Democracy in Peril Worldwide
Breitbart wrote on December 24:
“Several of the world’s free nations will greet the year 2022 under the immediate threat of conquest by authoritarian forces, either through military invasion or subversion from within.
“The best-known example is Taiwan, an outpost of free-market democracy under the perpetual threat of conquest by the hideous tyrants of China… Last week, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said it fears China could turn large-scale military exercises near Taiwan into a full-scale surprise attack, while simultaneously deploying naval forces to keep allies like the United States and Japan from coming to Taiwan’s assistance. Chinese officials and state media are increasingly belligerent about threatening to attack any military that attempts to defend Taiwan, including the U.S. military…
“Seizing Taiwan may appeal to Chinese leaders as a bold move that would destroy the credibility of the United States and Europe, frightening other Asian powers into China’s orbit because they can no longer rely on Western security guarantees. The death of democracy in Taiwan could threaten its survival in South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and elsewhere…
“And then again, democracy could conceivably topple in Taiwan without a military invasion. China invested considerable effort in subverting Taiwanese democracy and nourishing pro-Beijing opposition parties…
“Also living under the threat of invasion from the authoritarians next door is Ukraine. Russia now has over 90,000 troops massed along the Ukrainian border and Ukrainian intelligence believes they could invade by the end of January 2022… Relentless Russian propaganda portrays the Ukrainian government as an illegitimate puppet of foreign interests….
“In South America, there are troubling signs of anti-democratic leftist dictatorships on the rise. The odious regime of Nicolás Maduro appears securely in control of Venezuela, having vanquished a pro-democracy movement even as the national economy comes crashing down in socialist flames. International observers are nervously hoping the new leftist president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, does not follow in Maduro’s footsteps…
“Authoritarian powers like China and Iran are increasing their influence in Latin America, posing both a strategic challenge to the United States and an ideological threat to democracy…
“Democracy in other parts of the developing world is threatened by a string of military coups. The most horrific example is obviously Afghanistan, where the Taliban insurgency swept away the elected civilian government in a matter of days while the Biden administration fumbled through a disastrous withdrawal of American troops. Thanks to Biden’s reckless abandonment of American military equipment and weapons, the Taliban is now the best-armed junta in the world, with plenty of munitions to spare for sale to other anti-democratic forces.
“In Myanmar and Sudan, military juntas seized power… These juntas have survived intense pressure from human rights activists, democratic governments, and the United Nations.
“Libya, transformed into a gruesome wasteland of warlords and jihadis by Biden’s Democrat predecessor Barack Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is still struggling to hold a nationwide democratic election. Ten years after Obama’s invasion, Libya perpetually teeters on the edge of either disintegrating completely or becoming a military dictatorship…
“2022 will dawn with democracy in peril – not just from the vicious struggle to redefine it being waged across the Western world, but from numerous fragile democracies on the brink of external invasion or authoritarian revolution. 2021 was the year that saw freedom and autonomy die in Hong Kong. Representative government is on the chopping block in far too many other places.”
This analysis is, sadly, very real and true. Dictatorships will increase. There will be more and more wars and rumors of wars, as well as famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places, indicating the “beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:6-8).
Close to Civil War
The Washington Post wrote on December 17:
“Barbara F. Walter, a political science professor at the University of California at San Diego, serves on a CIA advisory panel called the Political Instability Task Force that monitors countries around the world and predicts which of them are most at risk of deteriorating into violence…
“Her bottom line: ‘We are closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe… No one wants to believe that their beloved democracy is in decline, or headed toward war,’ she writes. But, ‘if you were an analyst in a foreign country looking at events in America — the same way you’d look at events in Ukraine or the Ivory Coast or Venezuela — you would go down a checklist, assessing each of the conditions that make civil war likely. And what you would find is that the United States, a democracy founded more than two centuries ago, has entered very dangerous territory.’…
“Walter writes that the United States is now an ‘anocracy,’ somewhere between a democracy and an autocratic state….”
Of course, as can be expected from the Washington Post, this decline of US democracy is blamed on Trump, without mentioning the ongoing autocratic dictatorial measures imposed by the Biden Administration.
