‘ ’’ ’’ ’’ ’’ ’’ trumpetweekly Poland once again sits in midfield waiting to see which boot it will first feel as the tussle starts anew.

This is the closest thing I have seen to a declaration of economic warfare in Western Europe in my lifetime.

Our capabilities in waging defensive combat under modern conditions have taken a quantum leap.

A post-American speech by our first post-American president.

When a leading proponent for one point of view suddenly starts batting for the other side, it’s usually newsworthy.

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A digest of significant world news from the Philadelphia Trumpet staff  •  for the week of september 20-26, 2009

Community Organizing the World

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York is where Barack Obama the youthful student, while at Columbia in the early 1980s, opted for a profession in the field of community organization. The first stop on that career path was in Chicago’s black communities, where a young Obama worked as a ground-level activist. Later, stephen flurry as everyone now knows, that path led him into the world of politics—through columnist Springfield first, then Washington. This week, Barack Obama the president returned to his roots in New York, armed with the same radical activist ideology. This time, however, the message was aimed at bringing the international community together. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly, after all the obligatory apologies for the America that existed before 2009, President Obama said, “It is my deeply held belief that in the year 2009—more than at any point in human history—the interests of nations and peoples are shared” (emphasis mine throughout). In actual fact, the interests of nations and peoples have never been so deeply divided. And no institution highlights this ugly reality quite like the United Nations, which is run by a corrupt bunch of bureaucrats who rarely agree on anything except their naked hostility against Israel and the United States. The UN’s disastrous record of failing to enforce resolutions and keep the peace has been thoroughly documented. Added to that, no nation, one can just as easily argue, openly displays such deep-seated division quite like the United States. Far from being a high-water mark for sharing the common interests of all Americans, 2009 may well be noted most for the hundreds of thousands of angry protesters at “tea parties” across the nation, a congressman shouting down the president during a nationally televised speech and a major media establishment completely selling out to a radical government. For his part, President Obama’s message of sharing and working together must surely ring hollow to those who have been repeatedly snubbed and/or abandoned by the new administration—an ever expanding list that already includes governments in Britain, Israel, Poland, the Czech Republic, defenders of democracy in Honduras and producers at FoxNews, to name a few. On the other hand, Obama’s message of organizing a world where everyone shares and has an equal voice must ew

surely be a lovely melody in the ears of America’s enemies. “In an era when our destiny is shared,” Obama said on Wednesday, “power is no longer a zero sum game. No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation.” Had that been a line from Robert Fulgum’s All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, it might not seem so dangerously naive. But this is coming from the leader of the free world—one who is seemingly oblivious to the fact that mankind’s entire history has been heavy-laden with violence and war, nations rising against nations and world-ruling empires exercising dominion over subservient peoples. The worst part of it is, Jesus Christ prophesied that man’s savage treatment of fellow man would only intensify in the latter days! “For then [just before Christ returns] shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved …” (Matthew 24:21-22). This, sad to say, is mankind’s legacy. And weak leadership in the United States, Britain and Israel is only hastening along the fulfillment of this prophecy. Read the first three verses of Isaiah 3 and see what qualities of leadership are prophesied to vanish from our “modern” age: vision, prudence, judgment, wisdom, honor and eloquence. “And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them” (Isaiah 3:4). God is talking about leaders who degenerate to a child’s level of understanding. Statements like these prove just how up to date Isaiah’s prophecy is: “No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed.” America’s government in Washington and its many enemies around the world are about to get what they yearn for—a world free of American dominance. And God says that massive power vacuum will be quickly filled by an empire forming right now in the heart of Europe—and one that will impose its will on the entire world! We are about to see an unfathomable amount of destruction explode all over the Earth. It’s as dangerous as this world has ever been, and yet, this is the unmistakably weak and childish message the United States of America is sending to the world: We have fully abandoned our position as lone superpower and international policeman. We are but one nation among many in the community of nations. We have no moral authority to impose our will on any other nation, no matter how dangerous that nation or its leadership might be.

see organizing page 10

The trumpet weekly  September 26, 2009  •  2

Middle East

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ormer Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert went on trial Friday over the corruption allegations that forced him to resign last year. Olmert, the first Israeli prime minister to stand trial, is charged with fraud, breach of trust and failure to report income, dating back to before he became Israel’s leader. He denies any wrongdoing. Prime Minister Olmert’s trial is the latest in a series of scandals involving Israeli politicians. Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi told the United Nations Wednesday evening what his solution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict was: a single state called Isratine, an acronym for Israel and Palestine. It was the first time Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Gadhafi had addressed the UN General Assembly in his 40 years in power. president of Iran, speaks to the Libya is currently a temporary member UN General Assembly. of the UN Security Council. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke to the UN General Assembly the same night, railing against Israel and the United States. He accused Israel of “inhuman policies” in the Palestinian territories, calling on the world to respond, and charged Israel with dominating global economic and political affairs. He also accused the American-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan of “war, bloodshed, aggression, terror and intimidation.” This is just further evidence of the UN being used as an acceptable forum for anti-Israel and anti-American rhetoric. The UN is simply being used by enemies of the West to marginalize the U.S.’s influence on the world scene. Iranian media reported Tuesday that Tehran has welcomed Washington’s reversal on its missile defense plans in Central Europe. This, of course, comes as no surprise. While Iran’s Press tv claims that the move is welcome as a reduction in the conventional arms race, the true reason for Tehran’s approval is that it is a geopolitical victory for Iran, as Stephen Flurry pointed out in his column last week. Iran’s state news agency irna on Tuesday also reported that the country’s first nuclear power plant is 96 percent complete and that final testing will soon begin. Iranian Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said that almost all of the equipment had been installed in the Bushehr nuclear power plant and that it would go into full operation after it had been tested. Russia has been helping Iran build the Bushehr plant since 1992.

