Trumpet Weekly September 6-12

‘‘ ‘‘ ‘‘ ‘‘ ‘‘ ’’ ’’ ’’ ’’ ’’ trumpetweekly With Britain already drowning from the financial collapse, Europe is preparing to hold it underwater.

We have a government in Washington that has it completely backward when it comes to American friends and foes.

Fans repeatedly chant the notorious Ustashe war cry “Za dom-Spremni.”

I am convinced that now is Europe’s moment, Europe’s opportunity.

One sees the diversity. But where is the unity? Is America, too, breaking up?

plans page 2

dictator page 3

soccer page 5

agenda page 9

  america page 8

the

A digest of significant world news from the Philadelphia Trumpet staff  •  for the week of september 6-12, 2009

Is Germany’s 9/11 Imminent?

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the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (itrr) recently intercepted a message circulating among al Qaedaaffiliated terrorists that said “everyone knows the next strike is very near.” The attack will “surprise everyone in its effect,” the author noted, and will brad macdonald be “much more shocking than that of Sept. 11, 2001” (emphasis mine columnist throughout). Threats like this are not rare, which means they can be too easily discarded. But this communique is relevant, and raises some worthwhile considerations. First, notice which nation the terrorists are targeting. The message said, “And the Germans, grandchildren of the Nazis, know more than everyone else that they will be the first ones to taste [the nightmare]. It is just a matter of time—that is, days or weeks—and God willing you’ll see things that you’ve never heard of before.” This message is also relevant for its timing. Germany is on the eve of national elections; the people vote on September 27. Will an al Qaeda attack occur before the German national election? Before or after, it’s easy to see how an attack would transform Germany’s national leadership. Consider this too: Al Qaeda has a successful track record of transforming a country’s political landscape by conducting an attack, or series of attacks, on the eve of a national election. Remember Spanish national elections in March 2004? In the weeks prior to elections on March 14, 2004, polls showed Spain’s incumbent prime minister, Jos Aznar, with a solid lead over his opposition. Even a week before election day, Aznar’s reelection appeared certain, despite the fact that the majority of Spaniards opposed his government’s support of and participation in the U.S.-led Iraq war. But Mr. Aznar’s political destiny changed the morning of March 11, when a string of exploding bombs wreaked carnage and chaos on the Madrid rail system, killing 191 and injuring 1,800 people. Al Qaeda’s message to Spanish voters was crystal clear: “Perfectly timed to be absorbed into the Spanish electorate’s psyche,” Stratfor observed, the train bombings were “designed to demonstrate the price that Spain would be forced to pay for its Iraq policy” (March 18, 2004). The message resonated, quickly. “What was a less-than-decisive issue [the Iraq war] for voters March 10 became the defining issue by March 12.” Two days later, the pro-war Jos nalysts with

Aznar was ousted, and Jos Luis Zapatero, the anti-Iraq war leader of the Socialist Party, was elected. Within months, Spanish troops were exiting Iraq. In a matter of hours, and with a handful of bombs, al Qaeda successfully transformed Spain’s political landscape—and drove Spanish forces from Iraq! Will they attempt to do the same in Germany? One of al Qaeda’s top priorities is to drive foreign troops from Afghanistan, which has been its central base of operations for more than 25 years. With more than 4,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan, the third largest contingent behind America and Britain, Germany is one of al Qaeda’s primary targets. At home, Germany’s political landscape is not dissimilar to Spain’s in the weeks prior to March 11, 2004. While the war is unpopular among the German electorate, it has not been a determining factor in the election campaign. Not until this week did it even appear that Ms. Merkel’s support of the war efforts might hurt her popularity and seemingly likely reelection on September 27. Last Friday, the German electorate was reminded of its government’s participation in the U.S.-led war when a wayward air assault on terrorists, ordered by German military commanders, apparently killed dozens of civilians. Since then the war has emerged as a topic of national debate, with Ms. Merkel’s defense of Germany’s involvement in Afghanistan becoming as much a sore point among Germans, two thirds of whom don’t believe Germany ought to be there in the first place, as last Friday’s botched attack. With anti-war sentiments mounting and a national election looming, it’s not difficult to see why al Qaeda might consider the next few weeks an opportune time to strike Germany. It’s a possibility not lost on German officials. “We all have Madrid at the back of our minds,” stated August Hanning, the assistant to German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schuble. Last month, Schuble himself warned that “Germany is in the crosshairs of international terrorism.” “German security authorities, especially the Interior Ministry,” noted Spiegel Online, “have rarely spoken as often and openly about a supposedly imminent attack as they have this summer.” Campaigning on domestic security might not win an election during a global financial crisis, continued Spiegel, but a “bomb exploding in Germany could quickly spell an election loss.” In his latest Key of David television program, recorded

see germany page 10

The trumpet weekly  September 5, 2009  •  2

Middle East

Pakistan nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan waves to journalists from the front door of his house in Islamabad.

