Weapons Acquired Legally in Colorado

BBC wrote on July 20:

“Residents [are] allowed to keep guns in homes, offices and vehicles, but [they] can only carry them in public with a permit. There are no limits to how many guns can be bought a month, and the state permits sale of automatic weapons. No waiting period [exists] for buying a handgun, both state and federal state law require criminal background checks. Since [the] 1998 Columbine massacre, 20 miles from [the] scene of Friday’s shooting, it has become easier to buy guns in [the] US–a national ban on assault weapons sale expired in 2004.”

The occasional claim that the murderer acquired some of the weapons illegally —especially an assault rifle— is absolutely false.

U.S. Gun Laws Make No Sense

The Washington Post wrote on July 20:

“As President Obama said in brief but eloquent remarks Friday, there is no rational explanation for the massacre that occurred in a Colorado movie theater early Friday. ‘Such violence, such evil, is senseless. It’s beyond reason,’ Mr. Obama said… There’s something else that is senseless, though, and that is America’s gun laws. The temptation is not to mention this fact. That’s true partly because… any mention of gun control is dismissed by gun-control opponents as an ‘exploitation’ of tragedy. But it’s true also because we’ve all been worn down by the futility and repetitiveness of the debate. A massacre occurs; advocates of gun control point out the folly of total permissiveness; the laws do not change; the issue disappears until the next massacre…

“There is no rational basis for allowing ordinary Americans to purchase assault rifles… The alleged shooter in Friday’s crime, which claimed at least 12 lives, came to the theater with two .40-caliber Glock handguns, a Remington 12-gauge shotgun and a Smith & Wesson AR-15 assault-style rifle. According to NBC News, ‘the weapons were legally bought from local stores of two national chains… beginning in May.’

“Yes, the Second Amendment protects a citizen’s right to own a gun, but it does not preclude reasonable regulation for public safety. Yes, mass killings occur in societies with stronger gun laws, but not with such regularity — and not against the backdrop of daily gun violence, both criminal and accidental, that distinguishes the United States.

“We don’t expect this massacre to lead to more sensible laws. We understand the politics. Still, it’s disappointing that the president doesn’t couple his words of comfort with some reminder of the common-sense regulation that could make such tragedies less common. The politics of guns will never shift if people are too cowed or dispirited even to join the argument. U.S. gun laws make no sense.”

Indeed, they don’t—and no civilized country outside the US shows any sympathy for our “American Wild-West” mentality.

Americans in Love With Their Guns

USA Today wrote on July 22:

“There are calls now for gun laws strict enough to stop incidents like these, just as there were after previous tragedies, but those demands will fade. The nation has had a long and acrimonious debate on guns and decided to allow individuals to own them, with reasonable limits. It’s a devil’s bargain that allows millions of law-abiding people to own and use guns responsibly, while accepting thousands of deliberate and accidental shootings a year, including the sort of perverse tragedy that occurred in Colorado.

“Gun control strict enough to stop every shooting is a fantasy. Americans are fiercely devoted to their right to keep and bear arms, and the Supreme Court has upheld that right. The notion that the authorities could somehow confiscate the millions of guns in private hands in the U.S. is a delusion. So is the idea that Americans would support a ban on private handguns — the latest Gallup poll shows that just 26 % of Americans favor that.

“But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be done. Americans do support bans on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, which have figured in mass shootings and were a part of this one. There’s no legitimate reason for the loophole that lets some people evade background checks when they buy guns at gun shows…”

As long as Americans continue with their love and adoration for and fascination with guns, “political correctness” will prevent meaningful changes, as the next article shows.

Political Considerations in an Election Year—Play It Safe

The Los Angeles Times wrote on July 20:

“President Obama and rival Mitt Romney issued similar statements Friday expressing shock and offering their condolences after the shooting rampage in Aurora, Colo. Absent was any discussion of gun control or ways to end gun violence… don’t count on a whole lot of substantive talk about guns or gun control between, say, next week and Nov. 6 — at least from the two main contestants for the White House. Few issues evoke as much emotion as the personal right to bear firearms, and Obama and Romney have their reasons to steer clear of any lengthy debate.

“It has become an article of faith among Democrats that Al Gore lost the White House in 2000… because of his support for gun control… the president has not signed a single piece of major gun-control legislation, nor has Congress given him the opportunity… White House spokesman Jay Carney notably mentioned 2nd Amendment rights…

“Romney… will certainly not do anything to agitate the 2nd Amendment crowd. As governor of Massachusetts, he backed an assault weapons ban and a waiting period to buy firearms; as a presidential candidate, he’s backpedaled from those heresies ever since.

“Reacting to the shootings, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a staunch advocate of gun control, virtually taunted the two presidential candidates to offer more than platitudes, however sincere or well-meaning they may be. ‘You know, soothing words are nice,’ he said on WOR radio, ‘but maybe it’s time that the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country.’…

“Avoiding politics may be the respectful thing to do as the nation grieves the dead and wounded in Colorado. Politically, it is also the safe thing to do.”

CNN added on July 20:

“Daniel Vice, senior attorney for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, criticized Obama on Friday for steering clear of the issue in office. ‘President Obama has refused to even talk about guns… Unfortunately the president has shown a lack of leadership in standing up to the gun lobby’…

“Gun safety advocates have expressed disappointment with the president’s actions since taking office, particularly over his failure to fight for the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban. They pointed out Obama signed bills into law that allowed loaded weapons in some national parks and on Amtrak trains and the destruction of background check documents…”

That our leading politicians shy away from even addressing the issue of gun control for fear of their political survival is shameful and, as Piers Morgan stated correctly on CNN on July 19, “that can’t be right.” However, presumably due to pressure from the media, President Obama has now begun to speak openly about reducing gun crime. Note the next article.

President Obama to Reduce Gun Crime

Deutsche Welle reported on July 26:

“US President Barack Obama has vowed to pursue a cross-party deal on new measures to reduce gun crime across America… Obama pledged late on Wednesday to introduce ‘common sense’ measures to combat gun violence. He vowed to work with both political parties and religious groups to ensure that guns didn’t fall into the hands of criminals. ‘I, like most Americans, believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms,’ he told the National Urban League Convention in New Orleans, referring to part of the US Constitution. ‘But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals – that they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities,’ he said…

“It was the first time Obama had commented on gun control since 12 people were shot dead in a midnight showing of the new Batman movie last Friday… Previous attempts to impose gun controls have been met, however, with fierce resistance from the powerful lobbying group the National Rifle Association and many Republican members of Congress. That makes the issue of gun control extremely decisive in an election year and Obama was careful not to make any specific law change proposals.

“On Wednesday his Republican opponent Mitt Romney voiced his opposition to changes to gun legislation. He argued that a tightening of rules wouldn’t have prevented the Colorado shooting. ‘I don’t happen to believe that America needs new gun laws,’ Romney said…”

It is not quite clear what President Obama is contemplating doing, as the Washington Times added on July 25:

“Progressives are pushing Mr. Obama, who campaigned four years ago on a platform of stricter gun control, to speak out on the subject and use the tragedy to impose stricter gun regulations. But the White House has been saying since the shooting last week that Mr. Obama has no plans to seek new gun legislation. The president used the speech to the Urban League to defend his own actions to date on gun control, as much as to call for tougher controls.”

In any event, it is highly unlikely that new gun laws will be passed, as the next article points out.

No Chance for Successful Ban on Assault Weapons

USA Today wrote on July 25, 2012

“Two bills circulating in Congress would ban high-capacity ammunition magazines, such as the 100-round drum used in Friday’s attack. But passage of those bills — or stiffer bans on assault weapons — are not likely in the near future… On Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he would not use the shooting in Aurora, Colo., to push for any new gun laws, blaming the incident on ‘a deranged person’…”

Gun Sales Up

The New York Post wrote on July 25:

“Firearms sales are surging in the wake of the Colorado movie theater massacre as buyers express fears that anti-gun politicians may use the shootings to seek new restrictions on owning weapons.

“In Colorado, the site of Friday’s shooting that killed 12 and injured dozens of others, gun sales jumped in the three days that followed. The state approved background checks for 2,887 people who wanted to purchase a firearm — 25 percent more than the average Friday to Sunday period in 2012 and 43 percent more than the same interval the week prior…

“Day-to-day gun sales frequently fluctuate, but the numbers also look strong outside of Colorado, too. Seattle’s home county, King, saw nearly twice as many requests for concealed pistol licenses than the same timeframe a year ago. Florida recorded 2,386 background checks on Friday, up 14 percent from the week before. Oregon sales on Friday and Saturday were up 11 percent over the month prior. Four days of checks in California were up 10 percent month-to-month…

“Jay Wallace, who owns Adventure Outdoors in Smyrna, Ga., found that his sales on Saturday were up 300 percent from the same day a year ago — making it one of the best Saturdays his business has ever had…

“Some Democratic lawmakers in Congress cited the shooting as evidence of the need for tougher gun control laws — particularly a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines. Congress, however, hasn’t passed strict legislation in more than a decade, and leaders in Washington show no sign of bringing up such measures any time soon.”

Americans Unable of Honest Debate on Gun Laws?

BBC wrote on July 20:

“The shooting tragedy in Aurora, Colorado, has reignited the debate over gun rights in America. But, argues Rod Dreher, senior editor at The American Conservative, the arguments on both sides say little, and accomplish even less… America will have a national media fit over gun violence, as we always do, and then carry on as we always have. The pattern never fails… Both sides in the US gun debate are heavily committed to absolutist positions that make little sense.

“The anti-gun side holds to a dogmatic belief that stricter gun control would prevent these kinds of killings. Norway has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world. Those laws did not stop Anders Breivik from killing last summer… People on the pro-gun side, however, tend to carry on like fire-breathing fundamentalists at a tent revival. They meet any proposal to restrict weaponry or ammunition, no matter how sensible, as an attempt to give a toehold to the devil…

“Liberals, for example, often defend grotesque violence in film and hip-hop music, denying that it has anything to do with gun crime, and claiming that tolerating it is the price one pays for First Amendment freedom of expression. Civil libertarians object to stop-and-frisk laws that get illegal weapons off the streets. For their part, conservatives idolise the Second Amendment guarantee of gun rights, but rarely consider what that liberty does to peaceable poor people trapped in inner cities ravaged by armed young thugs…

“Americans seem incapable of honest debate among ourselves about what our permissive gun laws do – and do not – have to do with the chronic bloodletting. If our ideological hardness keeps us from talking straight about gun violence, how can we ever make any real progress on reducing it?”

This article states an interesting point. Unbalanced radical viewpoints on either side will not help in solving the issue—especially when important aspects are being overlooked. Fortunately, the issues of “gun control” and the reasons for love of guns will be swiftly and correctly addressed in the Millennium.

Can We Learn from Australia?

CNN wrote on July 21:

“The shooting was senseless. And it makes us think once again about how we can address the horrific problem of gun violence in America. The first task is conceptual — can we figure out what will work? The second task is political — can plausible solutions be implemented legislatively?

“The conceptual problem is immensely difficult, especially in a society that is already as gun-saturated as America is today. The political problem borders on the impossible. Gun policy in this country is made by the National Rifle Association, and no serious effort at gun control can currently get past its veto. Even when legislation passed during the Clinton years in the form of the Brady bill, requiring background checks at the time of gun purchases, or the assault weapons ban, the NRA succeeded in injecting gaping loopholes into the laws…

“Consider what happened in Australia after a crazed gunman killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in 1996.

“The Australian federal government persuaded all states and territories to implement tough new gun control laws. Under the National Firearms Agreement (NFA), firearms legislation was tightened throughout the country. National registration of guns was imposed and it became illegal to hold certain long guns that might be used in mass shootings. The gun ban was backed up by a mandatory buy-back program that substantially reduced gun possession in Australia. The effect was that both gun suicides and homicides (as well as total suicides and homicides) fell. Importantly, while there were 13 mass shootings in Australia during the period of 1979–96, there have been none in the sixteen years since.

“In 1996, then-Prime Minister John Howard stated that the ‘whole scheme is designed to reduce the number of guns in the community and make Australia a safer place to live.’ Of course, the Australian gun control law in 1997 enjoyed an extremely high level of public support and was not hampered by any domestic gun industry (since Australia did not have any). Such would not be the case in the United States where pro-gun political views and NRA power create a very different climate. In the wake of another tragic massacre of innocent lives, we should look carefully at the Australian experience to see if the American public will ever rise up as one against gun violence.”

Why can’t America do what Australia did? The answer lies in the mentality of most Americans. It would require a change of heart. As General Douglas MacArthur so pointedly put it in his famous speech of 1951:

“The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature, and all material and cultural developments of the past 2000 years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.”

Mitt Romney seemed to have somewhat echoed those sentiments. According to USA Today, he stated on July 25 that “changing the heart of the American people” might be what’s needed to end such violent acts. Also notice the next article.

We Have a Sin Problem

Newsmax wrote on July 22:

“Mike Huckabee, speaking on his Fox News show, said America doesn’t have a gun problem or crime problem but a ‘sin problem’ and that while the Aurora movie massacre was a horrible incident that deserves the media coverage it’s getting, other daily American tragedies such as mass abortion, suicides, and other murders should receive more attention.

“The former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate said… that the shooting ‘is impossible to understand except that we live in a world where there is evil. We simply don’t know why any person would reach deep enough into the forces of darkness to decide to kill innocent people simply watching a movie…’ Huckabee said killing a dozen people in a movie theater gets attention because it doesn’t happen every day ‘but one million innocent and unborn babies die in their mother’s wombs each year by elective abortions and we pay scant attention to that.’…

“‘Ultimately,’ Huckabee concluded, ‘we don’t have a crime problem or a gun problem – or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem. And since we ordered God out of our schools and communities, the military and public conversations, you know, we really shouldn’t act so surprised when all hell breaks loose.’”

True to an extent, but not completely. We have a sin problem, BECAUSE we have a crime problem, a gun problem and a violence problem. Crimes, violence and (misuse of) guns constitute sin. That our civilized world has become a terribly violent and therefore sinful place is also discussed in the next article. And, it puts much blame on inconsiderate parents, allowing their children to get more and more engaged in violent environments, being apparently oblivious to the ensuing dangers.

Violence on the Rise

On July 20, The Drudge Report linked to an article of The Telegraph, dated 26 July 2008, dealing with the previous Batman movie, The Dark Knight:

“Our attitude to violence is beyond a joke as [the] new Batman film, The Dark Knight, shows… The new Batman film reaches new levels of brutality, so why are we letting children watch it? Jenny McCartney looks at a society seduced by sadism.

“If I were 10 years old, would I be badgering my parents to take me to see the new Batman film, The Dark Knight? You bet I would… If I were the parent who relented and took a 10-year-old child to see The Dark Knight, would I be sorry? Once again, you bet I would…

“The Dark Knight… has been rated 12A by the British Board of Film Classification, which means that although the BBFC believes it is best suited to children aged 12 and over, any under-12 can see it provided he or she is accompanied by an adult. Cinemas are even holding parent-and-baby screenings…

[In the US, the movie The Dark Knight, as well as the sequel, The Dark Knight rises, received a PG 13 rating for intense sequence of violence and action, among others. Children at any age can watch those movies without being accompanied by an adult. PG-13 means parents are strongly cautioned about letting a child under 13 see the movie. It does not mean that a parent is required to attend the movie with a child if they’re under 13. So a child can go to a PG-13 alone at whatever age a parent may feel comfortable with. Just for reference, in the US, rated R means a parent or guardian is required to attend the movie with a child or teen under 17. NC-17 (aka Rated X) means no one under 17 is admitted, even if they have a parent with them.]

“In 2002, the BBFC took a stand on Spider-Man, a hugely hyped Hollywood release: it decided that it contained unsuitable levels of violence for under-12s, and therefore awarded it a ‘12’ certificate, meaning that under-12s should not be allowed into cinemas to see it. A public storm erupted; children and many parents were furious; and a number of councils announced their intention to defy the ban… Spider-Man now looks like Bambi when set next to The Dark Knight. Even since 2002, the public’s willingness to expose children to previously unthinkable levels of screen violence has soared…

“Britain appears to be gulping down entertainment values wholesale from a Hollywood intent upon mining the profit margin from barbarism. America, for all its manifold strengths, is still a country in which the population can [view] the sight of a bound man being torched to death as all-round family entertainment. Just as notable as the… violence in popular entertainment itself, however, is the rage directed at anyone who dares to question it…

“Is there a link between screen violence and actual violence? Fans of violent films will tell you – frequently in the most aggressive terms – that there is not. Yet we know that children are, to greater and lesser degrees, highly imitative of what they see… And we know that entertainment aimed at young people is becoming markedly more violent. My generation was terrified by the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; the current one is diverted with torture and agonising death…

“The poet WB Yeats once wrote, ‘In dreams begins responsibility’, yet Hollywood will never take responsibility for its most brutal dreams so long as the paying public still flocks to the theatre of cruelty.”