Washington Post | September 25

Iran Reveals Existence of Second Uranium Enrichment Plant

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Obama and the leaders of France and Britain on Friday blasted Iran’s construction of a previously unknown uranium enrichment facility and demanded that Tehran immediately fulfill its obligations under international law or risk the imposition of harsh resident

STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images

TownHall.com, Joel Mowbray | September 18

UN Strikes Again: Hamas Not Terrorist, But Israel Is? Looking at the latest high-profile “report” from the United Nations on the recent war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, it’s not difficult to understand why the vast majority of Americans harbor deep distrust of the international body. Though the UN has a disturbing history of cozying up to thugs and tyrants—each dictator has a vote in the General Assembly equal to the United States—it is the international body’s unrelenting obsession with Israel that reveals its moral bankruptcy. Genuine massacres in Sudan and Rwanda or ongoing brutality in Burma and North Korea elicit barely a yawn at the UN. But Israel wages a carefully planned and orchestrated military campaign to root out terrorists who have intentionally embedded themselves in civilian areas and the UN issues a breathless 554-page report accusing the Jewish state of “war crimes” and “terrorism.” To appreciate the utter absurdity of the socalled Goldstone Report, consider …. Hamas is never referred to directly as a terrorist organization, and further, its intentional firing of rockets into Israeli civilian areas was not necessarily done to terrorize. Human shields were used, the report concluded, but by Israel, not the Hamas terrorists who chose to launch rockets and mortars from crowded civilian areas and near schools and hospitals. Only one party could be confirmed with certainty as terrorists: Israel. Issues of balance aside, the quality of the evidence cited is at best dubious. Rumor and speculation provide foundation for some of the most outlandish allegations, and most of the report itself is not the work of first-hand research, but rather repeating claims made by various ngos or news accounts from the likes of al-Jazeera. Among the experts cited by the Goldstone Report were the unquestionably fair-minded Central Commission for Documentation and Pursuit of Israeli War Criminals and an avowed and avid collector of Nazi memorabilia. Such is what has become of the United Nations. … Given that U.S. taxpayers have lavished the UN with billions and billions of dollars over the years, one wonders why the group’s report would stoop to relying on al-Jazeera and a Nazi fetishist as sources. Unless, of course, the UN went looking for the sources that would give them the conclusions it wanted long before Israel ever launched its campaign against Hamas.

The trumpet weekly  September 26, 2009  •  3

new sanctions. “Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow,” Obama said, detailing how the facility at Qom had been under construction for years without being disclosed, as required, to the International Atomic Energy Association. “International law is not an empty promise.” … Iran acknowledged the existence of the facility for the first time on Monday, in a letter to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency. The letter said “a new pilot fuel enrichment plant is under construction in the country,” said Marc Vidricaire, a spokesman for the watchdog agency. “The letter stated that the enrichment level would be up to 5 percent.” … White House officials said Western intelligence agencies have been tracking the facility for years. Obama said officials from the United States, France and Britain briefed the iaea in Vienna on Thursday on what they knew about the facility. The three heads of state decided to publicly disclose the existence of the facility after learning that Iran had become aware the site was no longer a secret. …

New York Post | September 22

How We All Miss the Shah

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of the shah of Iran, Empress Farah Pahlavi, is still around to remind us how bad Jimmy Carter was as president—long before his recent Israel-bashing and his calling Obama detractors racist. If Carter hadn’t let the shah be overthrown in 1979, “there wouldn’t be this problem in Afghanistan, nor would there have been the IranIraq war,” Pahlavi tells Avenue magazine. “Iraq would never have dared to even send a plane over our country. The Gulf War wouldn’t have happened, nor would any of the problems of the past 30 years, including the exporting of religious fanaticism.” he widow

Europe

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f Ireland rejects the Lisbon Treaty, a smaller group of European Union nations should create a “core Europe” in order to implement the treaty, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suggested on September 18. “If the Lisbon Treaty on EU reform does not pass, we need to completely revisit the current functioning of Europe to create a core of states that operate beyond unanimity,” he said at a press conference after meeting with Slovenian Premier Borut Pahor. “Europe cannot truly take decisions because decisions must be taken unanimously and that cannot continue,” said Berlusconi. The EUobserver. com reported, “Some experts believe that even if the Irish approve the treaty, such a move remains inevitable as the Union expands beyond 27 member states.” This is one way that a unified group of 10 nations, as indicated in Bible prophecy, could emerge from the EU. Watch this trend closely. Al Qaeda released a video September 18 threatening terrorist attacks in Germany if Sunday’s national election does not produce the result it wants. “In a democracy, only the people can order their soldiers to come home,” said a man identified as Bekay Harrach, using the name Abu Talha and speaking in German. “But if the German people decide to continue this war, then it has sealed its own fate and, on top of that, it will have demonstrated that in a democracy civilians are not innocent after all.” The speaker told Muslims to “stay away from anything not vital for the two weeks after the elections.” “If the German people wants to live in security again, it has the opportunity now,” he said. Other-