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he world’s most notorious proliferator of nuclear weapons technology has admitted that he, together with top Pakistani officials, assisted Iran in its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. In an interview broadcast on Pakistani television August 31, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, described how he and other Pakistani military officials facilitated deals between Iran and Pakistan’s own suppliers of nuclear weapons materials and equipment. Khan told the interviewer that if Iran succeeds in “acquiring nuclear technology, we will be a strong bloc in the region to counter international pressure. Iran’s nuclear capability will neutralize Israel’s power.” President Obama’s commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, submitted his classified assessment of the war strategy to the Pentagon on August 31. His report apparently describes the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan as “serious,” but stops short of requesting additional troops. Data released Thursday by a policy think tank, the International Council on Security and Development (icos), shows that the Taliban has a significant presence in almost every corner of Afghanistan. The icos’s security map shows a deepening security crisis with substantial Taliban activity in at least 97 percent of the country and heavy Taliban activity across 80 percent. This compares to icos data from late last year that showed a permanent Taliban presence in 72 percent of the country. The biggest difference in the latest security assessment compared to last year’s was a heavy increase of Taliban activity in areas of the north that were previously considered relatively safe. Iran and Venezuela signed three energy agreements on Sunday during a visit by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to the Islamic Republic, the seventh official visit for Chávez. Two of the accords stipulated that Venezuela and Iran will each invest $760 million in the other’s energy sector. The third deal is an Iranian attempt to mitigate the risk of new sanctions from the West. U.S. lawmakers are expected to vote next month on sanctions targeting Iran’s refined petroleum imports. Under the terms of the deal, Tehran will import 20,000 barrels of gasoline from Venezuela each day, worth $800 million, beginning in October. The strengthening relationship between Iran and Venezuela is being constructed on a staunch anti-American footing. Expect the two countries to exploit future opportunities to counter U.S. interests in both the Middle East and South America. Hezbollah has been stockpiling chemical weapons in southern Lebanon according to Kutawaiti newspaper al-Seyassah. The report,

joel hilliker | Columnist

How EU Plans Will Destroy London European bureaucrats are using the global economic crisis as a pretext for advancing a long-term pet project: stripping the once-great Britain of its national sovereignty. An independent think tank that advises the German government predicts that Britain is finished. In an August report, it explained why the island nation is about to lose what little remains of its global political significance. Embedded within the report was a startling admission. Britain’s strong military always assured the nation “its seat among the great powers,” the paper said. No longer. In Iraq and Afghanistan, its armed forces are stretched to the breaking point. Britain will soon have to abandon one of its premier armament projects, which will “lead to the loss of whole industrial sectors,” striking a fatal wound to the already crippled British economy. Additional pain is coming, as the UK’s tax revenues are projected to plummet 14 percent next year. On top of all that, European leaders are about to deal the death blow to London’s status as a global financial capital. How? The paper says, “European Commission plans to apply stricter rules for monitoring financial markets could also lead to a significant loss of importance for London as a financial center.” With Britain already drowning from the financial collapse, Europe is preparing to hold it underwater with oppressive regulations. We have already reported on the regimen it is about to dictate. In June, European leaders—an unenthusiastic Gordon Brown included—agreed to a massive regulatory superstructure, including three new pan-European watchdog organizations. The Adam Smith Institute rightly says that “the proposals seem opportunistic, using the financial crisis to provide an opening for long-held political objectives.” As Europe eliminates London’s global influence, watch for it to implement strategies to shift that business to the mainland. Biblical prophecy directs us to watch for Europe to become the world’s financial capital, if only briefly, in this end time. Europe simply doesn’t have Britain’s interests at heart, and never has. From its inception 36 years ago, this alliance has been a disaster for Britain. Once history’s greatest empire, the UK has surrendered its sovereignty piece by precious piece. Europe has swallowed it in a single generation.

The trumpet weekly  September 5, 2009  •  3

published September 3, cites European intelligence sources working with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (unifil) who claimed that Iran has flown chemical and biological warfare equipment to Lebanon via Syria. The al-Seyassah report claimed that the ammunition dump that exploded near Hirbat Salim in Lebanon on July 14 contained chemical weapons. Hezbollah refused to allow the Lebanese Army or unifil near the site for 24 hours while they covered their tracks. The report also said that investigators still found traces of chemical weapons in the area. If this report is true, then a new and deadlier type of terrorism could soon emerge.

Jerusalem Post | September 7

“Peace Index”: Israelis Feeling Safer

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espite the recent streak of violent incidents throughout the country, Jewish Israelis’ sense of security is on the rise. The August 2009 “War and Peace Index” of the Evans Program for Conflict Resolution Research of Tel Aviv University shows that the Israeli Jewish public’s sense of security, on both personal and national levels, is increasing. … Forty-nine percent of those surveyed define their personal security level as high or very high, 29 percent as medium, and only 19 percent as low—compared to April 2007, when 42.5 percent described their level as high, 32 percent as medium and 24 percent as low. In terms of national security, 38 percent of those surveyed felt the level is high, 37 percent said medium, and 22 percent said low. In 2007, the respective rates were 24.5 percent, 36 percent and 39 per“For when they shall say, Peace and cent. … The survey also shows safety; then sudden destruction cometh that those who define themupon them, as travail upon a woman with selves as “left” feel less worried child; and they shall not escape.” about the national security —1 Thessalonians 5:3 situation than those describing themselves as “center” or “right.” … The same correlation between political leanings and sense of security extends to the question of whether or not interviewees feared a large-scale attack against Israel by one or more Arab states. … However, overall, a plurality of those surveyed—48 percent—see a low or very low chance of such an attack in the next five years. …