There can really be no reasonable denial of the undisputable fact that a relationship exists between watching violent movies and playing violent video games on the one hand, and becoming, in mind and sometimes in action, more and more violent towards our fellow man. When children grow up with violence, then in far too many cases, they will respond in kind when the opportunity presents itself.

Violence by Returning Soldiers

BBC wrote on July 24:

“One in eight soldiers has attacked someone after coming home from a combat deployment… Soldiers involved in direct combat were twice as likely as others to admit having hit someone at the end of the tour… A third of the victims were someone in the family – often a wife or girlfriend… This month an ex-soldier was jailed for shooting dead his landlady, just months after he had returned from serving in Afghanistan with the Territorial Army.”

An Addendum:
 
The Drudge Report asked on July 20: “What was a 6 Year Old Doing in Midnight Screening?”

A very good question!

Spying on US Citizens—“An Unholy Mess”

The Economist wrote on July 21:

“… in 1967… the court decided that fourth amendment protections extend anywhere a person has ‘a reasonable expectation of privacy’. If police wanted to wiretap a phone, they now needed a warrant, just as they would if they wanted to search a person’s home. But the warrant requirement applies only to the actual conversation, not to the numbers dialled from a phone…

“In 2001 the Patriot Act allowed pen/traps to be served on internet-service providers (ISPs) as well, where they reveal e-mail senders and recipients, the size of each e-mail sent and received, the IP address with which a computer communicates and the sites visited while browsing the web. The standards for getting a pen/trap approved are far lower than for getting a wiretap. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which was passed in 1986 and remains the main law governing access to electronic communication, requires police only to certify to a court that the information is relevant to an investigation. For a wiretap, police must show both probable cause and that ‘normal investigative procedures have been tried and failed’…

“In 2011 federal and state courts approved a total of 2,732 wiretaps; but government agencies made over 1.3m requests for data to mobile-phone companies. That figure includes wiretaps and pen/traps, but it also includes requests for stored text messages, device locations and tower dumps, which reveal the presence of everyone—suspects and not—within range of a particular mobile-phone tower at a particular time. Most of these requests require no warrants at all. Sometimes all it takes is a subpoena from a prosecutor.

“Internet companies have also seen a sharp rise in requests from law-enforcement agencies for information about their users… Among the things that Google is typically asked for are account information and location data… Web firms say that police tend to grab as much information as they can rather than targeting specific items relevant to a case…

“Among the many expansions of government snooping power contained in the Patriot Act after the attacks of September 11th, 2001, it became far easier for the FBI to issue national-security letters, which compel service providers to turn over vast amounts of data about the recipients of such letters without a court order. The FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Amendments Act allows intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on communications between Americans and people overseas without a probable-cause warrant. FISA investigations require an order from the FISA Court—which meets in secret, and in the 32 years from 1979 to 2011 rejected a grand total of 11 applications. They are subject to no other review…”

Western Military Intervention in Syria?

The Guardian wrote on July 24:

“Western military intervention in the Syrian crisis is ‘looking increasingly likely’ because the conflict is now in danger of provoking violence across the Arab world that could lead to cross-border invasions, a report has warned. The study, by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), finds fears that President Assad’s regime may turn to its stockpile of chemical weapons, or that these devices may be stolen in the chaos of the civil war. It says these concerns have intensified ‘the sense of imminent international conflict that is gripping the region’…

“The study says the stage is now set for a proxy contest, with Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon and Shia forces in Syria and Iraq being pitted against Sunni communities in the same countries, some of them supported by Saudi Arabia. ‘An arc of proxy confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia is likely to follow the fall of the Alawite elite in Syria… We are not moving towards intervention, but intervention is moving towards us. Events of recent days have created a step-change in the situation that will make a hands-off approach increasingly difficult to maintain.’

“The study rules out the likelihood of a full-scale invasion by the west, but suggests more limited action… Military support would then be needed to support any new government and to prevent the desire for retribution against the old order… With Assad’s family losing power and beset by defections in the lower ranks after last week’s assassinations of those in the highest ranks, the study suggests, Iran and Russia may be prepared to ‘attempt a controlled implosion, by working to replace President Assad with a favoured Sunni successor.’”

German Resolution on Circumcision – and Reactions

Der Spiegel wrote on July 20:

“Germany’s parliament approved a resolution on Thursday that called on Berlin to create legislation that would ensure that circumcision of boys remain[s] legal in the country. The move is intended to quiet international outrage over a recent German court ruling that criminalizes the tradition… The resolution is not legally binding…

“German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle of the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP) welcomed the vote, saying it would be difficult for him to defend abroad any incursion into the religious right to circumcision. Günter Krings, a senior member of Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in parliament, said the vote sent a clear message that Germany would not make life unnecessarily complicated for Jews or Muslims living in the country…

“But not all were pleased by the decision, including the Federation of German Criminal Police (BDK). ‘Our constitution cannot be limited by a simple law, as parliament is currently trying to do in panic,’ BDK chief André Schulz told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper. ‘The freedom of parents to practice religion will… be limited by a child’s more important right to physical integrity.’

“Meanwhile, a group of child-protective organizations has also issued a petition calling for a two-year delay on any new law on circumcision so that the issue could be debated more intensely by experts. The groups include the BDK as well as Deutsche Kinderhilfe (German Children’s Aid) and the German Association of Physicians in Child and Adolescent Medicine. In the petition, they warn that a working group should be created before taking any legal steps that could permit the ‘serious and irreparable intrusion on the physical integrity of a child’…”

According to an article of Der Spiegel Online, dated July 22 (which only appeared in the German edition of the online publication), many voices have been heard by now warning against a “quick solution.” Prominent doctors and lawyers pleaded not to act too rashly, advocating to focus more on the welfare of the child. They state that the charge that Jewish life becomes impossible when circumcision is prohibited must be countered with the right of the Jewish child.

Also, articles of Jews writing against circumcision are being published (so in Sunday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine, dated July 22), with the obvious attempt to find more arguments for a prohibition. Note the next article.

According to an article of Der Spiegel Online, dated July 22 (which only appeared in the German edition of the online publication), many voices have been heard by now warning against a “quick solution.” Prominent doctors and lawyers pleaded not to act too rashly, advocating to focus more on the welfare of the child. They state that the charge that Jewish life becomes impossible when circumcision is prohibited must be countered with the right of the Jewish child.

Also, articles of Jews writing against circumcision are being published (so in Sunday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine, dated July 22), with the obvious attempt to find more arguments for a prohibition. Note the next article.

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 22:

“A fierce debate over circumcision has been raging in Germany for weeks and has caught Chancellor Merkel’s government off guard. Berlin is now hoping to introduce a law regulating the practice, but it is a delicate issue due to the religious passions involved. It could take years before it is resolved… Children have a fundamental right to physical integrity. A circumcision is no minor operation, with the German Professional Association of Pediatricians calling it a ‘form of bodily injury.’ But the child’s right contrasts with those of parents, which include religious matters — and in this case a ritual that goes back thousands of years and, for Jews and Muslims, is a vital component of their faith.

“Balancing these fundamental rights is complicated. Furthermore, Justice Minister Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger is likewise concerned about the debate shifting in an unpleasant direction. Male circumcision isn’t the only religious practice based on ancient traditions. Polygamy is another such practice, as is the prohibition of blood transfusions among Jehovah’s Witnesses or the compulsory veiling of women in parts of the Islamic world. The question will arise as to why one practice is banned while the other is allowed…

“Rolf Dietrich Herzberg, a criminal law professor in the western city of Bochum, agrees with the Cologne court. He considers the removal of the foreskin for religious reasons to be a ‘violation of the fundamental right to physical integrity [and] a heartless trivialization of what is done to children through circumcision’…

“In other Western countries, the battle over circumcision has been raging for years. Other governments are having just as much trouble as Berlin with the complicated triangular relationship between parents, children and the state. Sweden is the only European country that expressly regulates circumcision. It applies strict requirements and only permits the practice in hospitals… The French, who are especially strict about the separation between church and state, remain pragmatically silent on the issue. In principle, the removal of a boy’s [foreskin] is considered assault, and consent of the parents only justifies the procedures in exceptional cases. But there are no accounts of criminal charges having been brought to date…

“Opponents of circumcision are now looking to Germany, where legal experts will have to find a solution. It will not be an easy operation. To begin with, it’s completely unclear which code of law should apply to the regulation of circumcision. The criminal code would be one option, but the problem with that is that the criminal code is only supposed to regulate criminal acts. Family law, which defines the rights of parents and children, is another option. Justice Minister Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger has pointed out that the law on the religious education of children is also a possibility. A clear, legal solution, as the German Association of Judges demanded on Friday, will be difficult to find.

“The justice minister has appointed a task force of senior legal experts to address the complexities of the issue. The group, which includes the directors of the departments of civil law, criminal law and constitutional law at the Justice Ministry, will spend the summer brooding over how a law could neutralize the Cologne court’s decision. ‘The matter is more complicated than just inserting a simple little sentence somewhere, as some people envision,’ says the minister. ‘After this emotional debate, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the law will come before the Federal Constitutional Court. The judges there will have to determine whether they share the balancing of fundamental rights that we intend to make.’ This could take years.”

As can be seen, this question is not going to be solved any time soon, and in the meantime, as feared, other European countries begin to follow Germany’s lead, as the next articles show.

Circumcision Suspended in Switzerland and Austria

Haaretz wrote on July 23:
  
“Two Swiss hospitals announced last week that they would temporarily stop performing circumcisions. The announcements followed a recent ruling by a German court that the ritual is illegal, which sparked outrage among the Jewish and Muslim communities living in the country.

“On Thursday, the Zurich children’s hospital announced that it was temporarily halting circumcision operations. ‘We are in the process of evaluating the legal and ethical stance in Switzerland,’ said Marco Stuecheli, a spokesman for the hospital. Meanwhile, another children’s hospital, located in the city of St. Gallen in northeastern Switzerland, has also decided to reassess its policy on circumcision.”

The Guardian wrote on July 25:

“A group of Orthodox rabbis warned on Wednesday that the ancient Jewish practice of infant male circumcision could face further restrictions in Europe after some hospitals in Austria and Switzerland suspended the procedure by citing a German court ruling that it could amount to criminal bodily harm.

“Last month’s verdict by a regional court in Cologne… prompted angry protests from Jewish and Muslims groups, especially after the German Medical Association advised doctors not to perform unnecessary circumcisions until the legal situation was clarified…

“On Tuesday, the governor of Vorarlberg province in Austria told state-run hospitals to stop circumcisions except for health reasons until the legal situation was clarified. He said the German decision, which arose from the case of a child whose circumcision led to medical complications, was a ‘precedence-setting judgment.’

“‘Our fears that the court ruling in Cologne could have a knock-on effect across Europe are now being realised,’ said Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis… While Muslims commonly circumcise their sons at a young age, in Judaism the procedure must take place eight days after birth. According to religious law, an uncircumcised male is not considered fully part of the Jewish community, Goldschmidt said. ‘In order to change that, we would have to convene a supreme Jewish religious court, which has not convened for the last 2,000 years,’ he said.”

 

German Catholic Doctor Speaks Out Against Circumcision of Children

On July 26, Der Spiegel published an article by a German doctor, advocating against allowing circumcision of young children:

“Munich’s university hospital… stopped circumcising boys without medical indication back in 2001. Many renowned pediatric hospitals had taken similar steps even before the Cologne Regional Court recently declared religious circumcision of children illegal. The medical community has been debating the issue for almost a decade. It’s only thanks to the judges in Cologne that the matter has been brought to the attention of the public.

“One of the fundamental principles of medical ethics is that no one should be harmed. The oath formulated by Hippocrates (approx. 460-370 BC) and sworn by all doctors includes the following statement: ‘I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.’ Another key idea lies at the heart of all ethical behavior by medical personnel: ‘Primum nihil nocere,’ or ‘First, do no harm,’ a phrase coined by Scribonius Largus, a doctor at the court of the emperor Tiberius Claudius. The treatment of patients must be with their welfare in mind, and must therefore have priority over other interests, such as science, financial gain or profit.

“Medically unnecessary circumcision causes damage because it results in an irreversible loss of healthy bodily tissue… Medically, there is no evidence of advantages for boys. Therefore non-medically indicated circumcision is not in the child’s best interests… Doctors have to weigh potential risks and benefits. There are no medical benefits to circumcision on religious grounds. For this reason it’s all the more significant that it’s a serious surgical procedure fraught with risks and complications… circumcision causes boys undue suffering. This procedure must therefore be rejected from both a medical and an ethical perspective.

“As a devout Catholic, I have great respect for the concerns of religious communities. As a scientist, I feel discredited by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s comments about how the circumcision ruling makes Germany ‘a laughing stock.’ The Cologne Regional Court presented us with an opportunity to work together with the various religious communities to consider the rights of physical inviolability and religious freedom. Some Muslims have already shown a willingness to accept that boys be circumcised only when they are old enough to give their consent…”

As can be seen, the prohibition of circumcision of young boys in Germany and Europe has been and is being carefully planned. And so, this ungodly “debate” will continue, and the danger is steadily increasing that the free exercise of religious minorities will be violated and prohibited. The Bible has prophesied that this will happen more and more in Europe. For further information, please view our StandingWatch program and our sermon on circumcision, as well as our StandingWatch program on religious persecution.

How Close to a New Depression?

CNBC wrote on July 16:

“The risk of a new depression — a sustained, severe recession — has struck fear into the heart of markets and driven monetary policy in developed economies since the current financial crisis began. ‘We’re in a very unfortunate position to be here,’ Richard Duncan, author of The New Depression, warned on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box Europe’ Monday… ‘[The] explosion of credit created the world we live in, but it now seems that credit cannot expand any further because the private sector is incapable of repaying the debt it has already, and if credit begins to contract, there’s a very real danger that we will collapse into a new Great Depression,’ he argued. ‘If this credit bubble pops, the depression could be so severe that I don’t think our civilization could survive it… You can defer, but not prevent.’”

The Wall Street Journal added on July 17:

“Fed Chairman Bernanke delivered a bleak assessment of the U.S. economy to lawmakers on Tuesday, citing a slowdown in economic activity this year and a stubbornly high rate of unemployment.”

These are frightening warnings—but how many take them to heart?

Executive Order Gives Control of Internet to Homeland Security

Rt.com wrote on July 13:

“The White House has finally responded to criticism over US President Barack Obama’s hushed signing last week of an Executive Order that allows the government to command privately-owned communication systems and acknowledges its implications.

“When President Obama inked his name to the Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions Executive Order on July 6, he authorized the US Department of Homeland Security to take control of the country’s wired and wireless communications — including the Internet — in instances of emergency. The signing was accompanied with little to no acknowledgment outside of the White House, but initial reports on the order quickly caused the public to speak out over what some equated to creating an Oval Office kill switch for the Web.

“Now the Obama administration is addressing those complaints by calling the Executive Order a necessary implement for America’s national security. ‘The [order] recognizes the creation of DHS and provides the Secretary the flexibility to organize the communications systems and functions that reside within the department as [Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano] believes will be most effective,’ White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden tells the Washington Post. Hayden insists that ‘The [order] does not transfer authorities between or among departments,’ but the order does indeed allow the DHS to establish and implement control over even the privately owned communication systems in the country, including Internet Service Providers such as Time Warner, Verizon and Comcast, if the administration agrees that it is warranted for security’s sake.

“Immediately after last week’s signing, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said the order allowed the DHS ‘the authority to seize private facilities when necessary, effectively shutting down or limiting civilian communications.’ Following up with the Post this week, EPIC attorney Amie Stephanovich stands by that initial explanation, agreeing that the DHS can now ‘seize control of telecommunications facilities, including telephone, cellular and wireless networks, in order to prioritize government communications over private ones in an emergency.’…

“According to the order, the DHS can take charge of ‘commercial, government, and privately owned communications resources’ to satisfy what is described as ‘priority communication requirements.’ With little insight from outside the White House, though, what constitutes such an emergency may very well be decided on by Washington, where the country’s elected leaders are still split on all things involving the Internet.”

As we have been reporting in previous Updates as well, do we realize that the USA is becoming a country with less and less individual freedoms and more and more governmental control? Do we really think that this is what the founding fathers had in mind when they were desirous of distancing themselves from British rule? When America celebrates the 4th of July, it should remember that freedom from governmental oppression must be an ongoing endeavor. As Paul said: “Don’t become a slave of men.”