2021 in Review
The Rutherford Institute wrote on December 27:
“A simmering pot of political tensions boiled over on January 6, 2021, when protesters stormed the Capitol… It took no time at all for the nation’s capital to be placed under a military lockdown, online speech forums restricted… The subsequent military occupation of the nation’s capital by 25,000 troops as part of the so-called ‘peaceful’ transfer of power from one administration to the next was little more than martial law disguised as national security…
“On any given day, the average American going about his daily business was monitored, surveilled, spied on and tracked in more than 20 different ways, by both government and corporate eyes and ears… In response to the events of Jan. 6, the tech giants meted out their own version of social justice by way of digital tyranny and corporate censorship… ‘Domestic terrorism’ became the new poster child for expanding the government’s powers at the expense of civil liberties… the ramifications… are so far-reaching as to render almost every American an extremist in word, deed, thought or by association.
“Political correctness gave way to a more insidious form of group think and mob rule which, coupled with government and corporate censors and a cancel culture determined not to offend ‘certain’ viewpoints, was all too willing to eradicate views that do not conform. Critical race theory also moved to the forefront of the culture wars…
“Government agents routinely violated the Fourth Amendment at will [by invading homes] under the pretext of public health and safety…
“Caught in the crosshairs of a showdown between the rights of the individual and the so-called ‘emergency’ state, concerns about COVID-19 mandates and bodily integrity remained part of a much larger debate over the ongoing power struggle between the citizenry and the government over our property ‘interest’ in our bodies. This debate over bodily integrity covered broad territory, ranging from abortion and forced vaccinations to biometric surveillance and basic healthcare…
“What started out as an apparent effort to prevent a novel coronavirus from sickening the nation (and the world) became yet another means by which world governments (including our own) expanded their powers, abused their authority, and further oppressed their constituents.
“The national debt exceeded $29 trillion. Meanwhile, the government continued to spend taxpayer money it didn’t have on programs it couldn’t afford; businesses shuttered for lack of customers, resources and employees; and consumers continued to encounter global supply chain shortages (and skyrocketing prices) on everything from computer chips and cars to construction materials…
“Owing in large part to the government’s deep-seated and, in many cases, top-secret alliances with foreign nations and global corporations, the US entered into a new world order—a global world order—made up of international government agencies and corporations. Fascism became a global menace…
“Every crisis—manufactured or otherwise—since the nation’s early beginnings has become a make-work opportunity for the government to expand its reach and its power at taxpayer expense while limiting our freedoms at every turn: The Great Depression. The World Wars. The 9/11 terror attacks. The COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, the government’s (mis)management of various states of emergency in the past 20 years from 9/11 to COVID-19 has spawned a massive security-industrial complex the likes of which have never been seen before….
“There may have been a new guy [Biden] in charge this year, but for the most part, nothing changed. The nation remained politically polarized, controlled by forces beyond the purview of the average American, and rapidly moving the nation away from its freedom foundation. Over the past year, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans found themselves repeatedly subjected to egregious civil liberties violations, invasive surveillance, martial law, lockdowns, political correctness, erosions of free speech, strip searches, police shootings of unarmed citizens, government spying, the criminalization of lawful activities, warmongering, etc….”
Sadly, this synopsis does point out convincingly our decline in democracy, freedom and liberties.
More on Russia and Ukraine
The Week wrote on December 22:
“Before this week, I’d never heard of Dmitri Alperovitch or Silverado Policy Accelerator, the nonprofit think tank for which he is co-founder and chair. But Alperovitch is on my radar now, thanks to a viral tweet thread about Russia’s intentions in Ukraine that is at once smart, highly informed, and chilling.
“Alperovitch’s core assertion is simple: The Kremlin has already ‘made a decision to invade Ukraine later this winter.’ The evidence he marshals in defense of this claim is overwhelming. Alperovitch points to Russia’s massive troop deployment to the Ukraine border, increased acts of cyber intrusion into Ukraine, the issuing of diplomatic ultimatums and public demands that would be extremely difficult to walk back, and several other recent moves on Russia’s part.
“He then pivots to listing the reasons he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided on this bellicose course of action. These range from internal conflicts within Ukraine that threaten Russian interests to longstanding concerns about NATO expansion into Russia’s near abroad [sic], which the Kremlin considers a serious danger, to the waning effectiveness of economic sanctions from the West as a deterrent. All of it builds to a prediction: Putin ‘is unlikely to invade western Ukraine but can relatively easily split the country in half along the Dnieper [River] and establish a permanent buffer zone between Europe and Russia, as well as a land bridge to Crimea.’