ron fraser | Columnist

America’s Fatal European Policy Whichever way one looks at the decision by the Obama administration to reverse the Bush initiative to deploy an anti-ballistic missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic, it is bad. Either it reeks of plain geostrategic ineptness, or it is a deliberately radical effort to destroy America’s reputation as a nation prepared to use its power to contain imperialist moves by stronger nations against the weak. For a start, the timing of the announcement was abysmal. It coincided with the 70th anniversary of Poland’s invasion by Russia. Not only did the Obama administration highly offend one of the greatest of America’s allies by committing such a breach of protocol, but President Obama awakened Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer at an unearthly hour to announce his decision showing no consideration as to the five-hour time difference between Washington and Prague. This showed little thought for diplomatic niceties. Historically the geopolitical fall guy between the hegemonic drives of Germany and Russia, Poland once again sits in midfield waiting to see which boot it will first feel as the tussle starts anew, with the referee in Washington having fled the scene. The cancellation sends a clear message to both Russia and Germany that the U.S. is walking away. No wonder both Russia’s Prime Minister Putin and Germany’s Chancellor Merkel acknowledged their satisfaction. They are now free to divide the spoils in Europe between themselves without any interference from that pesky United States. There’s a sense of déjà vu here. A few realists comprehend the enormity of this disastrous move by Washington. Think tank Stratfor commented, “Much of Europe—especially the central and eastern regions—will now view the United States as unable to fulfill its promises to its allies in the face of a strengthening Russia” (September 17). We might well add, “and in the opposing face of a strengthening Germany”! The upshot is that Europe’s immediate future will now be decided between the same two powers that signed a deal to seal its fate back in 1939. Watch for Germany and Russia to become increasingly strident in their demands on an American administration facing significant decline in its international clout well before finishing its first 12 months in office.

The trumpet weekly  September 26, 2009  •  4

wise, he warned, after the elections Germany faced a “rude awakening.” Referring to the possibility of an Islamist terrorist attack on German soil, Gerald Flurry stated in a recently-recorded Key of David program: “I believe this could very easily happen, and could lead to the biggest change in world events in this end time.”

theTrumpet.com | September 23

Stoiber’s Work Making Waves in EU

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erman conserva-

Edmund Stoiber is urging the European Commission to take measures to strip up to €40 billion (us$59 billion) a year in administrative costs from its total annual burden of €360 billion (us$529 billion). Stoiber has chaired Edmund Stoiber’s influence grows as he leads the High Level Group of the charge in cutting fat from EU spending. Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens since its establishment in September 2007. The group’s purpose is to pinpoint where the administrative burden of unnecessary European Union legislation can be cut. Its second report, issued this month, details regulations in such areas as public procurement and financial services whose removal could save businesses more than €3 billion (us$4 billion) monthly. Initially, the High Level Group was given a three-year mandate to slash the EU’s red tape, but European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso is now extending that term by two more years. Stoiber acknowledges the “big battle” he faces to get the measures approved quickly, but he believes that his political fame will aid his efforts. “I don’t have any problems,” he said, “getting access to the commissioners. I can call [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel or [French President] Nicolas Sarkozy or Dutch Prime Minister Jan Balkenende.” Evidence shows that Stoiber’s clout with EU politicians is growing. In August 2007, Stoiber fought against a requirement for him to report to Gunter Verheugen, European Commission vice president and industrial commissioner. Stoiber asked to instead report directly and only to Barroso, but his attempts effected no immediate change. Now, Stoiber has gotten his wish. “I have decided,” said Barroso in a speech last Friday, “that in the new Commission the better regulation services, notably those in charge of reducing administrative burdens, will act under my direct authority, together with impact assessment and ex-post evaluation” (emphasis ours). Stoiber is willing to bide his time in order to have things his way, and he is wielding increasing influence in the highest echelons of EU government. The Trumpet has been following Edmund Stoiber’s political career for some years. Editor in chief Gerald Flurry has said, “Stoiber has a vision for Germany, and he plans on taking the EU with him. But where would this vision take Europe? He wants a strong ‘federation’ within the EU. A powerful political government is one of his great passions.” Stoiber’s recent success shows that his role within the EU is expanding. His advancing position could yet allow him to realize his vision for Germany. The Trumpet is watching for a charismatic, organizational tive