President Obama: Let the State Do It for You!

What has been described as the single-most telling comment by President Obama over the weekend, his approach to the American Way of Life has been met with outright condemnation by small businesses and entrepreneurs, while the left-liberal media is quick and anxious to sugarcoat the President’s ill-advised remarks, which seem, however, to reveal his vision of the USA.

Mail Online reported on July 16:

“America’s leading small business association has slammed Barack Obama for showing ‘an utter lack of understanding’ of the country’s entrepreneurs when he told them: ‘If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.’ In a hard-hitting statement to Mail Online, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) president Dan Danne said: ‘What a disappointment to hear President Obama’s revealing comments challenging the significance of America’s entrepreneurs… His unfortunate remarks over the weekend show an utter lack of understanding and appreciation for the people who take a huge personal risk and work endless hours to start a business and create jobs.’…

“The inflammatory campaign speech comments underline the extent to which Obama believes that the state rather than ordinary citizens create jobs and wealth. They highlight a key contrast with Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, who is preaching a message of wealth creation by individuals and reinvigorating the private sector.

“Andrea Saul, spokeswoman for Romney, told Fox News that the remarks ‘reflect just how unqualified he is to lead us to a real economic recovery’ and were ‘ insulting to the hardworking entrepreneurs, small-business owners, and job creators who are the backbone of our economy.’”

In an accompanying article, Mail Online wrote:

“As President Obama comes under scrutiny for remarks that he made about entrepreneurs over the weekend, it’s not surprising to many that the president has never served in a leadership level at any private sector job. The president has held a number of jobs since the late 1980s, including editor, writer and professor before getting into politics.

“But questions have been raised about Obama’s lack of business experience as the U.S. struggles with a high joblessness rate and a frail economy. It was a point that Obama’s political foes were quick to exploit in their attacks on Monday. Louisiana Gov Bobby Jindal, appearing alongside Mitt Romney today, said: ‘We have a president who hadn’t run anything before he was in the White House.’ He added: ‘[Obama is the] most liberal and incompetent president since Jimmy Carter. No offense to Jimmy Carter.’”

It is of course correct that whatever abilities we may have and whatever success we might achieve in this life is not to be attributed to ourselves, but to God Almighty who has given us all things to enjoy. But sadly, this is not what President Obama had made reference to.

Mitt Romney’s Unsolvable Bain Problem

While President Obama has been coming under attacks because of his remarks and politics, his challenger Mitt Romney is dealing—or not dealing—with problems of his own. His inconsistent position regarding health care is well-known (advocating it in his state, but rejecting it on a federal level), but another ongoing problem is the controversy regarding his position as CEO in the Bain Capital company, which outsourced jobs to companies overseas, while Mitt Romney is now strongly advocating the opposite policy.

The Washington Post wrote on July 16:

“Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney continues to struggle to get out from under questions regarding just when he departed from his job at Bain Capital. And there’s reason to believe that he won’t be able to solve his Bain problem anytime soon… Politics 101 says that when your campaign is bleeding — and Romney’s camp is bleeding right now — the best way to stop it is to get as many facts out as quickly as possible and then insist that it’s a dead issue and refuse to answer questions on it moving forward.

“That won’t likely work for Romney because of the seeming contradictions about when he left the company — and the exotic nature of his financial life. While most independent fact checkers agree that Romney had no involvement in Bain’s day-to-day operations after 1999, the fact that he was listed on Securities and Exchange Commission documents as chairman and president of Bain creates a fuzziness that allows President Obama’s campaign to continue to hammer away on the issue. That fuzziness was furthered over the weekend by Romney campaign senior adviser Ed Gillespie who said that the former Massachusetts governor had ‘retroactively’ retired in 1999.

“That phrasing might work in the business world but it points to the political problem Romney has with Bain. Regular people who aren’t CEOs don’t retroactively retire after three years in which they are listed as the head — whether titular or not — of a major company. Therefore, trying to explain that while he remained — at least on paper or in name — the chairman and president of Bain to people is no easy task…”

The Washington Times added on July 16:

“Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Monday defended his campaign amidst cries from fellow Republicans that he needs to quit playing defense in his challenge to President Obama after a week in which the topic dominating the headlines was Mr. Romney’s record at Bain Capital and exactly when he left the firm. ‘I think when people have accused you of a crime, you have every reason to go after them pretty hard,’ he said, referring to allegations that he may have committed a felony by stating in Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure forms that he stayed on at Bain as a managing director past 1999, contrary to what he previously claimed. ‘What does it say about a president whose record is so poor that all he can do in his campaign is attack me? … A campaign that’s based on falsehood and dishonesty does not have long legs… if we want to talk about transparency, the real issue is why has this president used his presidential power and executive privilege to keep the information about the “Fast and Furious” program from being explained to the American people?’ he said, referring to the botched gunrunning scheme to Mexico by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives…”

ABC News reported on July 16:

“Last week, Romney demanded in five interviews with the main TV networks that President Obama apologize for his campaign’s implication that Romney broke the law by misstating his role at Bain Capital on documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Obama said he would not be apologizing.

“The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, revived the accusation on MSNBC today. Democrats have been helped by a Boston Globe report that said Romney was listed as the head of Bain Capital for three years after he had said he left, in 1999. Romney’s maintaining that he had left Bain that year let him escape blame for the outsourcing of jobs that happened at Bain-backed companies after 1999. ‘Either Mitt Romney was lying on SEC forms and misrepresenting to his investors — which could be a felony — that he was the sole owner, president, CEO of Bain Capital from 1999 until almost the end of 2001, or he wasn’t and represented that he was,’ Wasserman Schultz said. ‘It can’t be both. And so if he was sole owner, president, CEO, then he is to be held accountable for the decisions that were made for the outsourcing of jobs that took place during that time.’… The Democratic-aligned Huffington Post also reloaded the Bain gun by publishing a new document that shows Romney was listed as a managing member of Bain in late 2002.

“Romney said in his interviews last week that he had ‘no responsibility whatsoever’ for what happened at Bain after 1999, even if he was ‘the owner of the general partnership’ that managed Bain. Then on Sunday, one of Romney’s advisers, Ed Gillespie, claimed that Romney had stayed at Bain part-time at first, then took a leave of absence, and finally ‘retired retroactively to 1999.’…

“What’s clear is that the Obama campaign is directing the media narrative, and it’s more about taxes and Bain than the economy… Even Romney’s campaign, which would like the news to be focused on the unemployment rate, has spent a good deal of time responding to the attacks… Is that what the public wants to hear about the most? Hard to say…”

The Guardian wrote on July 17:

“With a host of pundits inside and outside the Republican party speculating about Mitt Romney’s handling of his Bain Capital tenure, outsourcing controversy and tax returns, Bloomberg Businessweek’s Joshua Green wonders about ‘Mitt Romney’s Wimp Factor,’ as his article is headlined: ‘The danger for Romney is that voters won’t parse these episodes but will instead conclude, based on their overall impression of his squealing and inability to get results, that Romney is a wimp.

“This is a charge that famously dogged another establishment Republican,’ Green notes – beneath a shot of the famous 1987 Newsweek cover entitled ‘George Bush—fighting the wimp factor’ which is said to have damaged Bush senior’s image – and continues: ‘It’s not clear Romney can do much to prove he wasn’t running Bain between 99 and 02. An article in today’s New York Times notes that 142 documents have surfaced tying Romney to the ownership of the firm during this period…”

And so, the mud-slinging contest of American politics, which both sides label as false, dishonest and destructive, is bound to continue and to get even more dirty in the ensuing months… proving again why true Christians should have absolutely nothing to do with any of it…

Germany’s Harvests in Danger Due to Weather and Mice

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 11:

“Millions of field mice are overrunning the central German states of Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, much to the concern of local farmers. The rodents are devastating food crops, cutting yields by up to 50 percent. Getting birds of prey to hunt the critters didn’t help, and now farmers want to be allowed to use a banned rat poison… The furry rodents are currently wreaking havoc in the states, which are suffering the worst field mouse plague in over 30 years… Farmers estimate that they may have to write off an average of 10 percent of their crops as a result of mouse damage, and up to 50 percent in extreme cases.”

The Local added on July 15:

“Current harvesting work has been interrupted by the rain recently, while harvests were already expected to have been hit by the spring frosts which damaged many fields. Lower Saxony’s state farmers’ association said it was expecting a ten percent drop in grain harvest this year compared to last, which itself was a disappointing one. ‘With 5.1 million tonnes of harvested grain, that was already an abysmal year,’ said a spokeswoman. Farmers in Brandenburg, Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein said it had been too wet recently to expect a good result.

“And in Thuringia the wet weather was compounded by a mouse plague. ‘Where the weather was not so awful, the mice came,’ said Reinhard Kopp from the Thuringia farmers’ association… Farmers in the more southern states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland Palatinate and Hesse say their grain suffered badly from the frost, while the spring was too dry…

“There are fears in Bavaria that the dry May could result in a smaller harvest…”

German Court Decision Prohibiting Circumcision Under Further Attack

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 13:

“A controversial German court ruling on circumcision has outraged Muslim and Jewish groups in Germany and abroad. German commentators say the decision was misguided and could have devastating consequences.

“The ruling came nearly two weeks ago, but the reaction is getting increasingly vocal… In addition to Jewish and Muslim groups in Germany, the ruling has also drawn strong condemnation from the state of Israel… In recent days, the ruling has drawn nearly universal criticism in the press. On editorial pages on Friday, most newspapers writing on the topic call for the German government to move to provide clarity for religious groups that their freedoms will be protected.

“Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘It is understandable when religious leaders protest because they feel their faith and their rituals are being ridiculed… circumcision is an act of recognition: It makes the child the member of a faith and represents entry into a community. Some Christians and atheists may smirk over that, but Christians also don’t have to celebrate the ‘Feast of the Circumcision of Christ’ on Jan. 1 if they don’t want to. … The Cologne court’s ruling was rash and the loud outcry is justified.”

“The regional Saarbrücker Zeitung writes: ‘Under no circumstances can the circumcision ritual … of Judaism be reduced to an inherited, archaic religious law. To an overwhelming majority of secular Jews, it is viewed as much more of a foundation that is indispensable for establishing identity. Viewed in this context, there is no exaggeration in the objection that this legal decision makes Jewish — as well as Muslim — life in Germany impossible. … Another court, presumably (the Federal Constitutional Court) in Karlsruhe, will have to re-weigh the issues. If it affirms the (lower court’s) ban, it would be unique in the entire world. It would do so in the full awareness that it risks triggering an exodus of Jews and Muslims (from Germany). One can’t imagine what the consequences of this would be for Germany.’

“Conservative Die Welt writes: ‘The circumcision of Jewish boys on the eighth day after their birth is a foundation of the Jewish religion. If it is suspended through disregard for freedom of religion, then Jewish life in Germany will no longer be possible. For the first time since the end of the Third Reich, Jews would be forced to leave the country in order to be able to adhere to this mandate of the scriptures. If that happens, it would send out a message with disastrous political consequences. There are also other reasons that legal certainty in the interests of freedom of religion and faith under Article 4 of the German constitution be created. A ban on circumcision, be it Muslim or Jewish, is a manifestation of the increasing intolerance shown towards religious groups in the world… Intolerance can swell like a flood: If you don’t dam it up, it will continue… The Cologne judges…  issued a ruling that is unprecedented in the Western world. It is a shameful farce for Germany.’

“The left-leaning Frankfurter Rundschau writes: ‘The rabbis’ worries are justified. As long as German jurisprudence is concerned with finding a balance between the legally protected right of religious freedom and the right of physical integrity, religious Jews and Muslims will see themselves as confronted by a climate of defamation…’”

The Local wrote on July 14:

“The German government on Friday pledged quick action to protect the right of Jews and Muslims to circumcise baby boys on religious grounds, after a court ruling that prompted international outcry… German diplomats admit that the ruling has proved ‘disastrous’ to the country’s image abroad…

“Legal experts… note that drafting legislation could prove tricky in balancing religious freedom on the one hand against ‘physical integrity’ on the other. Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger noted this week that even with a new law, a federal court would likely have the last word on the issue. The Cologne judges’ ruling is final and cannot be appealed to the Federal Constitutional Court… attorneys say that doctors and parents run the risk of prosecution under the status quo.”

In an article by Der Stern of July 14, the Minister for Health, Daniel Bahr (FDP), questioned in an interview with Die Welt whether legislation could even be passed in such a case.

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 17:

“Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has told her party that it risked becoming a ‘laughing stock’ after a court in Cologne ruled that religious circumcision was a criminal act. ‘I do not want Germany to be the only country in the world in which Jews cannot practice their rites,’ Merkel was quoted as saying this week…

“The regional court ruling came at the end of June, but it’s only now that reactions are coming in from various groups around the world, especially from the US, where male circumcision is more common… The ruling… may mean that families will have to wait until their sons are over the age of consent before they can be circumcised.

“This is something that’s worrying Dr. Aaron Tobian, assistant professor of pathology, medicine and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. ‘There are multiple advantages of neonatal male circumcision compared to adult circumcision,’ Tobian told DW…

“Whilst male circumcision is relatively uncommon in Europe, the practice saw a dramatic increase in North America during the 20th century… Neonatal and childhood male circumcision rates in the US rose to about 80 percent in the 1960s, and remain relatively high today, although they have fallen somewhat in recent years…

“Unsurprisingly, Jewish and Muslim groups have responded angrily to the ruling, saying it poses a threat to religious freedom. Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, wrote in the Jerusalem Post earlier this month: ‘It is hard to think of a more appalling decision…’ In the United States, Charles Lane of the Washington Post wrote a blog post on the subject entitled ‘The stink of Cologne’ – in which he took issue with what he called a ‘blatant affront to the Muslim and Jewish peoples’… The European Union, meanwhile, seems reluctant to get involved in the debate. A spokesman for the European Commissioner for Health told DW that this was a ‘national issue.’”

The Local wrote on July 19:

“[A new German] survey published on Thursday shows 45 percent supported a ban on circumcision, in line with a recent court ruling which said the conducting the operation was inflicting bodily harm. But 42 percent said they disagreed, telling pollsters from the YouGov firm they thought the ritual carried out by Muslims and Jews on young boys and babies should be allowed.

“Parliament is set to vote for a resolution on Thursday which would call on the government to lay out a law which would explicitly legalise circumcision. It is expected to be supported by all the major parties… The resolution will call on the government to legalise, ‘a medically professional circumcision of boys without unnecessary pain.’ The legal rights of the child must be considered, as should their physical integrity, but also freedom of religion and the right of parents to raise their children as they see fit. The resolution was adopted on Thursday by the German parliament. The Greens and the Left did not participate in the vote. Even though an overwhelming majority of the major parties—CDU/CSU, SPD and FDP—voted for the resolution, there were numerous abstentions and opposing views in all parties. The resolution has only symbolic value, without any binding legal effect.

“The survey also suggested that 83 percent of Germans feel religions should move with the times and not cling to old traditions at all price. Only nine percent of those asked said they did not think modernisation of religious practices were necessary. Global anger at the Cologne district court’s decision from last month has damaged Germany’s standing in the world, said 33 percent of those questioned, while 55 percent disagreed.”

The positon by the EU Commission regarding lack of protection of religious minorities is highly hypocritical, as the next article shows, which addresses the proclaimed need for protection of sexual minorities.

Gay Rights Legal Criterion for EU Accession

The EUObserver wrote on July 13:

“The European Commission has said in a written note that respect for gay rights is a legal criterion for EU accession.  It cited the 1993 so-called Copenhagen criteria for EU eligibility and article 2 of the EU Treaty, which prohibit discrimination against ‘minorities.’  It also cited articles 10 and 19 of the EU Treaty and article 21 of the European Charter on Fundamental Rights, which explicitly forbid discrimination on grounds of ‘sexual orientation.’ ‘Rights of LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] people thus form an integral part of both the Copenhagen political criteria for accession and the EU legal framework on combatting discrimination. They are closely monitored by the EU commission, which reports annually on the progress made by enlargement countries with regard to the situation of the LGBT community,’ it said.

“The commission note was sent to EUobserver in response to a question born of an interview with an Armenian cleric. Armenia, a deeply Christian country where church teaching has more authority than in many EU states with Christian roots, is keen to become an EU member. Homosexuality is not against the law. But according to a recent study by the Brussels-based rights group Ilga-Europe, it scores better only than Moldova and Russia in terms of legal protection of LGBT people in Europe.