“Since we’re making predictions, I’ll propose my own: If Alperovitch is right and Putin launches an invasion of Ukraine, the United States and NATO will raise rhetorical hell about it from Washington and Brussels, but they will do nothing to stop it militarily. And that, as Alperovitch points out, ‘would put a permanent end to all talk of Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, or any Central Asian states of ever joining NATO.’
“… a Russian invasion of Ukraine would propel the United States and the world into an era of geopolitical risk unlike any we’ve seen in several decades. And if Alperovitch is correct, that era may be poised to begin in a matter of weeks.”
Deutsche Welle reported on December 26:
“Russia announced on Saturday that 10,000 troops had finished month-long military drills near Ukraine and would be returning to their permanent bases.”
Whether this is even true and whether, if true, this is only another ploy by Putin to calm the West a little while secretly planning an invasion will have to be seen. In any event, the Bible prophesies that Russia and Ukraine will “unite” in some way and ultimately fight against a mighty European power bloc .
Russia’s Ambitions in the Balkans
Foreign Affairs wrote on December 27:
“This year marks the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II…. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin is seizing his opportunity and using the former Yugoslav states as the next battlefield to weaken NATO and the European Union.
“Russia’s goal in the Balkans is to ramp up tensions so that it can position itself as the sole regional mediator and security guarantor. It simultaneously aims to demonstrate that neither NATO, the EU, nor their members are credible partners for any of the Balkan countries. As Moscow also continues its military buildup near the Ukrainian border, its influence campaign in the Balkans serves as another theater to challenge the West.
“Russia’s efforts have been helped immeasurably by the EU’s weak response. Despite the many years and billions of euros spent preparing the Balkans for EU integration, the effort has stalled. Western Europe was asleep at the wheel the last time war broke out in the Balkans—the stakes are too high for it to ignore the region this time around.”
Europeans “Need” for their Army
Arab News wrote on December 24:
“The EU is once again at a crossroads that requires bold decisions, in the face of severe cracks from within and relentless external challenges…
“One of the recurring ideas that surfaces among European leaders… is the establishment [of] an independent military force [and] that in international affairs it is no longer enough to concentrate on economic and soft power while relying for hard power on NATO, as that organization does not necessarily provide the answers to an increasingly polarized and conflictual international arena…
“The messy withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan in August has sent a clear message to EU strategists that it is necessary to lead from the front whenever European interests and values do not coincide with those of friends and foes alike….
“One of the EU’s more immediately pressing vulnerabilities was exposed by the deliberate mayhem instigated by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of President Putin, in orchestrating border crossings by refugees who had been residing in his country into Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. This was retaliation for sanctions imposed on Belarus for its brutal crackdown on opposition activists protesting against Lukashenko’s highly questionable electoral victory last year. The EU’s lack of capacity to adequately respond to this type of cynical, hybrid act of aggression was revealing — and this at a time when Russia has been deploying its troops close to its border with Ukraine in a menacing fashion that leaves little room for doubt about Moscow’s true intentions…
“Ursula von der Leyen, the current European Commission president and a former German defense minister, is one high-profile proponent of the idea of an EU military force. In her State of the Union address in September she emphasized the need to reflect on how the mission in Afghanistan had ended so abruptly, in what was a coded criticism of the US and NATO… For her, it is about recognizing that Europe’s geopolitical vulnerabilities demand that it must itself be prepared to help deal with overseas crises, otherwise it will end up having to deal with such crises on its own soil…”
Ultimately, both will happen, but first, a European army will be established soon at the time when we observe the unification of ten European core nations, including, in all likelihood, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, France, Italy, Spain and others.
Germany’s Fourth Reich?
The Guardian wrote on December 24:
“The head of Poland’s ruling party, Jarosław Kaczyński, has said Germany is trying to turn the EU into a federal ‘German fourth reich’… the head of the Law and Justice party (PiS) said some countries ‘are not enthusiastic at the prospect of a German fourth reich being built on the basis of the EU’… Kaczyński is also a deputy prime minister. He added that the European court of justice was being used as an ‘instrument’ for federalist ideas.