getty images

Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | September 23

Sweeping New Powers Could See Brussels Seize Control of City

The European Commission has unveiled sweeping proposals for a trio of EU financial regulators that shift ultimate control over the City of London from the British authorities to Brussels for the first time, and may allow policy on bank bailouts [to] be decided by EU vote. The plans disregard findings by the Lord’s European Union Committee that a fresh treaty amendment may be required for such an increase in EU power. … The three authorities are to cover banking; insurance and pensions; securities and markets. They will have “binding powers” to impose rulings on Britain’s Financial Services Authority and fellow regulators, and will be backed by full-time staff with a budget of €68 million. The European Central Bank will head a new European Systemic Risk Board (esrb) to provide early warning of financial crises. It will operate through “moral pressure,” requiring states to “explain” reckless policies. … The proposals require the assent of EU governments, by majority vote. … The think tank Open Europe said the proposals give Brussels the final say on delicate issues such as the need to recapitalize banks or ban short-selling. The EU would have wide powers to take action in “emergency cases.” The voting structure would make it hard for any future government to defend the City against policies deemed harmful. “Key decisions will be taken on a ‘one-state, one-vote basis,’ meaning that the UK will have the same influence as countries which have barely any financial sector at all,” said Mats Persson, Open Europe’s director. Britain’s member on each body will be “under a legal obligation to consider only EU interests, not national or any other interests.” While there is a “safeguard” clause allowing states to appeal if decisions “impinge on fiscal sovereignty” (budgets), rulings would be made by a vote of EU finance ministers. This raises the voting bar slightly, but Britain would struggle to find enough allies to stop proposals that might threaten the lifeblood of the UK economy.

The trumpet weekly  September 26, 2009  •  5

genius to emerge as a strongman to lead a united Europe. We believe Edmund Stoiber is a man to watch.

Catholic Culture | September 18

Catholic Patriarchs in Rome for Special Meeting

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ope Benedict xvi will meet on September 19 with seven patriarchs of Eastern Catholic churches, for a discussion of the challenge posed by militant Islam in the Middle East. The extraordinary meeting is also expected to set the stage for a special Synod of Bishops for the Middle East. The seven Eastern patriarchs requested the meeting with the pontiff, to discuss the increasingly difficult position of Christians in the Middle East, and the prospects for relations with Islam. The meeting will also include a discussion of relations between the Eastern patriarchates and the Vatican, and will address questions about the proper pastoral supervision for Catholic “guest workers” living in Islamic countries, particularly the emirates of the Persian Gulf.

Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | September 23

Germany Declares Economic War

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are any German readers of this … I would like to know what they think of the latest breathtaking provocations of German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück. Remember that Herr Steinbrück is not a journalist, pundit, or back-bench maverick. He speaks officially for the German government and for the German nation on the international stage. Every assertion that he made about Britain in his interview with Stern is either factually wrong, or such a serious distortion of events that it amounts to a smear. Furthermore, it was quite threatening. What he said, in effect, is that Germany will marshal its forces to ensure that a chunk of the British economy is shut down—whatever the social consequences. This is the closest thing I have seen to a declaration of economic warfare in Western Europe in my lifetime. “There is clearly a lobby in London that wants to defend its competitive advantage tooth and nail.” Stern said that he sees “dark powers at work” in Britain. He accused the UK government of “doing its best” to sabotage stricter financial regulation at the G-20 in Pittsburgh. This resistance will be crushed. “We will effectively change the rules on the financial markets. Politics is sometimes like a locomotive which comes slowly up to full speed.” “The British financial industry gains 15 percent of the gross domestic product, in Germany is it 6 percent.” Britain is out of step with the rest of Europe in trying to keep this “advantage going.” It must “share the burden” of the financial crisis in the form of a tax on exchanges. “The central question is, who pays the bill? It cannot be that the citizens of Europe should carry the whole cost.” Britain was having “an especially hard time, to put it politely,” agreeing to tougher regulation of hedge funds. Now, I understand that this Westphalian bully is fighting an election on Sunday, and may well be forced out of government. But let me state a f there

Telegraph, con coughlin | September 14

Barack Obama’s Deal Won’t Be Enough

With less than a week to go before Iran delivers its formal answer to the West’s offer of a peace deal over its nuclear program, it is tempting to think that the diplomatic net is finally closing on Tehran. That is certainly the impression given by the suggestion that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is prepared to support a further round of sanctions …. While this falls well short of an unequivocal commitment, it has been seized on by Mr. Obama’s supporters as evidence that his policy of resolving the Iranian nuclear crisis by peaceful means is paying dividends. … But before we get too carried away about the prospects of a peaceful resolution of the world’s most explosive issue, a few words of caution. Mr. Obama might believe he has pulled off a sensational diplomatic coup by winning Mr. Medvedev’s support, but there is no guarantee that the Russian president can deliver on his commitment even if he does agree to a new round of sanctions. … When I last visited Moscow, I met a senior aide to former President Vladimir Putin, who had just returned from Iran and was in no doubt that Mr. Ahmadinejad’s regime was deeply unstable and posed a serious threat to global security. Even so, Moscow continued its support for Tehran, because Mr. Putin took the view that anything that caused Washington discomfort was worth pursuing, even if it jeopardized Russia’s own interests. And while Mr. Medvedev gives a good impression of being in charge of his own country, there are few in Russia who doubt that Mr. Putin, who is now prime minister, and his merry band of oligarchs remain the real power in the land. … If Mr. Putin wants to maintain his support for Tehran, I doubt there is much Mr. Medvedev can do about it. There are similar questions about the extent of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s authority …. Mr. Ahmadinejad is under no illusion that he survives only because he continues to enjoy the patronage of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader. According to a secret document leaked recently by officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Mr. Khamenei has been a staunch supporter of Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons since 1984, when he is said to have told senior officials that a “nuclear arsenal would serve Iran as a deterrent in the hands of God’s soldiers.” …