Bloomberg | September 9

Iranian Atomic Work Nears Bomb Capability, U.S. Says

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ran’s nuclear work is approaching a “dangerous and destabilizing” point at which the Persian Gulf country could build a bomb, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency said. “Iran is now either very near or in possession already of sufficient low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon, if the decision were made to further enrich it to weapons grade,” Ambassador Glyn Davies said today in a statement prepared for the iaea’s 35-member

stephen flurry | Columnist

Defending Dictators

When the Honduras Supreme Court booted its thug-in-chief from office in June, after he illegally attempted to trample all over the nation’s constitution, President Obama immediately rose in defense of the would-be dictator. He called upon all political actors in Honduras to “respect democratic norms” and to uphold the “rule of law.” Yet, it was former President Manual Zelaya’s utter contempt for democracy and the rule of law that landed him in exile in the first place. In March, Zelaya issued a presidential order setting a June 28 deadline for a national referendum on rewriting the Honduran Constitution. The move set the stage for a showdown between the power-hungry Zelaya and the defenders of democracy and the Honduran Constitution, which included the congressional body, the attorney general, the Supreme Court, the nation’s military and a majority of its populace. Egged on by his anti-American allies like Hugo Chavez, Zelaya moved ahead with the referendum, even daring his own people to stop him. On June 28, Honduran soldiers, acting on orders from the Supreme Court, arrested Zelaya and exiled him to Costa Rica. President Obama’s initial response to the action taken against Zelaya was to incorrectly identify it as a coup d’etat. Today, though it has backed away from calling the impeachment a coup, the Obama administration still views the crisis through an inverted moral compass. Worse still, Washington now appears to be doing Zelaya’s bidding in Honduras. Last week, after meeting with Zelaya in Washington, Secretary of State Clinton announced that all U.S. aid to the Honduran government would be permanently cut off as a result of its refusal to reinstall Manuel Zelaya as president. Added to the crippling sanctions the State Department now says the U.S. will not recognize the results of the November free elections in Honduras! This goes beyond madness, as Ralph Peters wrote earlier this week. We have a government in Washington that has it completely backward when it comes to American friends and foes. While punishing those who are struggling to uphold freedom, democracy and the rule of law, we are actively aiding and abetting the cause of murderous thugs who hate what America stands for and wish to destroy us.

The trumpet weekly  September 5, 2009  •  4

board of governors, which is meeting for a third day in Vienna. This “moves Iran closer to a dangerous and destabilizing possible breakout capacity,” Davies added, in some of the strongest comments yet used by a U.S. official about the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program. He repeated President Barack Obama’s overtures to Iran for direct negotiations and said the administration in Washington is committed to a negotiated resolution to the international dispute over Iran’s work. …

Europe

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n September 4, the German army in Afghanistan called in an American air strike after Taliban militants captured two nato fuel trucks. Many civilians were reportedly killed in the strike, and the incident has made Germany’s presence in Afghanistan a major election issue with general elections coming up in just over two weeks. The incident has hurt German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s popularity and increased public opposition to the war. Opinion polls indicate that the combined popularity of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and its preferred partners the Free Democrats has fallen to less than 49 percent—just short of the required majority needed to form a coalition. Meanwhile, the popularity of the socialist Left Party—the only party to oppose the Afghan war—has increased to 14 percent. Watch these trends, and the German elections as a whole. General Motors finally agreed Thursday to a deal favored by Angela Merkel to sell Opel to Canadian auto-parts manufacturer Magna International. Its offer is being financed by Russian state-owned bank Sberbank. This development is crucial for Merkel. Right before the election, she has clinched a deal that will prevent thousands of German jobs at Opel plants from being lost. Of course, she did that only with the help of the Russians. If she gets reelected, she will be in Russia’s debt. Germany’s President Horst Köhler unveiled the country’s first memorial to soldiers killed in the post-World War ii military on Tuesday. While Germany is just one of many countries that memorialize their war dead, this is part of a disquieting trend of military taboos being pushed aside in Germany.

EU Observer | September 9

German Lower House Passes EU Treaty Law

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ermany ’s lower

house on Tuesday … passed legislation allowing the final ratification of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, pushing the focus once more back to Ireland and its referendum. In a special sitting, 446 deputies in the Bundestag voted in favor of a package of laws that would give it more say over EU affairs, and 46 voted against. Germany has been scrambling to ready the legislation since the country’s constitutional court in June ruled that while the Lisbon Treaty was in line with the German charter, the proposed national laws accompanying its ratification did not give parliament enough oversight over EU decisions. The tweaked proposals, comprising four laws in total, involve the parliament in any possible future changes to the Lisbon Treaty. One clause in the treaty allows for moving from an issue that needs unanimity for a decision to qualified majority voting if all member states agree. … The parliament’s approval will be needed for the opening of EU