“Armenian law does not prohibit discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. It does not recognise any form of same-sex partnership and has no provision for legally changing one’s gender, the study says. Its legal edifice is reflected in popular feeling… Three priests came to speak to media, one of whom recalled the Biblical story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to justify anti-gay views…

“Bishop Hovakim Manukyan, an ecumenical officer at the Armenian catholic church, made no bones about the situation. ‘It’s not in our culture to accept homosexuals. I mean, we don’t reject the person, but we reject the sin and this is our freedom as Armenians. Our culture does not accept this,’ he told EUobserver in a recent interview in Etchmiadzin, the official seat of the Armenian church. He said Armenia upholds basic human rights, but gay rights are a ‘secondary’ issue where difference of opinion should be permitted…

“But for Ulrike Lunacek, an openly lesbian Austrian Green MEP who co-chairs a European Parliament gay rights group, this does not mean countries can choose which values they adopt. ‘Accession of a country will not be possible if certain LGBTI [the I stands for ‘intersex’] rights are not put into law and into practice… ‘Protection of Pride marches has become a recurrent monitoring theme in the commission’s progress reports on enlargement countries,’ she added.”

What a joke. While “gay rights” are to be enforced under the cloak of protection of sexual minorities, religious persecution of minorities is running rampant in the EU and labeled as “national issues.”

French City Petitions for British Crown Jewels

The Christian Post wrote on July 17:

“A French city that once produced generations of English kings has created a petition insisting that the British Crown jewels be given to the city as compensation for ending the Plantagenet line, once heirs to the English throne, in the 15th century. The city of Angers was the capital of the Anjou province and home to the Plantagenets, rulers of England from 1154 until 1485. It was during this time that some of the most famous monarchs ruled, including Richard the Lionheart and Henry V.

“The mayor of Angers will send the signed petition to Queen Elizabeth II, which calls the execution of Edward Plantagenet a ‘state crime’ that brought to an end more than three centuries of rule… Edward Plantagenet, the Earl of Warwick, was executed for treason in the Tower of London in 1499. His death brought the legitimate male line to an abrupt end.

“While there might be a shred of merit to the claims, the French petition disregards the fact that most of the crown jewels came after the date of execution. During the time of Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century there was a serious financial crisis in which many of the royal jewels were sold. The jewels were eventually replaced over the centuries either for a succession of monarchs or created for a specific person. The petition was started in the spring and refers to the people of Angers as ‘moral heirs’ of the Plantagenets. The petition received little attention initially, but since the story has made the rounds on British media officials are hoping that more people will support the cause.”

Will this development cause further antagonism between France and Great Britain?

“Pope: Do Not Preach What the Powerful Wish to Hear”

Zenit wrote on July 16:

“The Pope… spoke of the courage to announce the truth despite being rejected by men, as was seen in the first reading from the prophet Amos, who preached against the abuses of the power of the king. ‘And this remains the mandate of the Church: do not preach what the powerful wish to hear. The criterion of prophets is the truth and justice even if this goes against human applause and human power,’ he said.”

Good advice—and so very true. One could also think of Jeremiah’s preaching, or the challenges of John the Baptist towards Herod.

Terror Attack Against Jews in Bulgaria

Deutsche Welle reported on July 19:

“Wednesday’s bombing of the bus containing Israeli tourists in the Bulgarian coastal town of Burgas, in which at least seven people were killed, should not come as a surprise. There have been several indications in recent months that such an attack would occur. In January, Israeli security forces warned their Bulgarian counterparts of the possibility of Islamist terrorist operations against Israeli tourists…

“Bulgarian Middle East expert Vladimir Chukov suspects the Islamic Hezbollah militia of being behind the attack, and diplomatic sources in Sofia indicate that Bulgarian authorities agree with him… Solomon Passy, former Bulgarian Foreign Minister and national security specialist, is convinced that Bulgaria is now dependent on the support of NATO and the European Union. Bulgaria’s European Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva has also called for intensive cooperation with the EU and Europol to investigate Wednesday’s attack.”

Der Spiegel Online added on July 19:

“Investigators believe that the attackers specifically targeted Israelis traveling abroad, following a pattern similar to several other terror attacks and attempted bombings in previous months. The date of the attack has also aroused suspicion. Wednesday was the 18th anniversary of the attack on a Jewish cultural center in the Argentinean capital of Buenos Aires in which 85 people were killed. Argentina believes that Iran and Hezbollah were behind that assault and has issued an international arrest warrant for Iran’s former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani…

“Intelligence officials in both Israel and abroad believe that recent months have seen an increase in attempts to stage terror attacks targeting Israelis traveling overseas. Evidence indicates that most of those attempts were steered from Iran or from the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah is based.”

Fighting in Syria Escalates

The Associated Press reported on July 17:

“Syrian government forces backed by helicopter gunships battled rebels in heavy clashes in Damascus, a clear escalation in the most serious fighting in the capital since the country’s conflict began last year… The fierce clashes, which have raged over the past three days in at least four neighborhoods across the city, were the latest sign that Syria’s civil war is moving ever closer to the heart of President Bashar Assad’s regime. Government forces already have thrown tanks and armored personnel carriers into the battle in the capital, but the use of air power reflected the intensity and seriousness of the fighting…

“The clashes are the most sustained and widespread in the capital since the start of the uprising against Mr. Assad in March last year and a crackdown that activists say has claimed the lives of more than 17,000 people. In the past, clashes happened at night in the capital. Now, the fighting rages during the day — a sign of the growing strength and boldness of the rebels. That increased fighting has brought bloodshed to the heart of Damascus — and Syria’s largest city, Aleppo…

“As the violence across the country has spiraled out of control, diplomatic efforts to halt the bloodshed have seemingly come to a dead end. Much of the international community has condemned Mr. Assad’s crackdown, but world powers remain deeply divided over who is responsible and how to stop the fighting. The U.S. and many Western nations have called on Mr. Assad to leave power, while Russia, China and Iran have stood by the regime.”

Deutsche Welle added on July 19:

“China and Russia on Thursday vetoed a United Nations’ resolution that would have imposed sanctions against the regime of President Bashar Assad in Syria.

“Both German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and British Prime Minister David Cameron had called on Russia to abandon its opposition to sanctions at the UN Security Council… The veto comes as the Syrian capital, Damascus, is seeing ongoing bloody clashes between government forces and rebels calling for the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

“The situation was exacerbated by a rebel bomb attack on Wednesday that killed three top Syrian officials, including Defense Minister General Daoud Rajha and Assef Shawkat, President Assad’s brother-in-law. General Hassan Turkmani, the head of the crisis cell, also died in the attack.”

That the big villains and violators of individual freedoms, Russia, China and Iran, are supporting Bashad Assad is no surprise. The sad part is, they are indirectly supported by the inconsistent position of the USA due to political and highly hypocritical considerations, as the next article shows.

USA Won’t Help Syrian Rebels for Now

The Telegraph wrote on July 16:

“Despite mounting fury from the Syrian rebels, who are seeking assistance for their efforts to overthrow the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, the White House has refused all requests for heavy weapons and intelligence support. Syrian lobby groups in Washington, who only a few weeks ago were expressing hope that the Obama administration might give a green light to the supply of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, said they had now been forced to ‘take a reality pill’ by the US government…

“The Obama administration has also made clear to its allies that it will not intervene…The American position means there is little hope of any swift resolution to the Syrian crisis, with the stage set instead for a protracted civil war. Russia repeated yesterday that it was ‘unrealistic’ of the West to expect the country to convince Mr Assad to step down…

“Abdulbaset Sieda, chairman of the official Syrian National Council… called on the US not to abandon the rebels for the sake of domestic political calculations… ‘We want for America and the Western countries to carry out their responsibilities,’ he said. ‘With regard to America, specifically, we would like to say to President Obama that waiting for election day to make the right decision on Syria is unacceptable for the Syrians. We cannot understand that a superpower ignores the killing of tens of thousands of Syrian civilians because of an election campaign that a president may win or lose…’

“Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think-tank in Washington… said division among Republicans had also helped to give the Obama administration a ‘free pass’ politically. ‘The Right is split between those who say the US has a moral imperative to intervene and those who say Syria is an enemy of the US and there is no national interest in intervening. The result is that no one [wants] to touch this. The reality is that the US appears to have no coherent foreign policy since the Arab Spring. It is not clear why we helped topple Gaddafi and we let Mubarak fall but we let Assad stay in power.”

We are not commenting on the advisability of direct US involvement in the matter. We are opposed to human violence in any manner, shape or form. But we are quoting the article above to show American inconsistencies in the dealings with the “Arab Spring” movement, which reveal mere egoistic motives and the desire for political advantage. God is most certainly not pleased by such objectionable strategies.

New Dictatorial Measures in Putin’s Russia

The Los Angeles Times wrote on July 14:

“Russian lawmakers this week passed three measures to increase government control over the Internet, media and foreign-funded activist groups, despite widespread protests from Web professionals, journalists and human rights advocates.

“A bill that criminalizes libel and imposes fines of up to $153,400 on violators, and a measure that requires nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, that receive foreign funding to register as ‘foreign agents,’ were approved by the lower house of the parliament Friday, the last day of the legislative session. On Wednesday, the lower house unanimously approved a bill that provides for a federal registry of websites that could face being shut down for carrying prohibited material. The bills are the latest in what is seen as an attempt to crack down on resistance to the rule of President Vladimir Putin, dissent that became more pronounced with mass opposition rallies in December, when Putin was still prime minister. The measures must still be approved by the upper house and signed by Putin, who in May began his third presidential term, but both moves are expected by the end of the month…

“The bills follow other government moves to encumber its critics. A recently adopted law sharply increased fines for organizers of unsanctioned rallies and participants. A bill initiated by the ruling United Russia party this week and under consideration in the lower house would crack down on independent volunteers. It would require contracts and official approval for any donated resources or labor to any cause or event… Devastating floods last weekend in southern Russia brought an unprecedented number of volunteers to the region, which only highlighted the failures of the government amid popular mistrust.”

Russia is bound to become again a dictatorship, and it will clash with Europe. Ultimately, two dictatorial power blocs (a United States of Europe under Germany and a United Confederation of Asian countries under Russia and China) will be engaged in a terrible and all-encompassing world war, which will be fought with nuclear and biological weapons.

Will 2012 Become a Historic Disaster?

Time magazine wrote on July 5:

“Triple-digit days. Weeks with little to no rain. Soil crumbling away. Stunted corn stalks. Right now the fertile fields of the U.S. Midwest are experiencing corn-killing weather, with parts of five corn-growing states in the region experiencing severe or extreme drought. In at least nine states, one-fifth to one-half of cornfields are currently in poor or very poor conditions. And all of this comes after earlier expectations that corn farmers were going to produce a bumper crop this season, with 40 million hectares planted — the largest corn area in 75 years…

“So terrible is the weather in the heartland that farmers have begun to compare it to the drought of 1988, which wiped out millions of hectares of corn and caused $78 billion in crop damage, or even worse, the great Dust Bowl era of the 1930s. Already, stockpiles of corn have fallen by 48% from March to June, the biggest drop since 1996 — and that was before the drought and the brutally hot weather began in earnest. The percentage of the corn crop with top-quality ratings was 48% as of July 1, compared with 69% a year ago. Whether 2012 goes down as just an off year for corn crops or a truly historic disaster will depend on the next couple of weeks…”

The Guardian added on July 10:

“The worst drought to hit the United States in nearly 25 years is threatening to drive up food prices around the world.

“The price of corn, the staple crop of much of the midwest and the prairies, has risen by a third in the past month and rose again on Wednesday after a US government report said farmers would not yield as much from their parched fields as expected. Higher prices are likely to be passed on in the cost of hamburgers and steak and also affect a range of other foods such as corn flakes and bread.

“Almost a third of America’s corn crop is already showing signs of damage and a report released by the US Department of Agriculture on Wednesday forecast that farmers would only reap a fraction of the corn expected last spring when they planted 96.4m acres (39m hectares) – the most since 1937.”

Terrible Weather Conditions in Continental USA

Reuters reported on July 9:

“Scorching temperatures in June’s second half helped the continental United States break its record for the hottest first six months in a calendar year… The last 12 months also have been the warmest since modern record-keeping began in 1895… The recent blistering heat wave broke records across much of the United States, threatening the Midwest’s corn crop and helping to fan destructive wildfires…

“This past month was also the 10th driest June, with drought spreading to 56 percent of the contiguous U.S. states, up from 37.4 percent in May, making it the largest drought footprint of the 21st century… Wildfires claimed 1.3 million acres, mostly in the West, the second-largest area to be charred during any June on record.

“But it wasn’t all dry. Tropical Storm Debby dumped so much rain during its slow pass across Florida that the state’s monthly statewide precipitation total for the month was 13.16 inches, or 6.17 inches above average, making it Florida’s wettest June on record. Maine, Oregon and Washington state each had a top-10 wet June.”

Terrible Weather Conditions in Great Britain

The Daily Mail wrote on July 7:

“Torrential downpours battered the South West of England today causing life-threatening floods as ‘colossal’ levels of summer rain continued… After more than two inches of rain fell in just 18 hours in Devon, the Environment Agency put parts of the Rivers Yealm, Axe and Burton on the highest grade flood warning, meaning they pose a ‘danger to life’… A total of around 75 flood warnings and 150 flood alerts were issued across England and Wales… Many parts of the country received more than half the average rainfall for July in just one day…”

On July 9, The Daily Mail stated about Great Britain:

“… the country endured another sodden week, following the wettest spring and early summer period since records began…”

The Last Days of Britain

The Daily Mail wrote on July 6:

“The face of the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, has been slapped on the front of a U.S. magazine with a set of yellow, decaying teeth. The Royal was PhotoShopped like the American stereotype of a Brit with bad gnashers for a special issue of the politics and arts publication The New Republic about the future of Britain… The 30-year-old… appears in front of a tattered Union Jack alongside the words, ‘Something’s Rotten. The Last Days of Britain.’… Last year the pearly white Duchess spent thousands of pounds having her teeth polished and turned to give her the perfect smile…”

One can dispute the American “humor,” making the Duchess a target, but the perception that Britain has entered its last days is quite remarkable in light of biblical prophecy.

Terrible Weather Conditions in Russia

In an article on Russia, The Daily Mail wrote on July 7:

“At least 99 people have been killed in floods and landslides in southern Russia today after two months’ average rainfall fell in a few hours overnight. Most of the victims died in or around Krymsk, a town about 190 miles northwest of Sochi, the Black Sea resort where Russia will host the 2014 Winter Olympics…

“Some of the victims were electrocuted while others were swept into the sea. Many of the dead were elderly people who had been sleeping and drowned. Others survived by climbing on to rooftops after the torrential rain hit thousands of homes, flooded railways and roads, and halted oil shipments from the port of Novorossiisk.”

Animals Responsible for 2.2 Million Human Deaths a Year

Reuters reported on July 5:

“A global study mapping human diseases that come from animals like tuberculosis, AIDS, bird flu or Rift Valley fever has found that just 13 such diseases are responsible for 2.4 billion cases of human illness and 2.2 million deaths a year… The vast majority of infections and deaths from so-called zoonotic diseases are in poor or middle-income countries, but ‘hotspots’ are also cropping up in the United States and Europe where diseases are newly infecting humans, becoming particularly virulent, or are developing drug resistance.”

The Bible says that many people will die because of, among other factors, the wild beasts of the earth.

“Florida Closes Only Tuberculosis Hospital Amid Worst US Outbreak in 20 Years”

The Guardian wrote on July 9:

“Health officials in Florida hastened their closure of the nation’s only dedicated tuberculosis hospital on cost-cutting grounds as one of the worst outbreaks of the deadly disease in 20 years was taking a grip on the state, it has been revealed. At least 3,000 people in Jacksonville may have been exposed to the highly contagious respiratory illness that claimed 13 lives in the city and left another 100 sick in the last two years… patients once deemed too sick for contact with the public were released into the community and others newly diagnosed with the disease, mostly from the homeless population, are being put up in local motels in an effort to keep them on their medications… The CDC confirmed it was one of the worst outbreaks of TB anywhere in the United States for at least two decades.”

No Return to Deutschmark—Political Union Needed

The Local wrote on July 7:

“’A return to the Deutschmark would be irresponsible,’ Allianz CEO Michael Diekmann told the newspaper Welt am Sonntag. ‘Therefore we should stop toying with the idea.’ Diekmann said his company has made economic calculations for what would happen if Germany were to give up the euro, and that the result would be a deep depression in which a quarter of the gross domestic product (GDP) would be lost within four to five years.

“As a way out of the euro crisis, the head of the Munich-based insurer called for a stronger political union ‘that will only work with more shared responsibility and financing.’ He said limits need to be established on how one country helps another in the eurozone. ‘Whoever helps another country must also have the possibility of control,’ he told the paper.”

As this and the next article show, Germany will never give up the euro.