The trumpet weekly  September 26, 2009  •  6

few points. … Britain is in considerable trouble right now—entirely of our own making, and caused by a decade of inept government, fiscal incontinence, and excess debt. Is that a moment to kick us in the teeth? … There is already a brutal adjustment underway. What is the benefit of further contracting credit in the middle of severe downturn. The man is mad. In terms of morality, I don’t see much to choose between Germany’s car industry (with its stress on high-powered engines that consume scarce resources, and pollute) and the City of London. They are both core national industries, pillars of our respective economies. … If a British chancellor gave an interview on behalf of the British nation saying the German car industry should be shrunk massively, it would be viewed as a gross and gratuitous attack on Germany. Need I add, yet again, that the banks did not cause this global crisis. Governments around the world caused the crisis by forcing down the price of credit (Greenspan, Bank of Japan, and ecb on short rates: China et al on long rates, by flooding the global bond market) far too low for many years, encouraging debt. Banks were the instruments, not the cause. … The Westphalian bully likes taunting Britain. … If he remains in office, he will soon have to deal with the second leg of the German banking crisis that he has so artfully dodged until now. We must resist Schadenfreude when that moment comes.

theTrumpet | September 22

Italian PM Suggests a New “Core Europe”

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f Ireland

rejects the Lisbon Treaty, a smaller group of European Union nations should create a “core Europe” in order to implement the treaty, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suggested on Friday. “If the Lisbon Treaty on EU reform does not pass, we need to completely revisit the current functioning of Europe to create a core of states that operate beyond unanimity,” he said at a press conference after meeting with Slovenian Premier Borut Pahor. “Europe cannot truly take decisions because decisions must be taken unanimously and that cannot continue,” said Berlusconi. EUobserver. com reported, “Various politicians and academics have advocated the idea that an inner core of EU member states drive forward with deeper integration via the development of a new organization, often described as a European federation, alongside the existing European Union.” As far back as 1956, the founder and editor in chief of the Trumpet’s predecessor, the Plain Truth, Herbert W. Armstrong, forecast that a union of nations, led by Germany, would emerge in Europe. In his final book, Mystery of the Ages, he spoke of “a union of 10 nations to rise up out of or following the Common Market of today (Revelation 17).” He then wrote, “Britain will not be in that empire soon to come.” This group of 10 nations could emerge from this idea of creating a “core Europe.” Watch this issue closely—it is an event that we have been prophesying of for years.

Asia

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.S.-led threats of fuel sanctions on Iran are being undermined by China and Russia. Chinese companies are already selling gasoline to Iran, and Russia is poised to follow suit. Because Russia has so often thwarted sanctions on Iran in the UN Security Council, the U.S.

thetrumpet.com | September 24

China’s Military Power Taken a “Quantum Leap” China’s military power has taken a “quantum leap” forward, and its military technology is approaching the same standard as the Western world’s, Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie said in an interview Monday. Further modernizations are planned, he said, and a blueprint has been prepared to set “a solid foundation by 2010″ to further upgrade the armed forces. “Our capabilities in waging defensive combat under modern conditions have taken a quantum leap,” said Liang. “It could be said that China has basically all the kinds of equipment possessed by Western countries, much of which reaches or approaches advanced world standards. This is a very remarkable achievement which not only reflects the level of modernization of our army, but also tremendous changes in national science and technology strength.” On October 1, a huge military parade in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, will mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese military is expected to unveil many new pieces of military equipment, all conforming to the parade’s theme, “Made in China.” “We now have military satellites, advanced jets, new main battle tanks, sophisticated warships and subs,” said Liang, stating that some of the weaponry conforms to world-leading standards. China has a blueprint to expand its army, navy and air force in the future. Chinese state-owned news agency Xinhau wrote, “According to the blueprint, the army will give priority to nationwide mobility instead of regional defense, the navy will be armed with strong coastal defense capabilities, as well as means of warfare farther out to sea, the air force will be updated from mere territorial air defense to the combination of offense and defense, and the missile force will become an effective strategic force capable of both conventional and nuclear launches.” All these modernizations will help China project its power beyond its borders. Watch for China’s global clout to increase with its military power. As China grows stronger, Asian nations such as Japan and South Korea will continue to pull away from their American allies and align themselves with their increasingly powerful neighbor.

The trumpet weekly  September 26, 2009  •  7

has been forced to get more creative. The U.S. has been pressuring Iran’s gasoline suppliers to back of trade with Iran. Although Iran is among the world’s largest crude oil producers, it lacks the refining capability to meet domestic demand for gasoline. Iran’s gasoline imports, therefore, are the most vulnerable part of its economy. But there are massive cracks in the U.S.’s plan. “We estimate, based on what we are hearing in the market,” said JPMorgan head of commodities research Lawrence Eagles, “that 30,000-40,000 barrels a day of Chinese petrol is making its way from the Asian spot market to Iran via third parties.” Iran imports approximately 120,000 barrels of gasoline each day. By shipping through intermediaries, China can supply one third of that amount without any overt official agreements. It is unlikely that Moscow will make such efforts to disguise its assistance to Iran. Russia’s relationship with Iran is one of its most powerful items of leverage against the U.S. In terms of geography and gasoline capacity, Moscow is in a position to cripple the sanctions. Taiwan’s former president Chen Shui-bian and his wife have been sentenced to life in prison on charges of embezzlement and accepting bribes. Chen’s supporters believe his prosecution was politically motivated owing to his staunch stance on Taiwanese independence from mainland China. Chen was charged with embezzling $3.15 million and receiving at least $9 million in bribes, but he has denied the charges claiming he is being prosecuted by current President Ma Ying-jeou because of his antiChina stance. Although the Nationalist Party that Ma leads has made clear that it finds Mr. Chen’s support for Taiwanese independence from China to be misguided, Ma has denied any correlation between these political disagreements and the charges against Chen. Polls show that nearly a third of Taiwanese citizens do not believe their president.