Financial Times, James Blitz | September 9

German Unification Raised Hitler Secret British government documents to be published on Friday reveal that François Mitterrand privately warned Margaret Thatcher that a reunited Germany might “make even more ground than had Hitler.” The documents highlight the deep anxieties felt by Britain and France after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 with the then French president and British prime minister worrying that reunification would return Germany to its prewar past. Published by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the papers show that, in January 1990, weeks after the fall of the wall, President Mitterrand was warning Mrs. Thatcher that the prospect of reunification was already turning the Germans into the “bad” people they used to be. Germany was not formally reunited until October that year. Mrs. Thatcher’s deep-seated opposition to reunification, and her disagreement with the fco over the issue, also emerges fully in the 500 published papers. One document refers to her expressing horror on hearing that the members of the Bundestag in Bonn allegedly sang “Deutschland Über Alles” to celebrate the fall of the wall. In another document, she is reported as finding the views of Sir Christopher Mallaby, the UK ambassador to Bonn, “alarming,” expressing astonishment that he appeared to welcome the prospect of a united Germany. The fco’s decision to publish the papers, after a year of deliberation by Whitehall officials, is being seen as an attempt by Britain to set the record straight and show that its diplomats were positive about reunification early on—in spite of Mrs. Thatcher’s personal misgivings. Germany is preparing to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the wall’s fall, which many Europeans view as a historic moment of liberation ending the postwar division of the continent and decades of Soviet occupation. The papers’ publication is controversial. Britain normally publishes secret official documents only after 30 years. The publication of such sensitive papers after 20 years may cause friction with France. Although Mr. Mitterrand went on to establish a famously close alliance with Helmut Kohl, Germany’s chancellor, the papers reveal the contempt the French leader felt for the way Mr. Kohl pressed home the reunification agenda.

The trumpet weekly  September 5, 2009  •  5

membership negotiations with a country as well as for beginning negotiations on changing an EU treaty. … The upper house, or Bundesrat, still has to approve the laws in a vote on September 18 before the final step of ratification of the Lisbon Treaty—signature by German President Horst Koehler—can be taken. The whole process is expected to be wrapped up before the country’s general election on September 27. …

“This new law will not make the EU more democratic. Germany will be the only member with a greater voice. It’s a stealthy ambush of Brussels that will only make the European Union even more German-centric, German-dependent and German-dominated” —Trumpet, September 2009

Sun, September 8

Sick Heil

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roatian football chiefs are using a sick fascist hatemonger to whip up a vile racist frenzy among fans. A Sun investigation … reveals the Croatian FA is behind a cynical campaign encouraging thugs … to worship the right-wing nut spreading hatred …. Shocking songs by fascist rocker Marko Perkovic that glorify genocide and Hitler’s death camps are played at Croatia’s home matches. And his sick slogans are chanted by thousands of fans. Perkovic—nicknamed Thompson after the machinegun he used in the Balkans war—is loved by fans of the Croatia side. They are notorious for wearing the uniform of the Nazis’ puppet Ustashe regime that ran Croatia during World War II. The songs are blasted out to crank up intimidation levels inside Zagreb’s Maksimir Stadium. It instantly provokes a fascist fervor as fans … launch into the Sieg Heil salutes popular at Thompson’s concerts. Fans repeatedly chant the notorious Ustashe war cry “Za dom— Spremni,” which means “For the Homeland—ready” …. Team manager Slaven Bilic has even admitted playing Thompson’s music in the dressing room to fire up his players …. Thompson … is a cult figure on white supremacist website Stormfront. … He glorifies the Ustashe “The Nazis have now gone regime which committed genoUNDERGROUND. … They plan to COME cide in World War II and his BACK and to win on the third try.” chilling lyrics glamorize Nazi —Herbert Armstrong, concentration camps where World Tomorrow, May 9, 1945 90,000 innocent Jews, Gypsies and Serbs were murdered. He also backs Croat generals who committed crimes against humanity during the bloody Balkans conflict in the 1990s. …

Spiegel | September 10

EU to Establish Powerful Financial Authority

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Europe are facing tough new scrutiny from a planned European financial supervisory authority. It would be more powerful and could take action to prevent systemic problems if national authorities did not. One year after the outbreak of the worst economic crisis since World War ii, the European Union is close to creating an EU-wide financial anks in

TheTrumpet.com | September 9

EU Prepares for “Transformational Agenda” European Commission President José Manuel Barroso promised to work toward “a future where Europe exploits its full potential” in a September 3 document designed to convince the European Parliament to back him for a second term in the EU’s most high-profile office. In his 41-page paper, titled “Political Guidelines for the Next Commission,” the former premier of Portugal said he envisions an EU that “projects European values and interests in the world.” He said it is time for Europe to “move on with conviction and determination to a new phase of ambition” (emphasis ours throughout). “Our action now will determine the vitality of the European model of society for future generations. It will determine how much influence we have in shaping a new world order,” he continued. “These are no ordinary times. What Europe needs is a transformational agenda.” The Commission’s slow and sheepish reaction to last year’s financial crisis earned Barroso strong criticism, so his endorsement by the newly elected Parliament is not guaranteed. Addressing these concerns, Barroso focused much of the paper on the economic crisis. “Only by working together,” he wrote, “can Europe have the critical mass needed. We face a choice: Either we collectively shape the new order, or Europe will become irrelevant. … [T] hese days it is fashionable to speculate about Europe’s decline. I take a radically different view. I am convinced that now is Europe’s moment, Europe’s opportunity.” With Germany only weeks from electing a new chancellor, Barroso’s “radically different view” and his belief in “Europe’s moment” take on special significance. On August 25, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry said the “[German] election and events to unfold from it are going to bring devastating consequences to this world. A dangerous political structure has been built in the European Union, and it’s about to get a lot worse.” When Barroso emphasizes his desire to “rekindle a passion for Europe, a new pride and feeling of connection between the EU and its citizens,” it becomes clear that he could be instrumental in hastening the transfiguring of Europe into a stronger, more unified union. … Prophecy tells us that the “European spirit” Barroso longs to nurture will grow to be powerful.