“… The EU this week said it was launching legal action against Poland for ignoring EU law and undermining judicial independence. Poland has accused the bloc of ‘bureaucratic centralism’.
“During a visit to Warsaw by the new German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, this month, the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said the current Berlin government’s support for EU federalism was ‘utopian and therefore dangerous.’”
Whatever expressions are being used, current developments and biblical prophecy show that Germany and a leader of German or Austrian descent will indeed lead a united Europe under ten nations or groups of nations, and this emerging power bloc will by no means be democratic and freedom-loving. The paradox is that in all likelihood, Poland will be part of that authoritarian and dictatorial beast power.
Kurz Becoming a Global Strategist?
Bloomberg wrote on December30:
“Billionaire Peter Thiel’s investment firm is tapping former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to become a global strategist. Kurz, who resigned under a cloud of controversy in October and remains under investigation for corruption, is set to start his new role at Thiel Capital LLC in the first three months of 2022, he told the Heute newspaper.
“The appointment comes amid multiple criminal probes into Kurz and his inner circle over allegations that he used taxpayer money to plant fabricated public-opinion polls in newspapers to help build his career. He completely withdrew from politics earlier this month, setting off another change in power. Kurz has denied wrongdoing.
“Kurz long cultivated connections to Thiel, a conservative power broker. The German-born venture capitalist — one of the first investors in Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook — has supported Republican candidates in the U.S. and endorsed Donald Trump. Kurz, 35, is looking to move beyond a blitz career in politics that made him the youngest head of government in Europe. He was touted as a pioneer of populist conservative politics on the continent before his downfall.”
“UK and the EU Set to Remain Best of Enemies”
The Guardian wrote on December 25:
“The year 2021 has been marked by a remarkable level of petulance in the UK-EU relationship. The unfortunate reality is that 2022 doesn’t offer much hope of redemption.
“France will hold the rolling presidency of the EU for the first six months, during which Emmanuel Macron will have an election campaign to fight and win against the centre and far-right. Boris Johnson is on his uppers, with a large and vocal wing of the Conservative party frothing over Covid restrictions and a lack of Brexit dividend.
“It is quite hard to imagine a less favourable context for relations to be patched up and mature conversations to be had… New German chancellor Olaf Scholz attended his first EU summit just a week ago, but it is yet to be seen whether a date with the British prime minister is even in the diary…”
The relationship between the UK and continental Europe will not improve.
Kamala Harris: Our Democracy Biggest Threat to National Security
The New York Post wrote on December 25:
“During the interview on CBS News ‘Face the Nation,’ host Margaret Brennan asked her about the one national security threat that keeps her up at night worrying. ‘Frankly, one of them is our democracy. There is, I think, no question in the minds of people who are foreign policy experts that the year 2021 is not the year 2000,’ she said…
“Later in the interview, she clarified her earlier comment, saying there is a need to ‘fight for the integrity of our democracy.’”
In light of the desired move of the Biden Administration to replace our democracy with a dictatorship—something which Trump admittedly would also have liked to do—note that Christ said this: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).
The article continued:
“Harris also refused to take any responsibility for the debacle surrounding the US military pullout from Afghanistan in August, instead blaming the Trump administration for inking an agreement with the Taliban…”
She said this: ““I strongly believe that had we broken that agreement, we would be talking about the war in Afghanistan and American troops in Afghanistan, and we’re not talking about that. I don’t regret that…”
No, but we are talking about the unprotected tens of thousands of people whom Biden had left behind, not to mention valuable and sophisticated American equipment and armory, and the terrible atrocities of the Taliban being committed to the women of Afghanistan. Kamala Harris seems to be living in a dream world… and it‘s a dangerous one.
Fauci’s Method of Coercion
Fox News wrote on December 27:
“Fauci said that taking masks off while on an airplane is ‘not something we should even be considering.’… ‘A vaccine requirement for a person getting on the plane is just another level of getting people to have a mechanism that would spur them to get vaccinated; namely, you can’t get on a plane unless you’re vaccinated, which is just another one of the ways of getting requirements, whatever that might be,’ Fauci said. ‘So I mean, anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome…”
He is continuing to show his true colors, but many Americans are sound asleep, without recognizing the real danger of his ideas.