Latin America

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ormer Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is now in the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras. He has encouraged his supporters to protest in the streets. The interim government, still solidly committed to keeping Zelaya out, has scheduled presidential elections for November 29. Chief of Russia’s General Staff Nikolai Makarov announced on September 18 that Russia will help modernize and train Cuba’s military. This continues Russia’s pattern of undermining U.S. interests in Latin America, as explained in “Russia Infiltrates Latin America” by Brad Macdonald (Oct. 2, 2008).

Anglo-America

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Thursday, a federal court indicted Najibullah Zazi on a conspiracy charge to commit mass murder. Zazi is a permanent legal resident living in Denver, Colorado, who works as an airport shuttle driver. He is charged with plotting a bombing in an unspecified location. Also on Thursday, the Treasury Department said its $700 billion bank bailout had been a success, but America’s financial system remained “fragile.” The program, which has used up $365 billion already, may be extended until October 2010. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday that in addition to cutting the nation’s fleet of nuclear-armed submarines from four to three, the government is also considering cutting its nuclear warheads. Prime Minister Brown’s remarks come as the United Nations holds talks on nuclear disarmament. At the same time, Brown responded to reports that U.S. President Barack Obama had snubbed the prime minister. Rumors are circulatn

National Review, September 23

A Post-American Speech by Our First Post-American President Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton tells NRO that President Obama’s address to the UN was “a post-American speech by our first post-American president. It was a speech high on the personality of Barack Obama and high on multilateralism, but very short in advocating American interests.” “It was a very naive, Wilsonian speech, and very revealing of Obama’s foreign policy,” says Bolton. “Overall, it was so apologetic for the actions of prior administrations, in an effort to distance Obama from them, that it became yet another symbol of American weakness in the wake of the president’s decision to abandon missile sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, and his recent manifest hesitation over what to do in Afghanistan.” “The most significant point of the speech was how the president put Israel on the chopping block in a variety of references, from calling Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegitimate to talking about ending ‘the occupation that began in 1967.’ That implies that he supports going back to 1967 borders,” says Bolton. “Obama has a very tough road ahead. He is frequently taking the side of the Palestinians, who don’t have a competent leader who can make hard decisions and compromises in the future.” Also noteworthy, Bolton says, was how Obama highlighted “just how much of American foreign policy that he wants to run through the UN.” “Usually presidential speeches at the UN are ‘state of the world’ addresses. Obama’s speech was filled with talk about UN bodies, UN treaties, and sending Secretary of State Clinton to a conference on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which would be an incredible waste of time for her. The president’s speech showed a fascination with UN-centric issues. Obama talked about getting past ‘balance of power’ politics. He talked about the interests that unite us rather than divide us.” Bolton’s conclusion: “It was all extremely naive. The president did everything he could to say: ‘Can’t we all just get along?’”

The trumpet weekly  September 26, 2009  •  8

ing that Brown’s administration made numerous requests for a formal meeting with the president, who rejected them, yet met with leaders from Japan, China and Russia. Both Downing Street and the White House denied the rumors.

New Zealand Herald | September 24

Stifling Dust Bad Omen for Future

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dust clouds driven by violent storms that turned the skies of New South Wales and Queensland red yesterday may be a harbinger of things to come. Weather forecasters are predicting another storm front for tomorrow, and warn that an emerging El Nino and land dehydrated by a decade of drought could produce a series of storms ripping topsoil from Australia’s fragile interior. There have already been three large dust storms in the past three weeks in the region around South Australia’s vast Lake Eyre—where much of yesterday’s dust was generated—and last week clouds of granulated red earth were blown to New Zealand. Some of yesterday’s cloud, which engulfed most of N.S.W. and southern Queensland, will also cross the Tasman: Thousands of tonnes of dust an hour is estimated to have been pumped across N.S.W. The Bureau of Meteorology said this was one of the worst since the 1940s, when dust storms cloaked much of the continent’s southeast and forced Adelaide to use street lighting in the middle of the day. Chris Eiser, of the N.S.W. Environment Department, told abc Radio that measurements of particle pollution were 10 times the worst on record. … Callers to abc Radio said they awoke to a morning “like Armageddon.” Some said they had seen birds falling from the sky. he vast