The trumpet weekly  September 5, 2009  •  6

markets regulatory authority. In its Thursday edition, Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that it had obtained draft regulations that, if approved, would create three powerful supervisory authorities alongside an early warning system which would monitor banking, financial markets and insurance and pension funds across Europe. The authorities could take action to prevent a repeat of the current financial crisis that precipitated the global economic slump. The steps to create the new authority came at the request of EU member states. According to the plans, the European controllers would be given the right—in cases where a crisis is foreseeable—to directly intervene in financial markets. The newspaper reports that the European Commission plans to present its draft regulations on September 23. … Banks would be monitored by a London-based European Banking Authority. Trade in securities will be controlled by a Paris-based European Security and Markets Authority. And insurance and pension funds would be reviewed by a European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority in Frankfurt. … Under the plan, the new oversight authorities would be in operation by 2011, and they will be al“The global economic crisis is sweeping lowed to issue direct orders if away national powers and forcing an they feel that national superunnatural union of European states. It visory authorities aren’t actis hastening the rise of a new global ing decisively enough when a superpower!” —Trumpet, October 2009 financial institute, involved in cross-border business or which could threaten the stability of markets, runs into trouble.

Asia

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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday gave his greatest indication yet that he intends to return to the presidency at Russia’s next election in 2012. Putin served two terms as president, from 2000 through 2008. As Putin was unable to then run for a third term because of constitutionally mandated term limits, he assumed the office prime minister as well as chairman of United Russia, thereby maintaining control over Russian politics. Speaking to the Valdai discussion group of Russia experts Friday, Putin seemed to confirm that he has his eye on the presidency once more. Reuters reports: “Academics attending the three-hour lunch at Putin’s summer house outside Moscow said Putin was preparing the ground for a possible return and it was clear he was calling the shots. The next president will serve a six-year term following a change to the constitution rushed through shortly after Medvedev took office. Putin could serve two consecutive terms, meaning he might not step down until 2024” (September 11). Read our November/ December 2005 Trumpet article “Embracing Authoritarianism” to see how Putin has amassed personal power and returned the country to classic Russian authoritarian-style leadership. This has paved the way for the return of Russia as a great power, as prophesied in the Bible. ussian

Latin America

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President Hugo Chávez is currently on what he has dubbed the “axis of evil tour.” TheTrumpet.com reported on the energy agreements he signed with Iran on September 6. On September 10, he arrived in Moscow, meeting both with Russia’s president, Dmitri Medvedev, and the real power in Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Discussions covered a broad range of topics, with a enezuelan

ron fraser | Columnist

Watch Germany! A week ago, both candidates for the chancellorship, incumbent Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, received a shock. The largely state-controlled media had been singing a song of praise to Merkel, claiming that she was a shoo-in for regaining the chancellorship following the upcoming September 27 federal elections. But last weekend, both candidates lost support following state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Saar. All polled increases in the vote for minority parties, with Merkel’s Christian Democrats and Steinmeier’s Social Democrats losing support in the process. On Tuesday, Time commented, “Now German politics is no longer dominated by the two big parties—the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats—with the kind of stable two-party coalitions that were typical of West Germany. The political game is much more open, with at least five parties vying for power and reflecting the much broader spectrum of political opinion in the population. This seemingly unstable coalition system is the new normal. … According to opinion polls, Chancellor Angela Merkel seemed to be coasting to victory in September—but now the race seems more uncertain than ever. Her cdu party lost its absolute majority in Thuringia and Saar and may lose power altogether to three-party left-leaning coalitions in those states. In Saxony, the cdu and fdp [Free Democratic Party] govern together and were reelected—but for the first time in a German state parliament, a neo-Nazi party, the npd, kept its seats” (emphasis mine). With the September 27 federal election now wide open, the left-wing daily Tageszeitung observed, “The only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain” (August 31). Yet there is one great certainty here, “the more sure word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19), within which context Herbert Armstrong declared well over 60 years ago, “I [have] been persistently proclaiming…over the air and in the Plain Truth, that Germany would once again come to economic and military power, heading a 10-nation resurrection of the Roman Empire.” The time for fulfillment of that great prophecy is at hand. You need to watch Germany!

The trumpet weekly  September 5, 2009  •  7

primary focus on energy cooperation and arms purchases. In a tour that includes visits to Libya and Syria, Chávez wants to demonstrate his opposition to the U.S. and continue to work against Washington’s interests and decrease his country’s dependence on U.S. oil purchases, thereby diminishing Washington’s influence in Latin America. A flight from Cancun to Mexico City was hijacked on September 9. Though there was no loss of life or significant property damage, the effect on Mexico’s tourism industry could be devastating. Tourism has already dropped 18 percent since last year; expect it to plummet through the rest of 2009.