Trump’s Push for Vaccines
The Washington Post wrote on December 23:
“In August, Trump called extra vaccine doses a ‘moneymaking operation,’ and in September he said that he ‘probably’ would not get a booster. He also did not make public that he had received his first two doses during his presidency. But this week he became a vocal advocate for the shots — while maintaining an opposition to vaccine mandates.
“On Sunday, during an event with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, Trump revealed to a crowd of supporters that he had gotten a booster shot. He was immediately booed, but the former president told his supporters to knock it off. ‘Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t,’ Trump scolded, waving his hand dismissively. ‘If you don’t want to take it, you shouldn’t be forced to take it — no mandates,’ Trump said. ‘But take credit, because we saved tens of millions of lives.’
“Then, during an interview published Wednesday by the Daily Wire, Trump told conservative commentator Candace Owens that the coronavirus vaccines are ‘one of the greatest achievements of mankind.’ Owens tried to cast doubt on this, saying that ‘more people have died’ since the vaccines became available and calling their efficacy into question. Trump interrupted her. ‘Oh no, the vaccines work,’ Trump told her. ‘The ones who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don’t take the vaccine. But it’s still their choice. And if you take the vaccine, you’re protected.’
“He told Owens he takes credit for the ‘incredible speed’ with which the vaccines were developed, and he said that ‘people aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.’
“On Monday, O’Reilly said during an interview with NewsNation that the reason Trump had not discussed his booster status before was that he was afraid of alienating his anti-vaccine supporters. O’Reilly said he reassured Trump of his pro-vaccine views ahead of the event, telling him that the fact that vaccines were developed during his presidency should be part of his pitch to voters…
“Trump, however, told Fox News on Tuesday evening that it is tough for him to be ‘overly critical’ of Biden after the president praised his administration for the vaccines’ rollout. Earlier that day, Biden credited Trump with spurring the development of the vaccines, a day after the former president revealed he had gotten a booster… ‘I think he did something very good,’ Trump added. ‘It has to be a process of healing in this country, and that will help a lot.’…
“Still, the former president’s promotion of the shots puts him at odds with a large portion of his base. The widest divide in vaccination rates in the United States is between Democrats and Republicans. Polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation has found that, for every unvaccinated Democrat or Democratic-leaning independent, there are about three unvaccinated Republicans or Republican-leaning independents. Even among those who have already been vaccinated, Republicans are less likely to say they will get a booster…”
Many of Trump’s comments about the effectiveness of “his” vaccines, as underlined in the article above, are demonstrably false or misleading. O’Reilly, no stranger to controversy, also reported that Trump was hurt by the disapproval from the crowd regarding his vaccination push, but that he consoled and encouraged Trump to continue his pitch to voters (compare the Daily Beast, dated December 21). O’Reilly also said that Trump will “definitely run in 2024.” O’ Reilly, who was fired in April of 2017 from Fox News for alleged sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior, may turn out to be one of Trump’s extremely bad counselors [as Dr. Fauci had turned out to be]. Many wrote on Breitbart that they had supported Trump in the past, but now, they have had it with him.
In any event, it makes no difference as to who is leading the USA, as the prophesied downfall of the USA is inevitable. This is because of the abominable sins of the nation, from the top down, while there is absolutely no sign of sincere and deep repentance of the people and their leaders.
Far Right against Trump
Mediaite wrote on December 26:
“Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones lit into former President Donald Trump on Saturday for his recent statements supporting the Covid-19 vaccinations.
“‘This is an emergency Christmas Day warning to President Trump,’ Jones said… ‘You are either completely ignorant about the so-called vaccine gene therapy you helped ram through with Operation Warp Speed, or you are the most evil man who has ever lived to push this toxic poison on the public and to attack your constituents when they simply try to save their lives and the lives of others… What you told Candace Owens is nothing but a raft of dirty lies,’ Jones added…
“Trump has angered many on the far-right with his recent comments on the vaccines…”
Trump can’t afford to lose the votes of the “far right.”
Hypocrisy of Trump Hotels
The Week wrote on December 24:
“The Trump Grill, located inside Trump Tower in New York City, refused to allow a group of vaccine mandate protesters to eat at the restaurant on Thursday after they failed to provide proof of vaccination…
“While Trump has come around on promoting the COVID-19 vaccines, he’s maintained that ‘there can’t be mandates and all those things.’ As he further put it to Fox News this week, ‘The mandate will destroy people’s lives — it destroys people’s lives, just as the vaccine saves people.’