Daily Mail | September 22

Gay, Lesbian, Transgender Bodyguards for the Queen

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ou must be a hotshot with a weapon, have a nose for hidden danger and the ability to melt into the background. But that’s not all you need to join the latest intake of the elite royal protection squad guarding the Queen. It also helps if you’re lesbian, gay or transgender. On Tuesday the Metropolitan Police posted an advertisement inviting “special groups” to apply to protect the royal family at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Balmoral. Police chiefs ordered the recruitment drive amid concerns that there are not enough officers from minority groups guarding the Queen. But critics accused the Met of bowing to political correctness. … Former Metropolitan Police Commander John O’Connor condemned the advertisement. “From a political correctness point of view, it’s just window dressing,” the former Flying Squad officer said. … Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, West Yorkshire, said: “I don’t know whether the royal family are going to feel that much safer knowing there’s a transgender outside protecting them. This is absolutely ludicrous. What’s wrong with just employing the best for the job?” …

brad macdonald | Columnist

Ditching Friends, Courting Enemies It’s a motley crew alright: Israel, Honduras, Iraq, Poland, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Ukraine, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Egypt. But despite their differences, these nations have something in common. Each has been abandoned by the United States. The Trumpet has reported on the callous treatment of each of these states at the hands of the Obama administration. But while each specific case is a painful indictment of American foreign policy, it’s the collective picture that is most alarming: It reveals the systematic abandonment by America of nearly every friend and ally. The Obama administration’s most recent act of betrayal occurred last Thursday. America’s planned Ballistic Missile Defense ( bmd) system in Poland and the Czech Republic was a symbolic gesture of America’s strength and commitment to Central and Eastern Europe. It was a sign of Washington’s willingness to invest time and resources into amplifying its voice in European affairs, confronting Russian ambitions on its periphery, and checking Iran’s nuclear ambitions. That program is now history. The decision to scrap the bmd plan caused a political earthquake in Central and Eastern Europe. “By trading the loyalty of Poland and the Czech Republic to satisfy Russia’s security concerns, the United States is signaling that it no longer contests Moscow’s right to assert its interests in Eastern Europe,” wrote the Times Online (emphasis mine throughout). Others felt the tremors too. Ukraine and Georgia are currently being squeezed by the Kremlin; Obama’s capitulation over Poland and the Czech Republic was a sure sign that Washington ultimately plans to abandon them as well. “Putin … sees this as a triumph of his will over Obama’s weak, retreating U.S.” wrote Ralph Peters. “And he’s right.” Now we can “add Poland and the Czech Republic to the list of allies, such as Israel and Honduras, that we’ve thrown to the wolves.” After Mr. Obama delivered his speech to the Muslim world earlier this year, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote that it was a “signal to the world that A merica the superpower is dead!” America’s friends and allies are quickly coming to terms with that reality.

The trumpet weekly  September 26, 2009  •  9

Guardian | September 20

Barack Obama to Slash U.S. Nuclear Arsenal

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arack Obama has demanded the Pentagon conduct a radical review of U.S. nuclear weapons doctrine to prepare the way for deep cuts in the country’s arsenal …. Obama has rejected the Pentagon’s first draft of the “nuclear posture review” as being too timid, and has called for a range of more far-reaching options consistent with his goal of eventually abolishing nuclear weapons altogether, according to European officials. Those options include: • Reconfiguring the U.S. nuclear force to allow for an arsenal measured in hundreds rather than thousands of deployed strategic warheads. • Redrafting nuclear doctrine to narrow the range of conditions under which the U.S. would use nuclear weapons. • Exploring ways of guaranteeing the future reliability of nuclear weapons without testing or producing a new generation of warheads. The review is due to be completed by the end of this year, and European officials say the outcome is not yet clear. But one official said: “Obama is now driving this process. He is saying these are the president’s weapons, and he wants to look again at the doctrine and their role.”

Calgary Herald | September 19

Scientists Pull an AboutFace on Global Warming

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magine if Pope Benedict gave a speech saying the Catholic Church has had it wrong all these centuries; there is no reason priests shouldn’t marry. That might generate the odd headline, no? … When a leading proponent for one point of view suddenly starts batting for the other side, it’s usually newsworthy. So why was a speech last week by Prof. Mojib Latif of Germany’s Leibniz Institute not given more prominence? Latif is one of the leading climate modelers in the world. He is the recipient of several international climate-study prizes and a lead author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc). He has contributed significantly to the ipcc’s last two five-year reports that have stated unequivocally that man-made greenhouse emissions are causing the planet to warm dangerously. Yet last week in Geneva, at the UN’s World Climate Conference—an annual gathering of the so-called “scientific consensus” on man-made climate change—Latif conceded the Earth has not warmed for nearly a decade and that we are likely entering “one or even two decades during which temperatures cool.” … “How much?” he wondered before the assembled delegates. “The jury is still out.” But it is increasingly clear that global warming is on hiatus for the time being. And that is not what the UN, the alarmist scientists or environmentalists predicted. For the past dozen years, since the Kyoto accords were signed in 1997, it has been beaten into our heads with the force and repetition of the rowing drum on a slave galley that the Earth is warming and will continue to warm rapidly through this century until we reach deadly temperatures around 2100.