Anglo-America

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Friday, families traveled to New York for the eighth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Families of victims and others withstood rainy weather to observe Ground Zero and a moment of silence at 8:46, the minute mass murderers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower, 1 World Trade Center. Just after 9:30, visitors observed a second moment of silence for when terrorists plunged United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower. Police sirens and fire engines wailed, and family members and volunteer workers read off the names of the victims: 2,993 of them. On Wednesday, President Barack Obama made a prime-time televised appeal to Americans to support his universal health-care plan, which is struggling now that voters are weighing its gigantic cost against the nation’s crippled economy. In economic news, the Washington Times reported Friday that 2.5 million Americans fell below the poverty line last year as the recession and job hemorrhaging impacted the economy, contributing to the highest number of poor Americans since 1998, according to the Census Bureau. One in eight Americans lives on less than $10,991 per year. Down Under, the Age front page reports that Australian students are struggling, with one in 10 failing to reach the most basic standards in reading, writing and math. In the Northern Territory, the figure was one in three. n

CNN | September 11

Insiders Sell Like There’s No Tomorrow

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of stock-selling insiders be wrong? The stock market has mounted an historic rally since it hit a low in March. The S&P 500 is up 55 percent, as U.S. job losses have slowed and credit markets have stabilized. But against that improving backdrop, one indicator has turned distinctly bearish: Corporate officers and directors have been selling shares at a pace last seen just before the onset of the subprime malaise two years ago. While a wave of insider selling doesn’t necessarily foretell a stock market downturn, it suggests that those with the first read on business trends don’t believe current stock prices are justified by economic fundamentals. “It’s not a very complicated story,” said Charles Biderman, who runs market research firm Trim Tabs. “Insiders know better than you and me. If prices are too high, they sell.” Biderman, who says there were $31 worth of insider stock sales in an hundreds

Reuters | September 9

Another Financial Crisis Inevitable A nother global financial crisis is inevitable because human nature always reverts to “speculative excesses” during a period of sustained prosperity, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said. “The crisis will happen again but it will be different,” he told bbc Two’s The Love of Money television series. “That is the unquenchable capability of human beings when confronted with long periods of prosperity to presume that that will continue,” he said. Greenspan, speaking to the bbc to mark the first anniversary of the fall of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, said Britain will be hit worse than the U.S. by the subsequent worldwide financial crisis and global recession because it has a globally focused economy. Countries, smarting from the near collapse of the banking system, will struggle to match their stated desire for increased regulation with their other stated need for free global trade. Greenspan stepped down as Fed chairman in 2006 after 18 years at the helm during which he presided over the longest uninterrupted period of economic growth in modern U.S. history from 1991 to 2001. But his record has recently come under harsher scrutiny, with some economic watchers noting it was during Greenspan’s tenure at the Fed that the seeds were sown for the housing and easy credit bubble that contributed to the financial crisis. Greenspan, who has defended his record repeatedly, said financial crises are all different, but they have one fundamental source. “They begin to take speculative excesses with the consequences that have dotted the history of the globe basically since the beginning of the 18th and 19th century,” he said. “It’s human nature: Unless somebody can find a way to change human nature we will have another crisis.” “But very soon, now, God Almighty, whom we serve, is going to send the living Jesus Christ down to this Earth in all the great majesty, splendor, power and glory of the great God, to put down this vanity and greed—to change human nature—to rule all nations with God’s laws of giving, helping, serving. And then we shall have peace.” —Herbert Armstrong,  co-worker letter, Feb. 25, 1966

The trumpet weekly  September 5, 2009  •  8

August for every $1 of insider buys, isn’t the only one who has taken note. Ben Silverman, director of research at the InsiderScore.com website that tracks trading action, said insiders are selling at their most aggressive clip since the summer of 2007. …

Reuters | September 3

Food Stamp List Soars Past 35 Million: USDA

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ore than 35 million Americans received food stamps in June, up 22 percent from June 2008 and a new record as the country continued to grapple with the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The food stamp program, which helps cover the cost of groceries for one in nine Americans, has grown in step with the U.S. unemployment rate which stood at 9.4 percent in July. … June was the seventh straight month in which food stamp rolls set a record. The average benefit in June was $133.12 per person.

TheTrumpet.com, Robert Morley, Columnist | September 8

A Clear and Present Agenda

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you will about the president, but from the very beginning he told us he wanted to completely revamp America. Now that he is changing the country, the stunned masses are professing varying degrees of shock and awe. Americans are getting exactly what they voted for—and a whole lot more. But America should have seen it coming. A man is known by his friends. As the president told America before he was elected: “If you want to really know what my policies are, look to the people around me” (emphasis mine throughout). Meet Van Jones. Mr. Jones was a “special adviser” to the president. As the president’s “green jobs” czar, he was officially charged with helping stimulate the economy with environmentally friendly job creation. That was his official agenda. But Jones had a very different unofficial agenda (I say “had” because he resigned Sunday). Jones is a confirmed communist. He often speaks on such ideas as social justice, eco-apartheid, and redistribution of wealth. Speaking at the Power Shift conference in March, Van Jones told the audience that the whole human drama had been leading up to this point of time in America. He said America needed to completely revamp the whole economy to create justice for all and to avoid discriminating against various groups. Asians, Indians, Blacks, and Latinos should be compensated for being held down by America’s pollution- based economy, he said. The new green economy is about so much more than just creating environmentally clean jobs. The real agenda is for something far more sinister. The agenda is partially revealed in Jones’s resume. He is a founding member of storm, a radical Marxist organization committed to creating a revolution in America. In a publication produced by storm, the group ay what

World Net Daily, Patrick Buchanan, September 10

Is America Coming Apart?