Merkel Extremely Popular in Germany In Spite of Criticism

The Independent wrote on July 7:

“Despite angry domestic criticism of her efforts to resolve the euro crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s popularity among German voters has reached its highest point since 2009, according to the results of an opinion poll broadcast yesterday by the ARD television channel. According to the poll, 66 per cent of the electorate were satisfied with the performance of their country’s first woman leader, and some 58 per cent said they agreed with the view that Ms Merkel had acted ‘properly and decisively over the euro crisis’…

“On her return from last week’s eurozone summit, where she was widely perceived as having given in to demands from Italy and Spain to approve bailout funding to be used directly to rescue ailing banks, Ms Merkel was accused by many of her domestic critics of making a policy U-turn.

“Yesterday, 170 leading German economists, headed by Hans-Werner Sinn, the eurosceptic head of the Munich-based Ifo economic research institute, stepped up the criticism by publishing an appeal for citizens to rise up and oppose Ms Merkel’s plans to rescue the single currency. The appeal singled out plans for a banking union announced at the Brussels summit and called on Germans to ‘warn’ politicians of the dangers of such a project. ‘Countries like Germany could be saddled with ever-increasing risks through heavily indebted countries,’ it argued.

“Wolfgang Schäuble, the finance minister, responded to the economists’ criticism yesterday by accusing them of confusing the public. ‘I find this outrageous,’ he said… In what threatened to become a ‘battle of the economists’, seven other leading financial experts announced their support yesterday for Ms Merkel’s euro policies, in a joint statement headlined: ‘No horror scenarios’. They accused Mr Sinn’s economists of failing to support their arguments with facts.

“Despite Ms Merkel’s renewed popularity, yesterday’s poll result suggested that her ruling coalition of conservative Christian Democrats and liberal Free Democrats would lose next year’s general election, meaning that to stay in power Ms Merkel would have to form a second grand coalition with the opposition Social Democrats.”

This will remain to be seen. In any event, Frau Merkel’s rise in popularity is quite remarkable.

50 Years of French-German Friendship

The Local wrote on July 9:

“French President Francois Hollande [said to German Chancellor Angela Merkel:] ‘No dark force and even less stupidity can alter the deep Franco-German friendship… Our friendship inspires Europe… We don’t want to preach. We just want to give examples to be followed… Madam Chancellor, I propose from our side to open and even cross a new door together that will lead to even closer friendship between our two nations’…

“Merkel’s message was more direct. ‘Europe is more than just a currency, and the Franco-German relationship is vital in this regard, it has deeply marked European unification,’ she said. At the same time she stressed that others were welcome to join in, echoing Hollande who is seeking closer ties with Italy and Spain. ‘We must now put finishing touches on a political level of the economic and monetary union, it’s a Herculean task but Europe is up to it,’ she said, ending her speech with ‘Long live Franco-German friendship’ in both languages.”

Germany Under Pressure Over Abominable Court Decision on Circumcision

The Local wrote on July 6:

“Germany is coming under increasing pressure over the court decision that ruled circumcision was bodily harm and thus a crime – with the Wiesenthal Centre quoting Hitler, and a Muslim group saying it was a blow against integration. The Los-Angeles-based Jewish group called on German lawmakers to provide legal safety for the practice, saying it would be ‘a stain on today’s Germany’ to let the court ruling stand.

“Criminalising circumcision was ‘an attack on one of the fundamental principles of Judaism,’ wrote Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, founder and dean and associate dean of the Centre in a letter to Merkel. ‘For 3,500 years, every male child has entered the Jewish people through the rite of circumcision. We are not talking about a mere custom, but a biblical principle that has defined the Jewish people from time immemorial.’ They noted that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler said ‘in one of his infamous anti-Semitic rants’ that ‘conscience is a Jewish invention, it is a blemish like circumcision.’…

“The ruling marked a ‘big blow against integration,’ a spokesman for the Coordinating Council of Muslims in Germany, one of some 20 groups representing most of Germany’s around four million Muslims, said on Wednesday. German Muslim leaders urged lawmakers Wednesday to pass legislation protecting the right to circumcise boys after a court ruling against the practice when carried out on religious grounds…

“The Muslim groups are in contact with Jewish and Christian leaders on the issue and discussing how to bring pressure to bear on the political class…  After the ruling touched off a storm of international protest, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle insisted the country would continue to protect religious freedom and rites including circumcision. However several doctors and hospitals have said they would suspend the practice as long as its legal standing is unclear.”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 9:

“An Israeli parliamentary committee Monday denounced a recent German regional court decision making circumcision a crime while the ruling also provoked the Conference of European Rabbis to call for an emergency meeting in Berlin to discuss the issue. Both groups agree that ritual circumcision of Jewish boys when they are eight days old is a fundamental part of being Jewish.

“Israeli politician and committee member Danny Danon noted that Germany last banned circumcision in the country’s ‘darkest hour,’ referring to the Nazi years and the persecution of the Jews. The Associated Press reported that Danon said Israel would not tolerate restrictions on the practice of Judaism anywhere in the world, ‘and certainly not in Germany.’

“The Israeli committee’s denouncement of the decision, announced last month by a court in Cologne, was made after committee members met with Andreas Michaelis, Germany’s ambassador to Israel…

“Muslims, Jews, Catholics and Protestants alike have cricitized the ruling. The Coordinating Council of Muslims in Germany called the ruling a ‘massive intrusion on religious freedom and on parents’ rights.’ Meanwhile, the Central Council of Jews in Germany warned the ruling ‘would make Jewish life in Germany practically impossible.’ The Torah explicitly states that all Jewish boys should be circumcised by the eighth day after their birth.

“It is estimated that at least 15 percent of German men are circumcised, with around 50,000 circumcisions performed each year… In the United States, around 70 percent of all men are circumcised.”

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 11:

“European Orthodox rabbis have protested a German court’s ban on circumcision for religious reasons. The Jewish leaders say it’s yet another example of the marginalization of minorities… It’s a ‘highly problematic’ ruling for Jewish communities in Germany, Pinchas Goldschmidt , the president of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), told DW. He said he hoped the government in Berlin would quickly arrange for legal clarification.

“Goldschmidt said he is just as shocked by opinion polls that show a majority of Germans welcome the Cologne court’s ruling. This is about the ‘basics of a liberal democracy, about the absolute recognition of the religious freedom of minorities,’ he said… Goldschmidt also pointed out a rising tendency toward intolerance of religious minorities in Europe. As example, he cited a recent Swiss ban on building new minarets on mosques, a French ban on women wearing Islamic veils in public and a debate in the Netherlands about kosher meat prepared by Jewish butchers.”

BBC News added on July 12:

“European Jewish and Muslim groups have joined forces to defend circumcision for young boys on religious grounds after a German regional court ruled it amounted to bodily harm. A joint statement says the practice is fundamental to their faiths and calls for it to be awarded legal protection… Germany’s Medical Association told doctors not to perform circumcisions…

“The unusual joint statement was signed by leaders of groups including the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, the European Jewish Parliament, the European Jewish Association, Germany’s Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs and the Islamic Centre Brussels… The leaders also met members of the European parliament and the Bundestag to express their anger and insist that the German parliament establish clear legal protections for the rite. The BBC’s Stephen Evans in Berlin says the German government is clearly uneasy about the ruling, particularly after accusations that it was inappropriate for the country of the Holocaust to outlaw a fundamental ritual of Judaism.”

Haaretz wrote on July 12:

“Europe’s main Orthodox rabbinical body is urging Jews in Germany to uphold the commandment to circumcise newborn sons, despite a court ruling in Germany that said circumcising young boys [is] considered a criminal act. Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said his organization is ready to back Jews in challenging the May ruling by a Cologne district court, which Jewish groups see as symptomatic of a trend across Europe against some Jewish rituals. Goldschmidt said some lawmakers intending to curb Muslim practices unwittingly outlaw Jewish traditions as well… Two Berlin hospitals that routinely perform the surgery, mostly for Muslim families but also for Jewish ones, have temporarily stopped the practice…

“Virtually all Jewish denominations have roundly condemned the Cologne ruling, though they may differ on other religious practices… Circumcision is one tradition that unites secular and religious Jews, Goldschmidt noted. He added that current challenges to the practice of circumcision and kosher slaughter in Europe stem from the notion that Muslims have similar practices but with less rigorous training than Jews. Lawmakers are reacting, for example, to botched circumcisions performed by poorly trained practitioners, he suggested, adding that such problems are extremely rare among mohels, or Jewish ritual circumcisers. Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 12:

“An influential group of European rabbis on Thursday used unusually strong language to attack a German court ruling against the circumcision of boys. If the ruling is allowed to stand, the group’s president warned, ‘then I don’t see a future for Jews in Germany.’ Calling it the ‘worst attack on Jewish life since the Holocaust,’ the Conference of European Rabbis on Thursday strongly condemned a recent German court decision that criminalizes the circumcision of boys. ‘A ban on circumcision poses an existential question for the Jewish community in Germany,’ the president of the organization, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, said on Thursday…

“He said the ban on shechita, the ritual slaughter of mammals and birds according to Jewish dietary laws, by the National Socialists had also been a sign for many Jews that ‘we need to leave Germany.’ But he added that a ban on circumcision, given the importance of the tradition, would send a much stronger message…”

In addition, according to the President of the Central Council of Jews, Dieter Graumann, in Germany’s “Tagesthemen,” one fourth of all young males are being circumcised worldwide, and for many generations, the successors on the British throne are being circumcised as well by Jewish circumcisers. This last statement is quite interesting, giving additional credence to the fact that British kings have been sitting on the Jewish throne of David.

Shame on the German court in Cologne and on the majority of Germans who have actually supported this abominable court decision, which was rendered by a professional judge and two appointed “jurors”—speaking volumes about jury duty systems. Shame also on the many German- and English-speaking listeners to our AufPostenStehen and StandingWatch programs on circumcision who voiced their disagreement with our programs which condemn the unbiblical and intolerable court decision.

The statement of Herr Westerwelle is ridiculous in light of the legal finality of the court decision which clearly serves as a precedence for other courts. As can be seen in other examples as well, Germany is steadily moving towards more and more intolerance and even persecution of religious minorities. It will have to be seen whether this trend can be (at least temporarily) stopped or reversed. On the other hand, incredible Muslim behavior in the Western world is not going to find too much understanding and approval, as the next article shows.

Muslim Values Not Popular

Breitbart wrote on July 10:

“A feminist journalist from England, Cinnamon Heathcote-Drury… got her world turned upside down over the last few months, and the liberalism of her own self-defeating British culture is what did her in…

“So, imagine the scene. A British, feminist journalist sees a woman in a hijab loading a large number of groceries onto the store conveyor belt at check out. She begins fuming with feminist ire because this Muslim woman’s husband stands idly by doing nothing to help the overworked woman load the groceries. The journo can take it no more and just has to say something. She brusquely confronts the man telling him that his wife needs help loading the merchandise. She pushes past the man and starts helping the hijab-clad woman herself…

“As it happened, neither the Muslim man nor his wife much appreciated the ‘social lesson’ the journalist thought to teach them. And, as so many Muslims in Britain do, they proceeded to play the Brit’s liberalism against them. The couple cried racism and had the journalist arrested for a ‘hate crime.’…

“We must realize, of course, that this Muslim man’s indifference to his wife’s toils is typical in many Muslim cultures. The groceries would be ‘women’s work,’ after all. Women are often second-class citizens. And in the male-dominated Muslim world, women do all the work for the home and children. Everything…

“In the end, this journalist was lucky. Her court system returned a not guilty verdict for her. She was let off the hook. But the next pushy journalist — or other citizen — might not be so lucky. The next one may be thrown in jail because of liberalism gone wild…”

Barack Obama—Now In Trouble over “Fraudulent Social Security Number”?

On July 6, The Drudge Report linked the following article by WorldNetDaily, dated July 4:

“If Barack Obama has an immediate eligibility problem, it is more likely to derive from the Social Security Number he has been using for the last 35 years than from his birth certificate. Ohio private investigator Susan Daniels has seen to that. On Monday, July 2, she filed suit in Geauga County (Ohio) Common Pleas Court demanding that Jon Husted, Ohio secretary of state, remove Obama’s name from the ballot until Obama can prove the validity of his Social Security Number.

“Daniels, who has vetted thousands of Social Security Numbers for numerous other clients, has done her homework. In her filing, she thoroughly documents her contention ‘that Barack Obama has repeatedly, consistently, and with intent misrepresented himself by using a fraudulently obtained Social Security Number.’ To acquire appropriate standing in court, Daniels has gone to the trouble of establishing herself as a valid write-in candidate for president. Before she is through, this 70-something mother of seven, who has been a licensed Ohio PI since 1995, may cause Obama more trouble than the Romney campaign.

“Daniels started her investigation in August 2009. Given her profession, she has been able to access a variety of proprietary databases. What she learned without much trouble is that Obama has been using a Social Security Number with the prefix ‘042’ since 1986. As she discovered, the ‘042’ number is reserved for the exclusive use of individuals who register in Connecticut… she came to the firm conviction that Obama’s number was issued in March 1977 in Connecticut. By all accounts, as Daniels thoroughly documents, Obama was then a 15-year-old living in Hawaii. There is no record of him even visiting Connecticut in or near this time frame.

“To have gotten a Social Security card at this time Obama would have had to show up for a ‘mandatory in-person interview.’ This could not have taken place in Connecticut. Obama’s sister, Maya, by contrast, uses a number appropriate for a Hawaiian resident. Daniels checked other databases as well to validate her findings, including the Massachusetts Department of Motor Vehicles and the IRS. Yes, Obama used the 042 number to get a driver’s license when at Harvard and as recently as on his 2009 income tax return…

“The ample evidence Daniels gathered led her to believe that the 042 number Obama has been using ‘had previously been issued to another person,’ one who lived in Connecticut between 1977 and 1979 and who was born in 1890. This assertion can be verified. By law, the Social Security Administration will have kept on microfilm a copy of the original SS-5 application attached to a particular Social Security Number. Daniels, however, does not have access to that microfilm. For this reason, Daniels has filed suit…

“Daniels asks the court, among other things, to issue an injunction against Obama’s name appearing on ballot until it is determined that he is using a proper Social Security Number. Given the response of courts elsewhere, it is unlikely that Daniels will find satisfaction in Geauga County or from the Republican secretary of state… The major media, of course, will not bother to look…”

There are many cases pending in front of numerous courts, questioning the eligibility of Mr. Obama as President for several reasons. So far, to our knowledge, no case has been decided on the merits.

Obamacare Could Come Home to Roost for Most Taxpayers in 2014

The Associated Press wrote on July 7:

“The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold most of President Barack Obama’s health care law will come home to roost for most taxpayers in about 2 1/2 years, when they’ll have to start providing proof on their tax returns that they have health insurance. That scenario puts the Internal Revenue Service at the center of the debate, renewing questions about whether the agency is capable of policing the health care decisions of millions of people in the United States while also collecting the taxes needed to run the federal government.

“Under the law, the IRS will provide tax breaks and incentives to help pay for health insurance and impose penalties on some people who don’t buy coverage and on some businesses that don’t offer it to employees. The changes will require new regulations, forms and publications, new computer programs and a big new outreach program to explain it all to taxpayers and tax professionals. Businesses that don’t claim an exemption will have to prove they offer health insurance to employees. The health care law ‘includes the largest set of tax law changes in more than 20 years,’ according to the Treasury inspector general who oversees the IRS. The agency will have to hire thousands of workers to manage it, requiring significant budget increases that already are being targeted by congressional Republicans determined to dismantle the president’s signature initiative…

“The Supreme Court, in its 5-4 ruling, upheld the mandate that most Americans get health insurance. The majority said Congress has the power to enforce the mandate under its taxing authority. The decision labeled the penalties a tax, noting that they will be collected by the IRS. Those who don’t get qualified health insurance will be required to pay the penalty – or tax – starting for the 2014 tax year, unless they are exempt because of low income, religious beliefs, or because they are members of American Indian tribes. The penalty will be fully phased in by 2016, when it will be $695 for each uninsured adult or 2.5 percent of family income, whichever is greater, up to $12,500…

“The law, however, severely limits the ability of the IRS to collect the penalties. There are no civil or criminal penalties for refusing to pay it and the IRS cannot seize bank accounts or dock wages to collect it. No interest accumulates for unpaid penalties. So how can the IRS enforce the mandate? Scary letters and threats to withhold tax refunds…”

Obamacare’s catastrophic and troublesome consequences for the American public and economy have not even hit yet the conscious minds of many indifferent Americans. And as the next article shows as well, the powers usurped by the US government and its institutions are truly frightening.

Big Brother in Big Operation

MSNBC wrote on July 7:

“Does the U.S. government read your email? It’s a simple question, but apparently there’s no simple answer. And the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service are reluctant to say anything on the topic.