Washington Times | September 23

Worst Foreign Policy Ever

Tomorrow, President Obama will chair a special nuclear-disarmament meeting by the United Nations Security Council. … He will appear before the body with the weakest foreign-policy record of any new U.S. president in recent memory. An around-the-world tour of international hot spots shows that for all the president’s lofty rhetoric, he can point to precious few accomplishments. In the Middle East, Mr. Obama’s unprecedented obsequiousness in dealing with the Muslim world has generated no tangible returns. The leading Arab states repeatedly have declined to budge toward compromise to push the regional peace process forward, and they show no signs of normalizing relations with Israel. … In Afghanistan, the president has hit turbulence within his own party, and as the going gets tough, he seems ready to repudiate his “stronger and smarter” strategy after only six months. … North Korea has continued to be openly belligerent …. North Korea’s success has encouraged Iran to move forward with its own nuclear program. The Islamic regime has agreed to talks Mr. Obama requested, but the mullahs refuse to negotiate the nuclear issue. The United States finds itself to the left of the United Nations and France on the question of acknowledging that Iran even has a nuclear-weapons program, which is quite an achievement. … Then there is the catalogue of Mr. Obama’s embarrassing moments on the world stage, a list which includes: giving England’s Queen Elizabeth ii an iPod with his speeches on it; giving British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a collection of dvds that were not formatted to the European standard …; calling “Austrian” a language; bowing to the Saudi king; releasing a photo of a conference call with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which the president was showing the soles of his shoes to the camera (an Arab insult); … saying the United States was “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world”; suggesting Arabic translators be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan where Arabic is not a native language; sending a letter to French President Jacques Chirac when Nicolas Sarkozy was the president of France; holding a town-hall meeting in France and not calling on a single French citizen; and referring to “Cinco de Cuatro” in front of the Mexican ambassador when he meant Cinco de Mayo.

The trumpet weekly  September 26, 2009  •  10

While they deny it now, the facts to the contrary are staring them in the face: None of the alarmist drummers ever predicted anything like a 30-year pause in their apocalyptic scenario. Latif says he expects warming to resume in 2020 or 2030. …

Agence France-Presse | September 23

Brits Have “Indirect Sex” With 2.8 Million People

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he average British man or woman has slept with 2.8 million people—albeit indirectly, according to figures released on Wednesday to promote awareness of sexual health. A British pharmacy chain has launched an online calculator which helps you work out how many partners you have had, in the sense of exposure to risk of sexually transmitted diseases (stis). The “Sex Degrees of Separation” ready reckoner tots up the numbers based on your number of partners, then their previous partners, and their former lovers, and so on for six “generations” of partners. The average British man claims to have actually slept with nine people, while women put the figure at 6.3, giving an average of 7.65. “When we sleep with someone, we are, in effect, not only sleeping with them, but also their previous partners and their partners’ previous partners, and so on,” said Clare Kerr, head of sexual health at Lloydspharmacy. “It’s important that people understand how exposed they are to stis ….”

organizing from page 1 And what about the message we have for our traditional allies? President Obama said, “The traditional division between nations of the south and north makes no sense in an interconnected world. Nor do alignments of nations rooted in the cleavages of a long-gone Cold War.” History, in other words, is over. Within the organized community of nations, America’s traditional allies shouldn’t expect any special treatment from Washington. This new world, the way America sees it, is like kindergarten—where all people and nations, with mutual interests and mutual respect, play fair and share everything, and where international bodies—certainly not the United States—maintain order and peace. This new worldview, though, is about to be smashed by the hard reality of old alignments and divisions, as prophecy forewarns and the pages of history books have recorded. For students of history, in fact, it’s an all-too-familiar storyline. “It falls into that long, dismal catalogue of the fruitlessness of experience and the confirmed unteachability of mankind,” Winston Churchill once said. “Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong—these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.” The end of this fruitless and calamitous cycle, however, is actually near! For the elect’s sake, Jesus said in the prophecy mentioned above, those days of tribulation shall be shortened. This is when the God of heaven will set up a Kingdom on this Earth that shall never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44). It’s when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of Jesus Christ (Revelation 11:15). It’s when God will elevate His government above all the nations of the Earth!

robert morley | column

Japan Abandons America For over 50 years, one party ruled Japan virtually uninterrupted. During that time, Japan remained a loyal ally and supporter of U.S. policy. This month, a historic event took place. In a landslide victory, a new party has done the seemingly impossible. A new freshman class of leaders now governs the Land of the Rising Sun. The effects are already rippling across the Pacific toward America. Yukio Hatoyama is Japan’s new leader, and he is already threatening to split with the United States. Hatoyama blames America for the global economic crisis and says that the U.S. is responsible for “the destruction of human dignity.” He campaigned on protecting traditional Japanese economic activities and reducing U.S.-led globalization. During the run-up to the election, Hatoyama’s finance minister told the bbc that if his party were elected in the upcoming national elections, it would refuse to purchase any more U.S. treasuries unless they were denominated in Japanese yen. But Hatoyama isn’t just charting a separate economic course for Japan. His campaign also promised a more “independent” foreign policy from Washington, and closer relations with Japan’s Asian neighbors. More alarming for American policymakers, Hatoyama has authorized a wide-ranging review of the U.S. military presence on Japanese soil. He is reexamining the agreement that permits U.S. warships to dock at Japanese ports, and has said Japan should take a second look at why it is spending billions to house and transfer U.S. troops between its islands. Both U.S. and Japanese officials have now confirmed that discussions are underway to remove all U.S. fighter aircraft from Japan. Japan is a major platform for American power projection—both economically and militarily. Losing it would be devastating to U.S. security. At a time when China is increasingly challenging American authority in the East and South China Sea, when North Korea is brandishing nuclear weapons, and Islamic terrorism is on the upswing in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, America can ill afford to lose Japanese military and logistical support. But it is losing it. America’s ship of state is sinking. Japan’s lifeboat has already left.