Flying home from London … one arrives in the middle of a[n] acrimonious national debate right here in the United States. At issue: Should Barack Obama be allowed to address tens of millions of American children, inside their classrooms, during school hours? Conservative talk-show hosts saw a White House scheme to turn public schools into indoctrination centers …. The liberal commentariat raged about rightwing paranoia. [This] episode reveals the poisoned character of our politics. We saw it earlier on display in August, when the crowds that came out for town hall meetings to oppose Obama’s health-care plans were called “thugs,” “fascists,” “racists” and “evil-mongers” by national Democrats. We see it as Rep. Joe Wilson shouts, “You lie!” at the president during his address to a joint session of Congress. We seem not only to disagree with each other more than ever, but to have come almost to detest one another. Politically, culturally, racially, we seem ever ready to go for each other’s throats. … The question invites itself. In what sense are we one nation and one people anymore? For what is a nation if not a people of a common ancestry, faith, culture and language, who worship the same God, revere the same heroes, cherish the same history, celebrate the same holidays and share the same music, poetry, art and literature? … We are not only more divided than ever on politics, faith and morality, but along the lines of class and ethnicity. … Consider but a few issues on which Americans have lately been bitterly divided: school prayer, the Ten Commandments, evolution, the death penalty, abortion, homosexuality, assisted suicide, affirmative action, busing, the Confederate battle flag, the Duke rape case, Terri Schiavo, Iraq, amnesty, torture. Now it is death panels, global warming, “birthers” and socialism. If a married couple disagreed as broadly and deeply as Americans do on such basic issues, they would have divorced and gone their separate ways long ago. What is it that still holds us together? … “E pluribus unum”—out of many, one— was the national motto the men of ’76 settled upon. One sees the pluribus. But where is the unum? One sees the diversity. But where is the unity? Is America, too, breaking up?

The trumpet weekly  September 5, 2009  •  9

claimed it looked “towards the revolutionary traditions of Third World communism and found valuable and inspiring models for revolutionary change.” Van Jones is also co-founder of the radical black President Barack Obama from the very beginning empowerment wanted to completely revamp America. group Color of Change. According to the Color of Change website, the government left black people and minorities to die in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina because they were poor, and because of their race. How is it possible that such a radical was allowed to become an adviser to the president? President Obama’s other friends and advisers reveal the answer. Meet Iranian-born Valerie Jarrett. Ms. Jarrett is a senior adviser, assistant, and close personal family friend to the president. Jarrett has said that Obama is like a brother to her. When Van Jones was appointed to the Obama advisory circle, Jarrett said that the Obama team “was so delighted to be able to recruit him into the White House” and that they had been watching Jones for all the years since he had been active in Oakland. Now “we have captured” all his “creative ideas,” she said. Van Jones’s appointment was very purposeful. He was there because the administration wanted him there. The placement of other Obama power-players confirms it. Consider Mark Lloyd, the administration’s chief diversity officer at the Federal Communications Commission (fcc). He is pushing for the government to regulate how much radio time talk show hosts of different political philosophies get. “It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press,” he infamously stated. Lloyd has also implied that U.S. radio usage needs to be more fairly rebalanced by the government, or something could happen in America similar to how the Hutus used their dominance of radio to stir up mass genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda. Lloyd has publicly praised Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s for his socialist takeover. Carol Browner has big plans as well. She is Obama’s lead on global warming. She is also known for her membership in Socialist International—a group for “global governance.” The group wants America to subordinate itself to an international world-governing body. It also calls for rich countries to shrink their economies to combat global warming. Then there is John Holdren, Obama’s science adviser. Holdren has advocated forced abortions as a population control method. He opined that government has the prerogative and social duty to enforce a twobaby limit. In that context, he said that “neither the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution mentions a right to reproduce.” Yes, you can tell a lot about a person by the friends he keeps. In Van Jones’s own words: “Personnel is policy.” There is a massive transformation coming to America. And it is going to be radical. Social, economic, geopolitical—it is all on the auction block—and we will all pay the price. But it is not as if America wasn’t warned. Just before he was elected, President Obama cheered: “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America!” There has always been a clear and present agenda. It’s just that few were really listening. But God warned America that change was coming too. President Obama’s agenda is just the first sip of a very bitter cup that will totally transfigure the country. Curses are coming; you can read them in