“In March, the American Civil Liberties Union caused a nationwide stir when the advocacy group released the results of its year-long investigation into law enforcement use of cellphone tracking data. After issuing hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests, the ACLU learned that many local police departments around the country routinely pay mobile phone network operators a small fee to get detailed records of historic cell phone location information… In most cases, law enforcement obtains the data without applying for a search warrant; generally, subpoenas are issued instead, which require law enforcement to meet a lower legal standard…

“In a landmark 2010 case, United States v. Warshak, government investigators acknowledged that they read 27,000 emails without obtaining a search warrant, violating both the suspect’s privacy and the privacy of everyone who communicated with the suspect… Evidence obtained during that email search was thrown out on appeal by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but that ruling applies only to four U.S. states…

“The Justice Department and the Obama administration had a chance to settle the issue in April 2011, during a Senate hearing on the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Instead, officials with both the Commerce and Justice departments failed to provide any clarity. Instead, a Justice Department official argued against extending Fourth Amendment protections — specifically strict warrant requirements — to email, saying that doing so would hinder investigations…”

These are troubling developments, but most Americans don’t seem to know or to care. They are like the proverbial ostrich, placing its head in the sand, or the frog that is being boiled in hot water.

Egypt’s Morsi in Confrontation with Military

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 9:

“Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s decision to reinstate parliament after its dissolution by the country’s highest court could be the beginning of a face-off with the military, which backed the ruling, observers say… Local newspaper Al-Akhbar, summed up Morsi’s decision to defy the ruling military council, led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi as an ‘early confrontation.’ Since Mubarak’s ouster in February 2011, the military council has run the country. Seeking to trim Morsi’s authority they dissolved parliament, as well as giving themselves full legislative powers, before swearing him in as Egypt’s first freely elected president on June 30. Morsi’s decree late Sunday to reinstate parliament gives those powers to his party, the Muslim Brotherhood, who share a two-third majority in the house along with other Islamists… Non-Islamist political forces in Egypt have reacted angrily to Morsi’s decision, especially leftists and liberals who fear the Brotherhood is aiming to establish an Islamic state where human rights will be undermined.”

The Telegraph reported the following on July 9:

“Egypt is braced for a major confrontation between the country’s Islamist president and military after the generals vowed to uphold a Constitutional Court ruling disbanding parliament.”

UN Asks Iran for Help and Becomes a Laughing Stock

Newsmax reported on July 10:

“The United Nations has turned to Iran to help negotiate a global arms treaty in a move that is drawing scorn and ridicule around the globe. The appointment was made by members of the U.N. Conference of the Arms Trade Treaty in New York last week. The committee to which Iran was appointed is tasked with coming up with a treaty regulating the international trade of conventional arms…

“The 15-nation committee, which is meeting this month, is led by Argentina, which serves as president, and includes the United States, Iran, China, and Russia, nations that serve as vice presidents… The Iranian media wasted no time in touting the appointment, noting that Iran ‘has been elected as deputy for the talks.’ According to The Times of Israel, The Islamic Republic News Agency reported that ‘some 193 participating countries unanimously voted in favor of Iran during the fourth day of the meeting under way in the United Nations headquarters, to draft a bill on regulating arms trade in the world.’”

How could any kind of true success be achieved with these kinds of organizations?

Syria and the Arab Sunni Versus Persian Shiite Struggle

Stratfor.com wrote on July 10:

“… this is a useful moment to step back and think seriously about the regional implications should [Shiite] Syria return to Sunni hands…

“Let’s first recall why Syria is up for grabs. Human rights interests alone do not come close to explaining why this particular uprising has received a substantial amount of attention and foreign backing over the past year. The past decade enabled Iran to wrest Baghdad out of Sunni hands and bring Mesopotamia under Shiite control. There is little question now that Iraq, as fractured as it is, sits in the Iranian sphere of influence while Iraqi Sunnis have been pushed to the margins. Iran’s gains in Baghdad shifted the regional balance of power, creating a Shiite crescent stretching from western Afghanistan to the Mediterranean coast.

“This disturbance in the regional balance of power has aggravated a number of regional stakeholders. With U.S. backing, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar have banded together to lead a counter-coalition to Iran. Iraq may have been reluctantly conceded to Iran, but the uprising in Syria offered a new opportunity to undercut Iran’s Mediterranean outlet in the Levant. Saudi Arabia has been trying to manage simmering Shiite unrest on the Arabian Peninsula, while Turkey is looking to lay a Sunni foundation for its regional resurgence.

“As a result, increased amounts of money, supplies, weaponry, training and intelligence support have made their way to the Syrian rebels through covert channels. The hope was that a covert campaign would obviate the need for a costly foreign military intervention and lead to the collapse of the regime from within. In theory, the plan sounds reasonable. In practice, it’s a lot more complicated.

“A transition to Sunni rule in Syria is bound to be messy. Syria’s Alawites have become well established in Damascus and in other key urban centers across the country… the Alawites, with Iranian backing, could be expected to mount a militant resistance against Turkish- and Arab-backed Sunnis. The Alawites… currently dominate Syria’s ruling Baath Party…

“It is safe to assume that Syria, between the fall of the Alawite regime and the turbulent emergence of a new, Sunni-empowered regime, would experience an interregnum defined by considerable chaos…

“The most important battleground to watch in this regard will be Iraq. There are a number of regional stakeholders who are not satisfied with Baghdad’s Iranian-backed Shiite government… the domino effect from Syria could place Iran back on the defensive in Iraq, which has the potential to re-emerge as the main arena for the broader Arab Sunni versus Persian Shiite struggle for regional influence…”

Syria is a powder keg ready to explode, potentially setting the entire Middle East (and more) on fire. For further information on Syria’s future, please read our Q&A on Syria. 

The Independence Day and the Cain Heresy

Haaretz wrote on July 4:

“In the beginning, there was a heresy. Early in the book of Genesis, God approached Cain, the first-born son of the first humans, and asked him ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ Abel, of course, was dead. Cain had murdered him in the world’s first act of mortal violence. But the murder, though horrific, was not the heresy. The heresy was Cain’s response: ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’

“Cain’s disingenuous and disturbing question reflects an idea that our natural state is independent from and free of obligation toward others; that we are responsible to others only when we choose to accept such responsibility, and even then, only as much as is dictated by our own self-interest or need. On numerous levels, this perspective is a dangerous and destructive heresy, and one not unique to the biblical Cain. It is widely held today in some circles, and it is what many will have in mind when they celebrate American Independence Day on July 4th. So this Independence Day seems an appropriate moment to publicly expose and refute it.

“To many Americans, independence has come to mean unlimited individual rights and no obligations toward others. Independence Day, to them, is a day to celebrate our liberation from having to be our fellow’s keeper, our independence from others.

“This view of independence is un-American. It is not what the American founders, at nearly every stage in the nation’s inception, envisioned. The Declaration of Independence asserted only the right to make a political break with Great Britain. It never advocated Americans breaking free of their obligations to each other. On the contrary, it maintained the collective responsibility of the people within the American body… And the U.S. Constitution is based on the concept that ‘We, the People’ are bound together, that we are responsible to protect and defend each other, and that we are obligated to promote each other’s wellbeing…

“My actions have consequences beyond my sphere of control, and similarly, the actions of others impact me… Finally, the Exodus story insists that freedom is incomplete without Torah [the Law], a covenant that (to name but a few of the hundreds of biblical laws that obligate us to each other) demands we care for the injured, attend to those in peril, and not remain indifferent to others’ suffering… unless we all see ourselves as our fellows’ keepers, none of us can be truly free.

“The Cain Heresy is alive and well in our culture, threatening to totally devour the freedom it claims to defend. This July 4th, as we enjoy our barbecue and fireworks, let us remember to celebrate not only our independence, but our interdependence as well.”

The Bible confirms indeed that we are our brother’s keeper. Compare, for example, James 2:15-16; Proverbs 3:27-28; Hebrews 13:16; Galatians 6:2, 9-10.

National Disasters in the USA

BBC reported on July 4:

“Nearly one million Americans are marking Independence Day amid a scramble to restore power five days after severe storms hit the eastern US. Residents without air-conditioning or working refrigerators are facing searing heat in the storm’s wake… The damage was mostly blamed on a meteorological phenomenon known as a derecho, which saw hurricane-force winds buffeted ahead of fast-moving thunderstorms. The derecho brought down trees and power lines, leaving three million people without electricity in the wake of the storm. The extreme heat, which continued over the following days, has been blamed for 24 deaths in seven states so far.

“The National Weather Service has issued excessive heat warnings for parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. It warned that ‘a prolonged period of dangerously hot temperatures will occur’…

“Meanwhile, almost half of those still without power are said to be in West Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountains region of Virginia. West Virginia officials have asked residents not to set off fireworks at home because the high temperatures have increased the risk of fire in many places. Fallen trees that have not yet been removed could add to the hazard, they say. Further west, Colorado is one of several states hit by destructive wildfires rage in recent weeks that are scrapping their firework displays too, amid fears that dry grass could become tinder for wildfires.”

Report: Roberts Originally Voted to Strike Down Obamacare

Newsmax reported on July 1:

“Chief Justice John Roberts originally sided with conservatives who wanted to overturn Obamacare but then switched positions on the Affordable Care Act to ultimately side with liberal justices, according to a CBS report released Sunday. The highly detailed report, quoting anonymous sources apparently close to the Supreme Court, reveals many details concerning the super-secretive negotiations that go on behind the scenes during major deliberations.

“… while Roberts agreed that the individual mandate was unconstitutional under Congress’ power to regulate commerce, he felt less strongly about whether the entire law should fall. Roberts switched positions to side with the liberal justices, perhaps in response to increasing pressure from outside the Court to rule in favor of the law, CBS reports… The article suggests that Roberts was as concerned with his reputation and the Court’s popular standing as he was with the merits of the case.”

This does not sound that surprising to someone who actually witnessed first-hand deliberations of justices and the “rationale” employed to reach certain desired conclusions.

EU Leaders Reach “Breakthrough” Deal

CNN reported on June 29:

“European leaders reached a ‘breakthrough’ deal early Friday to ease the recapitalization of struggling banks that should help draw the eurozone back from the brink of a gathering crisis.

“Under the deal, European leaders agreed to create a single supervisory body to oversee the eurozone’s banks which could use the single currency area’s rescue funds, the European Financial Stability Facility or European Stability Mechanism, to aid banks directly without adding to governments’ debt.

“European Union leaders are hoping for implementation of the agreement by July 9, an EU statement said… The deal is a big step toward a closer banking union across the 17-nation eurozone, which could be seen as a precursor to fiscal union. European markets responded positively to the news Friday morning and the euro currency strengthened appreciably.”

Germany Determined to Overcome European Financial Crisis—Britain Opposed…

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 30:

“The German parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favor of the European Union’s 120-billion-euro growth pact and European Stability Mechanism (ESM), signaling a determination to overcome the European financial crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel rushed back to Berlin following EU summit talks in Brussels in order to address the legislative body before it closed for its summer recess on Friday… First the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, voted in favor of the two. The Bundesrat, representing Germany’s 16 states, also gave the green light several hours later.

“During the two-day talks with other leaders from the EU, Merkel remained steadfastly opposed to any moves to pool eurozone debt. She had to make some concessions, however, in order to adopt quick-fix solutions to address the crisis, such as allowing the ESM to give direct help to troubled eurozone banks, to which she had previously been opposed. Merkel defended her change of heart and pointed out that any assistance from the ESM would come with strict conditions…

“In the end, 25 of the EU’s 27 member states agreed to the fiscal growth pact. Britain and the Czech Republic did not sign the agreement. Only a handful of parliaments have ratified the pact thus far, including Greece, Latvia, Slovenia, Sweden and Denmark. It is believed that Germany’s approval of the measures will serve as a catalyst for quick ratification by other European legislative bodies.”

Germany will help to overcome the financial crisis and lead Europe—at least a developing Eurozone. Sadly, the Bible shows us that this will have devastating consequences for the entire world.

Great Britain—In or Out?

The Daily Mail reported on June 30:

“Speaking after a marathon Brussels summit that saw European leaders take a significant step towards the creation of a superstate, the Prime Minister [David Cameron] mounted his strongest defence yet of Britain’s membership of the EU. He acknowledged that the creation of a powerful new fiscal union would have ‘consequences for Britain’ and suggested that some renegotiation of our relationship with the EU may be needed in the future.

“But he explicitly ruled out the in/out referendum demanded by many of his MPs. Describing himself as a ‘realistic, optimistic Eurosceptic’, he gave a robust defence of Britain’s membership of the EU, saying three million jobs depended on it… ‘Britain is not going to cede more powers to Brussels… I think Britain has every chance of securing the sort of relationship we want in Europe.’”

This, however, is wishful thinking. It really boils down to the United Kingdom’s willingness to cede more powers to Brussels, or to exit the EU. The Bible indicates that the latter will happen soon. Note also the next articles:

Is Britain Sleepwalking?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 3:

“The British seem to have a taste for referendums at the moment. Next year, the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands will vote on their status as a British overseas territory. Then, in 2014, the Scottish government will hold a referendum on independence from the United Kingdom. Now it looks like there could be another nationwide referendum after that — on Britain’s membership of the European Union…

“The pressure from euroskeptics puts Cameron, who does not want to be rushed into holding a vote, in a tricky situation. In a speech to parliament on Monday on the outcome of last week’s EU summit, the prime minister said that although he is not in favor of an immediate referendum on EU membership, he does not want to rule one out for the future… If the euro zone grows ever closer together into a political union, it will change Britain’s relationship with the EU, Cameron said…

“It is entirely possible that the British could indeed vote in favor of leaving the EU. Britain is arguably the most euroskeptic country in the union, with only 17 percent of the British believing that they can trust the EU. But leaving the bloc is something which Cameron wants to avoid at all costs. Despite all the anti-EU rhetoric, he believes that access to the European internal market is a vital pillar of the British economy.

“Pro-European voices have warned that Britain is sleepwalking toward a departure from the union. ‘We are sliding towards the exit without any strategizing about what comes afterwards,’ Charles Grant, director of the influential Centre for European Reform think tank, told the Reuters news agency. ‘The chances of Britain leaving the EU in the next few years are higher than they have ever been,’ writes The Economist…

“The euro crisis has created a new political momentum within the euro zone which Britain needs to respond to, otherwise the country is at risk of becoming marginalized as a non-euro member… Cameron hopes to postpone the referendum issue for a few years…

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other euro-zone leaders are unlikely to relish the prospect of a British prime minister who wants to take an even tougher line in Brussels. Cameron already dealt a setback to Merkel’s pet project, the fiscal pact, with his veto at the December EU summit. Cameron also caused problems at last week’s summit, dragging out the talks over a trivial detail. The British leader absolutely wanted the seat of the new European Unified Patent Court to be located in London. In the end, Cameron was satisfied with getting two branches for the pharmaceutical and life science industries…”

Britain Can No Longer Veto Deeper Integration

The Euobserver wrote on July 3:

“… there will be no return to the previous situation in which the UK was allowed to veto deeper integration… It remains apparent that Cameron cannot prevent whatever is about to happen: his bluff has been comprehensively called. Cameron told the press: ‘We won’t be part of a banking union, fiscal union or political union’. This means that the UK is headed directly either for complete withdrawal from the EU or, more likely, for a formal second-class associate membership based essentially on those aspects of the Single Market which the British may yet find palatable.

“One may note the delicious irony of the situation in which, just as the UK government rejects the European banking union, the high priests of Anglo-Saxon capitalism in the City of London (itself a victim of light regulation) would prefer to participate in such a centralised banking union at least in so far as their extensive euro dominated operations are concerned.”

Two-Speed Europe No Longer Taboo

The EUObserver wrote on June 29:

“… we observe with great concern the birth of a two-level solidarity within the Union: one for those inside and the other for those outside the eurozone… Banks from the Central and Eastern Europe, which are not members of the euro area, are to a large extent (about 70 percent in Poland), held by banks from the eurozone…

“The already-existing Eurogroup meetings and the separate summits restricted to members of the euro area confirm the emergence of an institutional cleavage within the Union… large and small countries, eurozone members and countries outside the zone are treated differently… the phenomenon of a two-speed Europe not only becomes a fact of increasing likelihood, but it is more and more politically acknowledged and approved.”

The emergence of a core Europe, consisting of Eurozone members, appears to be inevitable.