“Trump Hotels, however, says on its website that its Manhattan location requires proof of vaccination ‘in accordance with the most recent local government mandate.’”
The Sun added on December 25:
“‘We came to Trump Tower because we thought Donald Trump was supposed to be for America, he said he’s against vaccine mandates,’ one unmasked protester said. ‘I thought as a man, who’s for America, he would stand up, pay a $1,000 fine, and let us eat freely – you know the man’s a billionaire, he can afford a $1,000 fine. It would make him look good. But instead, he’s had his people not serve us and it just exposed him as a fraud,’ the anti-vaxxer said. ‘All talk but no action.’…
“‘Prove to us that we are a threat,’ one protester said to the cop, while another said: ‘The burden of proof is on them because they are assuming that we are a threat because we don’t have a vaccine. Well, prove to me that we are a threat.’ The cop explained that Trump Grill didn’t have to prove anything to the protesters.”
So, it appears that the restaurant even called the police. However one views it, Trump’s position in this matter, which is viewed by some of his supporters as clearly hypocritical, becomes more and more controversial and problematic for him.
Biden’s Approval Rating Really Bad… but not as Bad as Trump’s was
Fox News wrote on December 27:
“Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House. But the president’s numbers started sagging in August… There is a slight uptick in some of the most recent surveys. Biden stood at 47% approval and 51% disapproval in the latest FOX Business poll, 48%-52% in the most recent CNN survey and slightly back above water at 48%-46% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll. But his average heading into the end of his first year in the White House is nothing to brag about.
“The approval rating is a key indicator of a president’s political strength nationwide and… [it] has also long been a much-watched indicator ahead of the midterm elections, and Biden’s flagging numbers could spell major trouble for the Democrats as they try to hold on to their razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate in the 2022 elections…
“Biden’s numbers lag behind recent predecessors at this point in their presidencies. Former President George W. Bush stood at 84%-12% [sic] in late December 2001, with his numbers skyrocketing as the country rallied around the government in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton stood at 50%-45% and 54%-40%, respectively, at the end of their first years in office. The only recent president whose poll numbers were worse than Biden’s at this point during a White House tenure was Donald Trump, who stood at 39%-56% as 2017 was coming to a close.
“The Democrats suffered disastrous midterm elections in 1994 under Clinton and in 2010 under Obama, but both Democratic presidents rebounded and won reelection two years later. House Republicans were shellacked in the 2018 midterms during Trump’s presidency, losing their eight-year-long majority in the chamber…”
Police Officers too Quick to Fire?
The LA Times Newsletter reported on December 27:
“… the Los Angeles Police Department killed a 14-year-old girl at a Burlington clothing store in North Hollywood last week, only a few days before Christmas… The teenager was in a fitting room with her mother trying on dresses for a quinceañera… Officers were responding to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon at the store. When they arrived, authorities encountered a man they said was assaulting someone, and they opened fire, according to the LAPD. It was not immediately clear what prompted the officers to shoot.
“The man was taken into custody and died at the scene, a spokesperson for the department said. When officers fired their weapons, their gunfire penetrated a wall, which killed the girl in the dressing room. Authorities said that they found a metal cable next to the suspect whom officers were confronting, but that no gun was recovered.
“The case has caused an uproar, with many citing the shooting as the latest example of officers being too quick to draw and fire their weapons…”
In the Millennium, such tragedies won’t occur, as there will not be any police officers with weapons shooting at people…
Canada’s Privacy Intrusion
The New York Post wrote on December 25:
“Canada’s federal government admitted to secretly surveilling its population’s movements during the COVID-19 lockdown by tracking 33 million phones… Canada’s entire population totals 38 million…
“‘Evidence is coming in from many sources, from countries around the world, that what was seen as a huge surveillance surge — post 9/11 — is now completely upstaged by pandemic surveillance,’ David Lyon [said], author of ‘Pandemic Surveillance’ and the former director of the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen’s University in Ontario…
It can indeed be assumed that the governments of other “democratic” countries engage in the same kind of abominable “Orwellian” conduct.