Daily Mail, Melanie Phillips, September 10

The Alternative Is Social Catastrophe Once again, Britain is recoiling from the sickening spectacle of childhood innocence being turned into its monstrous antithesis. Two young brothers aged 10 and 11 from Edlington, South Yorkshire, subjected two other little boys aged 9 and 11 to sadistic attack and torture, leaving one fighting for his life. What is so horrifying is that the attackers showed no empathy whatsoever with the suffering of another living being. People call these boys “evil” because such absence of feeling is inhuman. … To label these boys “evil” is to let the real villains off the hook. These children are the product of evil attitudes within the adult world. Their personalities have been warped and their ability to feel for others blocked off because they have been deprived of the essential condition for developing into normally functioning human beings: a secure and loving family in which the basics of civilized life are programmed into children’s characters. Instead, they were abandoned to fend for themselves in a pit of absolute degradation, cruelty and inhumanity. Their mother, who has seven sons by three fathers, is an alcoholic and drug addict who left them to forage from rubbish bins and fed them cannabis to keep them quiet; their father is a drunken brute, who regularly beat them and forced them to watch violent horror films. We know that there are thousands of other children being raised in broadly similar backgrounds. There are areas of the country where the overriding problem is not material poverty but social, cultural and spiritual disintegration—at the heart of which is the collapse of family life. Children are being born to lone mothers who were themselves raised in shattered homes by mothers who in turn came from identical backgrounds. The outcome is households in which children are neglected and maltreated, subjected to drug and alcohol abuse, violence and emotional chaos; and where the cruelty and indifference they endure is often translated into the sadistic way they treat others. … For the past three decades, warnings that the disintegration of the family would result in social catastrophe were brushed aside. What was deemed more important was never to hurt the feelings of those living in fragmented households and to throw welfare benefits at them instead. … The Edlington disaster can therefore be laid at their door. …

The trumpet weekly  September 5, 2009  •  10

Deuteronomy 32. In the words of the president’s friend and pastor of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright: “The chickens are coming home to roost!”

Bloomberg | September 10

U.S. Trade Deficit Widens Most Since 1999

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he U.S. trade deficit widened in July, and imports gained by a record in percentage terms as demand for cars, computers and oil increased. The gap between imports and exports increased 16 percent, the most in more than a decade, to $32 billion from a revised $27.5 billion in June that was larger than previously estimated, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Imports soared 4.7 percent, outpacing a 2.2 percent gain in exports. … The U.S. trade gap with the European Union almost doubled to $8 billion from $4.5 billion, while the gap with Canada rose to $2.2 billion from $1.5 billion and the deficit with Mexico narrowed. …

germany from page 1 yesterday and scheduled to air in two weeks, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry discussed the possibility of an Islamic terrorist attack in Germany, and the transformation it would cause in German politics. While intelligence like this intercepted message certainly suggests an attack is possible, Mr. Flurry explained, Bible prophecy and historical fact reveal emphatically that Germany is about to undergo a political transformation—which could easily be set off by an attack on Germany by Islamic terrorists. “I believe this could very easily happen, and could lead to the biggest change in world events in this end time,” stated Mr. Flurry. Should Germany be attacked by al Qaeda or one of its radical Islamic friends, explained Mr. Flurry, its response would probably be the exact opposite of Spain’s in 2004. An attack on German soil would almost certainly bring about the demise of Angela Merkel’s chancellorship, and, depending on the parties in power and the strength of the coalition, likely destabilize the German government, no matter if it occurred before or after this month’s elections. Whatever the details, an attack would not usher in a weak, introverted, anti-war administration in Berlin. It would usher in the exact opposite! Bible prophecy reveals that in the end time, the time immediately before Jesus Christ’s return, a man of fierce countenance and powerful, cruel leadership will assume control of a newly resurrected, Germanled Holy Roman Empire. Daniel 8 identifies this man as a modern-day Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greek king in the second-century b.c. who, after obtaining his kingdom by flattery and deceit, set about afflicting and torturing the Jews around Jerusalem. (To study this prophecy in detail, read Daniel Unlocks Revelation.) A terrorist explosion on German soil could thrust this terrifying man onto the scene in an instant! Right now Germany is a strong nation without a strong leader. The European Union is an empire without an emperor. While some Germans and Europeans see this reality, many don’t. A devastating terrorist attack on German soil by Islamic terrorists would quickly expose this void, and immediately intensify the craving in Germany, and Europe, for strong leadership. If you haven’t already, read “Is Germany’s Charlemagne About to Appear?” And remember, watch Germany—closely!

Telegraph | September 7

UN Wants New Global Currency to Replace Dollar The dollar should be replaced with a global currency, the United Nations has said, proposing the biggest overhaul of the world’s monetary system since the Second World War. In a radical report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (unctad) has said the system of currencies and capital rules which binds the world economy is not working properly, and was largely responsible for the financial and economic crises. It added that the present system, under which the dollar acts as the world’s reserve currency, should be subject to a wholesale reconsideration. Although a number of countries, including China and Russia, have suggested replacing the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, the unctad report is the first time a major multinational institution has posited such a suggestion. In essence, the report calls for a new Bretton Woods-style system of managed international exchange rates, meaning central banks would be forced to intervene and either support or push down their currencies depending on how the rest of the world economy is behaving. The proposals would also imply that surplus nations such as China and Germany should stimulate their economies further in order to cut their own imbalances, rather than, as in the present system, deficit nations such as the UK and U.S. having to take the main burden of readjustment. “Replacing the dollar with an artificial currency would solve some of the problems related to the potential of countries running large deficits and would help stability,” said Detlef Kotte, one of the report’s authors. “But you will also need a system of managed exchange rates. Countries should keep real exchange rates [adjusted for inflation] stable. Central banks would have to intervene and if not they would have to be told to do so by a multilateral institution such as the International Monetary Fund.” The proposals, included in unctad’s annual Trade and Development R eport, amount to the most radical suggestions for redesigning the global monetary system. Although many economists have pointed out that the economic crisis owed more to the malfunctioning of the post-Bretton Woods system, until now no major institution, including the G-20, has come up with an alternative.