“France to Legalize Gay Marriage”

Deutsche Welle reported on June 30:

“It will soon be legal for same-sex couples to marry and adopt children in France, after the new Socialist government announced plans to legalize gay marriage. French President Francois Hollande is to use the majority he won in parliamentary elections two weeks ago to make good on his campaign promise to legalize gay marriage and adoption…

“The conservative UMP, which opposed the measure under former President Nicolas Sarkozy, can do little to stop the Socialists from passing a law granting full marriage rights to gay couples. In doing so, it will join fellow EU members Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden. Currently France only allows same-sex civil unions. The government also plans to discuss ways of making life easier for trans-gender individuals, whose legal dealings are often complicated by their change of name and sex. For Hollande, enabling gay marriage would help boost his image as a man of his word and an agent for progressive social change…

“Just six years ago, surveys indicated that most French people were opposed to changing the definition of marriage to include same-sex marriage. According to the pollster BVA, this has changed markedly, with more than 60 percent supporting the idea today. More than two-thirds of French people still describe themselves as Roman Catholic, but church attendance has been dropping in recent years. And fewer Catholics today adhere to strict church teachings on sexual issues. Conservatives and practicing Catholics, however, are still deeply opposed to enabling gay marriage and adoption.”

And so, “progressive change” in our Western “Christian” societies seems to mean, abandoning the teachings of the Bible and adopting and embracing what the Bible prohibits. Apart from the abominable recent court decision in Cologne, Germany, criminalizing circumcision (which decision was approved of by a majority of Germans), we prohibit or disfavor the biblically permitted spanking of children, while we allow and approve of the practice of abortion (mainly as a “birth control” device), the practice of homosexuality, gender change, adultery, premarital sex… and the list could go on and on. The Bible prophesies that soon, the keeping of the biblical Sabbath and the annual Holy Days will be outlawed as well in Europe (as it was in previous times), and animal sacrifices in Jerusalem, which will commence in the not-too-distant future, will be violently suppressed by European powers. Clearly, it is Satan, the god of this world, who has deceived all nations and their governments, who is inspiring and instigating these ungodly developments.

Tensions Mount in the Middle East

The New York Times wrote on July 3:

“The United States has quietly moved significant military reinforcements into the Persian Gulf to deter the Iranian military from any possible attempt to shut the Strait of Hormuz and to increase the number of fighter jets capable of striking deep into Iran if the standoff over its nuclear program escalates… But at a moment that the United States and its allies are beginning to enforce a much broader embargo on Iran’s oil exports, meant to force the country to take seriously the negotiations over sharply limiting its nuclear program, the buildup carries significant risks, including that Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps could decide to lash out against the increased presence.

“The most visible elements of this buildup are Navy ships designed to vastly enhance the ability to patrol the Strait of Hormuz — and to reopen the narrow waterway should Iran attempt to mine it to prevent Saudi Arabia and other oil exporters from sending their tankers through the vital passage….

“Negotiations with Iran are at a stalemate… Responding to the tightening of Western sanctions, Iran on Monday announced that it would consider proposed legislation to disrupt traffic in the Strait of Hormuz as well as missile tests, in a drill clearly intended as a warning to Israel and the United States. The Iranian legislation calls for Iran’s military to block any oil tanker en route to countries no longer buying Iranian crude because of the embargo… Senior Pentagon and military officials acknowledge that Iran has the capability to close the strait, at least temporarily…”

Iran: We Will Destroy U.S. Military Bases Across the Middle East

Reuters reported on July 4:

“Iran has threatened to destroy U.S. military bases across the Middle East and target Israel within minutes of being attacked, Iranian media reported on Wednesday, as Revolutionary Guards extended test-firing of ballistic missiles into a third day. Israel has hinted it may attack Iran if diplomacy fails to secure a halt to its disputed nuclear energy program. The United States also has mooted military action as a last-resort option but has frequently nudged the Israelis to give time for intensified economic sanctions to work against Iran.

“‘These bases are all in range of our missiles, and the occupied lands (Israel) are also good targets for us,’ Amir Ali Haji Zadeh, commander of the Revolutionary Guards aerospace division… said [and that] 35 U.S. bases were within reach of Iran’s ballistic missiles, the most advanced of which commanders have said could hit targets 2,000 km (1,300 miles) away… It was not clear where Haji Zadeh got his figures on U.S. bases in the region. U.S. military facilities in the Middle East are located in Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Turkey, and it has around 10 bases further afield in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan…

“Iran has upped its fiery anti-West rhetoric in response to the launch on Sunday of a total European Union embargo on buying Iranian crude oil – the latest calibrated increase in sanctions aimed at pushing Tehran into curbing nuclear activity…”

In light of the failure of American and European sanctions against Iran, the likelihood of a military confrontation between Iran and America, as well as Israel (and perhaps even Europe), is nearing a climax. Are we are going to see soon an outright war in the Middle East?

Egypt’s New President

Deutsche Welle reported on June 30:

“Mohammed Morsi has been officially sworn in as Egypt’s president at a ceremony at the Constitutional Court in Cairo Saturday, becoming the first elected leader of the country since Hosni Mubarak was ousted. Morsi is the first Islamist to be freely elected in the Arab world. He becomes Egypt’s fifth head of state since the country’s monarchy was overthrown 60 years ago… Before being elected president, Morsi was the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. He resigned from his post with the Brotherhood when he won the election.

“On Friday, Morsi took a symbolic oath of office during a speech on Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the revolution that overthrew Mubarak in February. He promised a civilian state and praised ‘the square of the revolution, the square of freedom.’ Traditionally, the president takes the oath in parliament, but Egypt’s top court ordered the disbanding of the Islamist-dominated legislature. The military subsequently assumed legislative powers and also formed a powerful national security council headed by the president but dominated by generals. By agreeing to be sworn in by the Constitutional Court, Morsi is effectively acknowledging the court’s decision to dissolve parliament.”

Morsi’s resignation from the Muslim Brotherhood is just a show and of no substantive consequences. As an Islamist by heart, he will not follow Western desires and help establish a true democracy, and Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel won’t continue to last for long.

Russia and India Developing Hypersonic Missiles

On June 28, wired.com wrote the following:

“Russia and India are… developing a hypersonic missile capable of traveling more than five times the speed of sound… If it works, the missile — called the BrahMos 2 — is expected to travel up to Mach 7 from sea-, land- and air-launched platforms. And it’s supposed to be ready for flight tests in 2017…  ‘I think we will need about 5 years to develop the first fully functional prototype,’ Sivathanu Pillai, CEO of India-based BraHmos Aerospace said in Moscow on Wednesday. Pillai also suggested the missile already exists, and that BrahMos has conducted ‘lab tests [of the missile] at the speed of 6.5 Mach.’…

“Hypersonic and scramjet research in the United States also goes back to the early days of the Cold War. But it wasn’t until 1991 when Russia became the first country to successfully test a scramjet. More tests followed, and with the help of NASA, Russia successfully flew a hydrogen-fueled scramjet at up to Mach 6.4 over Kazakhstan in 1998. In 2001, U.S. defense analysts took notice of a mysterious ultra-high-speed Russian missile test suspected of being powered by a scramjet. The first successful solo American scramjet tests didn’t occur until the 2000s…

“In May, Russian defense industry chief Dmitry Rogozin called the decline of research into hypersonic weapons since the Soviet era ‘a treasonable act to our national interests’ and that developing hypersonic weapons was necessary to respond to U.S. developments…”

The military cooperation between Russia and India is quite interesting, as the Bible shows that powerful “kings from the East” will invade Europe and the Middle East in the not-too-distant future.

Did Scientists Find the “God Particle”?

The Washington Post reported on July 4:

“A half-century scientific quest culminated early Wednesday as physicists announced the discovery of a new subatomic particle — one theorized to be so fundamental that without it, nothing could exist. Dubbed the Higgs boson — or the ‘God particle,’ to the chagrin of scientists — the particle is thought to create a sort of force field that permeates the universe, imbuing everything that we can see and touch with the fundamental property known as mass…

“The discovery of the new particle completes what’s known as the Standard Model of particle physics… The Standard Model lists and arranges the particles and forces of nature… When the other particles that make up the stuff of the universe — protons, neutrons, electrons and so on — interact with the Higgs field, they acquire the trait known as mass. More massive objects get tangled up in the field — and hence, slowed down as they move — more than less massive objects.

“One way to think of the Higgs field: It’s the water the entire universe swims in. The CERN physicists did not see this new particle directly, because it disintegrates too quickly. Rather, they divined its existence from sifting through the debris of millions of high-energy subatomic collisions and then searching for clues that the Higgs had been there. It’s like divining the presence of an elusive snow leopard by studying thousands of criss-crossed paw prints…

“The idea of the Higgs, or something like it, has been around since 1964, when it was first hypothesized by Peter Higgs. The Standard Model of physics had a hole in it — one that needed to be filled by a particle that imbues everything with mass. It became known as the Higgs boson…

“Mass is not the same thing as weight, although the two concepts are easily confused. An object has mass even in outer space. Mass is an object’s resistance to being shoved around — its inertia. A photon, which is a light particle, has no mass because it zips through the Higgs ocean without interacting with it… A neutrino has an extremely small mass — it moves at nearly the speed of light… Ordinary matter that comprises the bulk of stars, planets and human beings is relatively massive. The most massive particles move like someone trying to walk through neck-high water. This notion of a field that gives particles mass has been essential to understanding the way the universe is put together…”

Of course, if this discovery is confirmed as being accurate, scientists will be quick explaining how “evolution” and “blind chance” were responsible for the “creation” of the universe. This is why they do not like the description of the “Higgs boson” as the “God particle.” (Of course, they would first of all have to explain where the “God particle” came from.) What it would actually show is another proof for the workings of the amazing power and intelligence of God, in both creating and sustaining the universe. As we read in Hebrews 1:1-3, Revised Version:

“In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power.”

Obamacare Upheld

Newsmax reported on June 28:

“The Supreme Court today upheld President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law, ruling that the individual mandate is constitutional as a tax rather than under the Commerce Clause. Nearly all of the Affordable Care Act’s provisions also survived the states’ challenge. [Republican-appointee] Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the liberal wing of the Court in the 5-4 opinion.”

In this stunning “activist” decision of the Supreme Court, as some have termed it, the individual mandate (that every US citizen must have insurance coverage by 2014) was held to be constitutional as a tax. This legal view had been rejected by virtually all lower courts AND the Obama Administration, insisting that it was not a tax, but constitutional under the Commerce Clause, which the Supreme Court seems to have rejected. According to the Washington Times, “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.,  who wrote the controlling opinion… said the Commerce and Necessary and Proper clauses of the Constitution cannot be bent to compel Americans to buy insurance, but said it is allowed under Congress’s tax and spending powers, which are broader, but are subject to the checks of the political system.”

The New York Times stated that “On Sept. 20, 2009, President Obama insisted that the insurance mandate in his health care bill was not a tax. Today, the Supreme Court said it was. In the middle of the health care fight, Mr. Obama was eager to avoid the characterization of the mandate — and its financial penalties — as a tax on people. He had promised no tax increase for middle-class families and Republicans were poised to pounce.” 

The Republicans voiced their disagreement with that decision and Mitt Romney vowed that it would be repealed by Congress, if he was elected in November.  CNBC reported that “Stocks were down more than 1 percent across the board Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a key part of President Obama’s health care overhaul.” Experts predicted that due to the Supreme Court decision, insurance companies will raise their premiums even more, making it impossible for many American citizens to purchase or maintain insurance coverage. In that case, they will become victims of the IRS.

Even though it appears that Mr. Obama might have gained a victory with today’s decision, in the long run, it might come back to bite him.

Court Ruling on Arizona Immigration Law

The Los Angeles Times wrote on June 27:

“Across the state, the law’s ‘show me your papers’ provision upheld by the Supreme Court has created confusion and anxiety, and moved Latinos — both legal and illegal residents — to ask an overriding question: How can you promise we won’t be singled out because of how we look? The law compels police to ask about the immigration status of people they stop for lawful reasons, if they suspect those people of being illegal immigrants…. Many… questions revolved around whether driving without a license would lead to deportation. (Answer: It’s not clear.) The radio station brought in local officials and legal experts to respond to inquiries. But satisfactory answers are few and far between…

“SB 1070 requires local and state officers to tell Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection if they believe someone is in the country illegally. An official — typically over the phone — will verify the person’s immigration status, run a background check and decide whether federal authorities want to get involved…

“A combination of factors can lead to reasonable suspicion… including: having foreign identification, being in a place where illegal immigrants are known to congregate looking for work, traveling in tandem or in an overcrowded vehicle, type of clothing and significant difficulty communicating in English…”

As can be seen, the controversial decision of the Supreme Court regarding the controversial Arizona Immigration Law leaves many questions unanswered—and only adds to confusion and uncertainty.

The Dangers of Drones

Fox News reported on June 25:

“Professor Todd Humphreys and his team at the University of Texas at Austin’s Radionavigation Laboratory have just completed a successful experiment: illuminating a gaping hole in the government’s plan to open US airspace to thousands of drones. They could be turned into weapons… ‘In 5 or 10 years you have 30,000 drones in the airspace,’ he told Fox News. ‘Each one of these could be a potential missile used against us.’

“Drones have been in widespread use in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, but so far, GPS-guided unmanned aerial vehicles have been limited to the battlefield or southern border patrols and not allowed to fly broadly in U.S. airspace. In February, under pressure from the Pentagon and drone manufacturers, Congress ordered the FAA to come up with rules to allow government and commercial use of UAVs over American soil by 2015. The plan could eventually see police drones keeping watch over U.S. cities, UAVs monitoring transmission lines for power companies, or cargo plane-size drones guided by GPS pilotlessly delivering packages across the country. FedEx founder Fred Smith has said he would like to add unmanned drones to his fleet as soon as possible.

“The new rules have raised privacy concerns about a ‘surveillance society,’ with UAVs tirelessly watching our every move 24/7. But Humphreys’ experiments have put an entirely new twist on the anxiety over drones. ‘What if you could take down one of these drones delivering FedEx packages and use that as your missile? That’s the same mentality the 9-11 attackers had,’ Humphreys told Fox News.

“It’s something the government is acutely aware of. Last Tuesday, in the barren desert of the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, officials from the FAA and Department of Homeland Security watched as Humphrey’s team repeatedly took control of a drone from a remote hilltop. The results were… dramatic…The potential consequences of GPS spoofing are nothing short of chilling. Humphreys warns that a terrorist group could match his technology, and in crowded U.S. airspace, cause havoc. ‘I’m worried about them crashing into other planes,’ he told Fox News. ‘I’m worried about them crashing into buildings. We could get collisions in the air and there could be loss of life…’”

Our technical advances might turn out to be our downfall—like the Frankenstein monster who turned against his “creator” who was unable to control it. Man has built a modern-day “tower of Babel”—only to see it collapse in the near future. Even former President Jimmy Carter blasted Mr. Obama for his use of drones, as the next article shows.

Jimmy Carter Attacks President Obama on Use of Drones

The Independent stated on June 27:

“Former president Jimmy Carter has blasted the United States for anti-terror strategies such as targeting individuals for assassination and using unmanned drones to bomb suspected targets, saying they directly flout the basic tenets of universal human rights and foment anti-US sentiment. In an article written for the New York Times headlined ‘A Cruel and Unusual Record’, Mr Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his work trying to resolve conflicts around the globe, suggested that the US is in violation of 10 of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a rare attack by a former commander-in-chief on a sitting President – especially of the same party.

“While Mr Carter does not name President Obama, there is little disguising that he is the principle target of his stinging words. Recent weeks have seen a slew of media reports detailing how Mr Obama has grown increasingly dependent on drones to take out suspected terror cells and describing how he has the final word to approve names on a ‘hit-list’ of most-wanted terror suspects overseas for assassination. ‘Revelations that top officials are targeting people to be assassinated, including American citizens, are only the most recent, disturbing proof of how far our nation’s violation of human rights has extended,’ Mr Carter wrote, concluding that the US is ‘abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights’…”

Major Banks Are Being Downgraded

The Associated Press reported on June 23:

“Moody’s Investors Service has lowered the credit ratings on some of the world’s biggest banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, reflecting concern over their exposure to the violent swings in global financial markets. The downgrades late Thursday ultimately are a measure of Moody’s view on the ability of the banks to repay their debts. The ratings agency also cut its ratings on Barclays, Deutsche Bank and HSBC, some of the largest banks in Europe, a region fighting to contain a government debt crisis…

“The downgrades come at a time of great uncertainty in the global economy. Europe’s currency union is under threat, the U.S. economy is slowing and the red-hot economies of India, Brazil and China are cooling. On Thursday the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 251 points, its second-worst loss of the year, as new reports indicating slower manufacturing in the U.S. and China made investors fearful that the global economy could be heading for another slump.”

Insolvency for Social Security Disability Benefits Program?