Israeli Airstrike Sets Port in Syria Ablaze
The Guardian wrote on December 28:
“An Israeli airstrike hit Syria’s Latakia port before dawn on Tuesday, sparking a fire that lit up the Mediterranean seafront in the second such attack on the cargo hub this month, Syrian state media reported. Since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out airstrikes on its neighbour, mostly targeting Syrian government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters. But it is only the second time it has hit Latakia port, in the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite community…
“Pictures released by Sana showed firefighters hosing stacks of blazing containers that lit up the night sky… the British-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the cargo was ‘arms and munitions’ that had detonated in ‘powerful explosions that were felt across the city of Latakia and its suburbs’… The Syrian government’s other major ally [in addition to Iran], Russia, operates a naval base in the port of Tartus, 53 miles (85km) to the south.
“So far this year, Israel has targeted Syria nearly 30 times, killing 130 people including five civilians and 125 loyalist fighters… On 7 December it carried out a strike targeting an Iranian arms shipment in Latakia, its first on the port since the start of the civil war… According to a report by the Israeli army, it hit about 50 targets in Syria in 2020.
“In the deadliest operation since the strikes began, Israel killed 57 government troops and allied fighters in eastern Syria in January this year. The Israeli military has defended the strikes as a necessary measure to prevent its arch-foe Iran from gaining a foothold on its doorstep… In a shadow war, Israel has targeted suspected Iranian military facilities in Syria and mounted a sabotage campaign against Iran’s nuclear programme.
“Iran has been a key supporter of the Syrian government in the decade-old conflict. It finances, arms and commands a number of Syrian and foreign militia groups fighting alongside the regular armed forces, chief among them Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah. The conflict in Syria has killed nearly 500,000 people since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful demonstrations.”
The violent controversy between Israel and Iran will continue….
Bird Flu in Israel
The Times of Israel wrote on December 27:
“Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with security officials on Monday to discuss an epidemic of bird flu that has killed vast numbers of wild and domestic fowl in Israel in recent days… The Agriculture Ministry is culling hundreds of thousands of birds [mainly chickens and turkeys], in an attempt to stem the spread of the disease in animals and ‘prevent the infection of the human population,’ the statement said…
“Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg called the outbreak ‘the worst blow to wildlife in the country’s history.’”
Israel 365 added on December 27:
“On Sunday, avian experts from the Nature and Parks Authority counted some 5,000 cranes at the Hula Lake Reserve in the Jezreel Valley in the north of Israel that had died from an outbreak of the H5N1 virus, known as the avian flu. Another 250 dead cranes were seen in the Hula Valley outside of the reserve, and a further 30 were documented elsewhere, mainly in the Jezreel Valley. “
More Nonsense—Contacting Aliens
Newsmax wrote on December 26:
“NASA is reportedly hiring two dozen theologians to take part in a program at Princeton University to assess how humans will react if alien life is found on other planets, and how that would impact ideas about creation and God.
“In 2008, the Vatican’s chief astronomer said there is no conflict between believing in God and in the possibility of ‘extraterrestrial brothers’ perhaps more evolved than humans…
“Jose Gabriel Funes, who heads the Vatican Observatory… told the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano in an interview last week… ‘How can we exclude that life has developed elsewhere,’… explaining the large number of galaxies with their own planets made this possible.”
Of course, if one believes in the ungodly and blasphemous fairy tale of evolution, then everything seems to be possible. But all of this keeps the false notion in place that there are aliens on other planets, not realizing that UFO “sightings” do not prove the existence of extraterrestrial aliens, but they could be fraudulent; simply natural phenomena; or, most likely, part of Satan’s attempts to deceive mankind in preparation for his fight against the returning “alien” Jesus Christ. Note the next article.
The Guardian wrote on December 26:
“From mysterious discs over Slemish Mountain in County Antrim to strange images spotted on CCTV, unexplained sightings increased in Northern Ireland again last year.
“UFO sighting reports… include unidentified flying objects (UFOs); aerial phenomena; unidentified aerial phenomena; lights in the sky; and aliens and extraterrestrials.
“Nick Pope, who used to investigate reports of UFO sightings for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), said… he believed the true number of sightings was much higher.”
We can expect that more and more of these “sightings,” “encounters” and “experiences” will be reported as we are nearing the time of the Great Tribulation and Christ’s Second Coming. Compare Luke 21:11.
Acknowledgement and Disclaimer
These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.