Newsmax reported on June 24:

“The number of Americans receiving Social Security disability benefits has soared in recent years and is threatening to push the program into insolvency…

“Nearly 11 million Americans currently receive disability benefits, and last year the program cost taxpayers $132 billion — more than the combined annual budgets of the Departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security, Commerce, Labor, Justice, and the Interior… ‘The pot of money the Social Security Administration is using to cover disability insurance is projected to run dry in 2016,’ Businessweek reports. ‘That means that out-of-work disabled Americans, plus their spouses and children, who also qualify for benefits, would see their checks shrink 21 percent.’…

“The disability program formerly benefited people with debilitating conditions such as strokes and cancer. But Congress expanded the benefits pool to include such claimed ailments as depression, back pain, and chronic fatigue syndrome… Disabled workers can go on Medicare after a two-year waiting period, regardless of their age…”

Of course, some of the statements above are overly simplistic. For example, to collect disability benefits for depression, back pain or chronic fatigue syndrome is virtually impossible, from a practical standpoint. And sadly, most requests for disability benefits are, at first, denied routinely, at least on a federal level, and may only be granted after a lengthy legal battle.

Cheney Delights in Gay Marriage

Newsmax reported on June 23:

“Former Vice President Dick Cheney has expressed his delight that his lesbian daughter Mary married her longtime partner Heather Poe on Friday. ‘Mary and Heather have been in a committed relationship for many years, and we are delighted that they were able to take advantage of the opportunity to have that relationship recognized,’ Cheney and his wife, Lynne, said in a statement. The wedding came amid intense debate over gay marriage. President Barack Obama recently announced his support, while presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney opposes same-sex unions.

“Cheney and Poe were married in Washington D.C., where gay marriage has been legal since 2010. They married 20 years to the day after their first date. The couple has a 5-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter… While vice-president, Cheney said he believes U.S. states should decide on legalizing same-sex marriage, though he backed then-president George W. Bush’s efforts to establish a constitutional ban on gay marriages. Since leaving office in 2009 he has changed his stance and now opposes a federal ban on gay marriages. Besides the District of Columbia, six states have legalized gay marriage. They are Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. In February 2010 Cheney said it was ‘time to reconsider’ the ban on gays serving openly in the U.S. military.”

And so, personal preferences and “political correctness” seem to take precedence over convictions… and most certainly over the truth of the Bible.

Holder in Contempt

Newsmax reported on June 28:

“The House on Thursday cited Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. for contempt of Congress in a historic vote weighted with political significance, though it does little to break the stalemate over his decision to withhold documents over the Justice Department’s actions in a botched gun-walking operation. The 256-67 vote amounted to a political spanking for Mr. Holder and President Obama, and 17 Democrats joined with Republicans in demanding the documents be released. Most Democrats, however, walked out in protest of the vote.

“It marks the first time an attorney general has been held in contempt by a chamber. But the White House dismissed the proceedings as a sideshow, and the vote does nothing to break the impasse, though it further poisoned feelings in an already bitterly divided chamber.”

“The Disastrous Consequences of a Euro Crash”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 25:

“As the debt crisis worsens in Spain and Italy, financial experts are warning of the catastrophic consequences of a crash of the euro: the destruction of trillions in assets and record high unemployment levels…

“Nothing seems impossible anymore, not even a scenario in which all members of the currency zone dust off their old coins and bills — bidding farewell to the euro, and instead welcoming back the guilder, deutsche mark and drachma. It would be… a nightmare for the economy. Everything that has grown together in two decades of euro history would have to be painstakingly torn apart. Millions of contracts, business relationships and partnerships would have to be reassessed, while thousands of companies would need protection from bankruptcy. All of Europe would plunge into a deep recession. Governments, which would be forced to borrow additional billions to meet their needs, would face the choice between two unattractive options: either to drastically increase taxes or to impose significant financial burdens on their citizens in the form of higher inflation.

“A horrific scenario would become a reality, a prospect so frightening that it ought to convince every European leader to seek a consensus as quickly as possible… Indeed, the European leaders seeking to save the euro are in a race against the clock… It’s a question of growth and the economy, but also of character. How willing are the Spaniards and Italians to accept reforms and hardship, and how willing, on the other hand, are the donor countries of the north to provide assistance and make sacrifices? Not willing enough, say many experts. As a result, the world is imagining the unthinkable: the withdrawal of several Southern European countries from the monetary union, or possibly even the general collapse of the euro zone. It isn’t easy to predict how such a tornado would affect the global economy, but it’s clear that the damage would be immense…

“Germany, the great exporting nation, would be especially hard hit by monetary reforms in the southern countries. Exports to Italy and Spain alone are valued at about €100 billion a year. Although sales of cars, machinery, electronics and optical devices would not be eliminated altogether in the event of a euro collapse, there would be sharp declines, because customers in Southern Europe could no longer afford German products… German goods would automatically become more expensive and would hardly be competitive anymore…

“German citizens haven’t recognized yet what an abyss they are facing. If the euro collapses, not only will many people lose their livelihoods, but German retirement pensions will also be threatened. The economic success of the last few years would be destroyed, and Germany would fall back into the crisis status of the 1990s. On the other hand, if the German government gave in to the Southern Europeans’ pressure to communitize debt, the risks could even be greater. Instead of an uncontrolled euro crash, Germany could be confronted with an uncontrolled transfer union. Year after year, the Germans would have to transfer sums in the double-digit billions to Southern European countries.

“The worst can still be prevented, and Europeans still have the ability to save their common currency without overtaxing the solidarity of the donor countries. But it is a massive task. Europe’s politicians must surrender power to Brussels to supplement their common currency with the political union that’s been missing until now. At the same time, the Italians and the Spaniards would have to prove that they could successfully reform and modernize their economies… As experienced Brussels observers know, solutions are only reached in Europe when the continent has run out of options.

“But apparently the euro crisis is now so dire that it could even sweep away the oldest European certainties. Even die-hard European politicians now believe that it is no longer inconceivable that the monetary union could soon have fewer members than before. ‘To push Europe forward, we have to reform the euro,’ says Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden. ‘This doesn’t just apply to the management of the monetary union, but, if necessary, to its geographic composition, as well.’”

According to the German press, a most recent poll established that most European citizens are opposed to the idea of abandoning the euro and returning to national currencies. Only 39 percent of Germans advocated the concept of returning to the deutschmark, and the vast majority of the French, Spaniards and Italians rejected the concept of abandoning the euro.

In other words, a collapse of the euro will not happen. Rather, a core Europe will emerge, consisting of the stronger members of the Eurozone.

Ten European Nations Agree on Financial Transaction Tax

The Republic wrote on June 22:

“The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Spain have [met in Rome and] agreed to push for a growth package worth up to… 163 billion… at a European Union summit next week that’s intended to kick-start the economy and safeguard the currency bloc.

“President Francois Hollande of France, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Italian Premier Mario Monti, playing host, provided few details beyond agreement on pursuing a financial transaction tax — something Germany has championed…However, at a meeting of finance ministers from the 27 countries in the European Union in Luxembourg Friday, only 10 member countries were prepared to support the idea.”

Reuters added on June 24 that the other six countries, supporting the tax, are Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Slovenia, Greece and Cyprus. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble was quoted as saying that together with Austria, Germany has become the spearhead. European nations which are opposing the tax include Great Britain, Sweden, The Netherlands and Romania. Internationally, mainly the USA is opposed to a global transaction tax.

Ten European Nations for European State

Presseurop, quoting from “Die Presse,” wrote on June 20 :

“Ten EU foreign ministers participating in a ‘study group for the future of Europe’ aim to exert pressure to transform the EU into a federation along the lines of the US. Together they have prepared what the front-page headline in Die Presse describes as a ‘Plan for transformation into a European state.’ On 19 June, the ten ministers [from, as the article postulated, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain] presented an initial report to the EU officials who will likely benefit the most from the initiative: Commission President José Manuel Barroso, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker.

“The ‘study group for the future’ initiated by Germany’s Guido Westerwelle, which does not currently include an official French representative, proposes to put an end to the dominance of national government leaders and give greater authority to the European Commission – in particular the European Commission president, who will be elected by universal suffrage and granted the right to form a ‘governmental team’, making him or her the most powerful politician in Europe.”

Again, ten nations are being mentioned in the article—even though they are slightly different from the ten nations mentioned in the previous article. What is interesting is that the concept of ten nations is becoming more prevalent—sometimes by design, sometimes apparently “coincidentally.” The Bible says that ultimately, ten nations or groups of nations will unite and give their power to a very charismatic political leader. We need to watch developments so that we are not caught unawares when these prophesied facts occur. At the same time, we need to be extremely careful and not jump to premature conclusions, as some are doing. Note the next two articles.

Germany Pushing for European Integration of Ten Core Nations?

The Australian, quoting from The Times, wrote on June 22:

“Germany wants to propel Europe towards greater political union and has started to discuss with other EU states the prospect of creating a European finance minister, a beefed-up European border police force and a European army. Britain, it seems, is not part of the conversation.

“German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told London’s The Times newspaper he was not making demands but rather putting ideas on the table to boost international confidence in the future of Europe… Mr Westerwelle was speaking after the latest meeting of the so-called Future of Europe group, which pulls together his counterparts from Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Austria, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and, from next month, France [Note that the article omits, quite inaccurately, Italy, while it includes France, to reach ten nations.]

“Outsiders fear a new core of European fast-lane integrators is in the making. Mr Westerwelle denies Britain was left out because of fears it would throw a spanner in the works. Sweden, Ireland and Greece were also excluded…”

Notice that the article gives the impression of ten cooperating European nations—Germany and nine others—but the list of those nations is inaccurate and slightly different from the nations mentioned in the previous article. However, as the next article shows, one has to be careful with certain press releases and those religious organizations which use such releases to place their prophetic spin on events, and we should refrain jumping on premature and speculative conclusion that one has now identified THE “ten” nations mentioned in the books of Daniel and Revelation. Upon closer scrutiny, as the next article will show, the Future of Europe Group under Herr Westerwelle does NOT consist of ten nations, but the recommendations of the group are quite astonishing, in the light of biblical prophecy.

No—Not Really Ten Nations… Yet…

The EUobserver wrote on June 22:

“A German-led report shows lacklustre support for the creation of a powerful new EU leader. The eight-page paper – circulated to press on Wednesday (20 June) – is a snapshot of current thinking in German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle’s reflection group on the future of the Union… The ‘Future of Europe Group’ has been meeting since March and is to produce a final manifesto in September.  Besides Westerwelle, it includes foreign ministers from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain [Our comment: This would constitute eleven nations, but France was not a co-signer of the report].

“France – which changed foreign ministers after elections in May – has missed some meetings and was not on Westerwelle’s list of countries which endorsed Wednesday’s report [Our comment: This would reduce it again to ten nations, but note the statements below.] Denmark also skipped meetings out of solidarity with countries, [Our comment: This would reduce it to nine nations] such as Sweden, who were not invited in the first place.

“The foreign ministers of Austria and the Netherlands in April publicly distanced themselves from the super-president idea when news of it came out in Euobserver [Our comment: This would reduce it further to seven nations, unless Austria and The Netherlands had a change of heart since April.] Meanwhile, the UK is out of the group amid even deeper misgivings about national sovereignty in London.

“The report… speaks of a future ‘European Army,’  a ‘European Border Police’ and [gives] the European Parliament ‘the ability to initiate legislation’ alongside the commission.”

We need to realize, too, that the “core nations” may consist of ten nations or groups of nations, and that nations such as Germany and Austria might be viewed as one nation—not two nations—in the way the Bible looks at them. Rather than being side-tracked by premature conclusions and speculations, we should concentrate on the essential developments—as alluded to, for example, in the following article.

How the New Europe Will Emerge… Quickly…

On June 25, 2012, Der Spiegel Online published an intriguing interview with German Finance Minister Schäuble. We are bringing you the following insightful excepts:

“The world, with its globalized economy, is changing at a rapid pace. Those who want to keep up cannot go it alone. It only works in collaboration with other European countries and with a European currency… There is certainly the risk that, in the event of a collapse of the euro — which, by the way, I don’t believe is going to happen — much of what we have achieved and become fond of would be called into question, from the common domestic market to freedom of travel in Europe. But a collapse of the EU would be absurd. The world is moving closer together, and we’re talking about the possibility of each country in Europe going its own way? This cannot, must not and will not happen!…

“The monetary union was the logical consequence of the advancing economic integration of Europe… Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker was right when he said… that the euro would prove to be the father of future European developments… We need more and not less Europe… So far, member states have almost always had the final say in Europe. This cannot continue. In key political areas, we have to transfer more powers to Brussels, so that each nation state cannot block decisions… The most important thing is that we create a fiscal union, one in which the nation states give up their jurisdiction in terms of fiscal policy… We need a European supervisory authority… In an optimal scenario, there would be a European finance minister, who would have a veto against national budgets and would have to approve levels of new borrowing… Those who want a strong Europe also have to be willing to surrender decisions to Brussels… 

“Europe should speak more effectively and clearly with one voice in the world… nowadays everyone has a say: the European Commission, the Council of Ministers, which consists of the national representatives, and the European Parliament. This is hard to figure out… First the Commission has to develop into a real government. To that end, it ought to be elected directly, either by the parliament or through the direct election of a Commission president…

“Germany has always stood for an EU of the 27 countries. But in light of Britain’s continued resistance to further integration steps, as we saw with the fiscal pact, there are limits to my optimism in this regard. It’s quite possible that we will have to create the new institutions for the euro zone first… every crisis also includes the opportunity to recognize what is necessary. That’s what led to the fiscal pact, in which 25 EU countries pledged to improve their fiscal discipline. And that’s also how the new Europe will come about.

“… the vast majority of Germans and people in other countries are pro-European… Many in Germany said that (former US President) Ronald Reagan was crazy when he stood at the Brandenburg Gate in 1987 and said: ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!’ And then it happened two years later. At the time, I too didn’t believe that German partition would soon come to an end. In the spring of 1989, I had just become the new interior minister in Bonn. The new US ambassador introduced himself to me and predicted that the Wall could come down in the next three years. I replied: ‘I would have doubted that a few months ago, but now I would say that with a little luck, it’ll happen in the next 10 years.’ And how long did it really take? Less than half a year.”

To summarize Herr Schäuble’s vision, we will quite soon see a new core Europe, consisting of (certain) members of the euro zone,  without Britain, which will give much of their sovereignty and authorities to a real European government and a powerful European finance minister. Herr Schäuble also mentioned during his interview that he foresees the possibility for a German referendum by the people—a notion which was quickly dismissed by Angela Merkel.

The Bible tells us that Europe will unite very quickly, when it does—in fact, so quickly, that people will not believe it, when they are told about it in advance.

Circumcision Held to Be a Crime in Germany

The New York Times wrote on June 26:

“A German court in Cologne ruled on Tuesday that circumcising young boys represents grievous bodily harm, a decision that could have significant repercussions for religious groups. The president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany condemned the decision as ‘an unprecedented and dramatic intrusion on the self-determination of religious communities’ and called on the German Parliament to pass legislation protecting circumcision as a religious practice.

“The case centered on a 4-year-old boy whose Muslim parents had him circumcised by a doctor, which led to medical complications. Although both Muslims and Jews circumcise infant boys as a religious practice and many other people do so for health reasons, the court found that the child’s ‘fundamental right to bodily integrity’ was more important than the parents’ rights. According to the court, the religious freedom ‘would not be unduly impaired’ because the child could later decide whether to have the circumcision…

“Jewish leaders reacted furiously to Tuesday’s decision. The central council’s president, Dieter Graumann, called it ‘outrageous and insensitive,’ saying in a statement that circumcision had been practiced worldwide for thousands of years. ‘In every country in the world this religious right is respected,’ Mr. Graumann said. Germany has no law against male circumcision, as there is against female genital cutting…

“The decision by the court ‘places an intolerable burden on the free exercise of religion by Jews and also by Muslims who practice male circumcision as part of their religious faith,’ Abraham H. Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League’s national director in New York, said… While the ruling did not appear to have specific anti-Semitic intent, Mr. Foxman said, ‘its effect is to say “Jews are not welcome.”’

“Holm Putzke, a criminal law expert at the University of Passau, told the German news agency dpa that the ruling was not binding for other courts, but could send a welcome signal.

“‘After the knee-jerk outrage has faded away, hopefully a discussion will begin about how much religiously motivated violence against children a society is ready to tolerate,’ he said.”

For a thorough discussion of this scandalous court decision and its importance in the light of biblical prophecy, please view our new StandingWatch program, titled, “Circumcision a  Crime in Germany.”

Turks Don’t Want to Live in the EU

The EUobserver wrote on June 22:

“Turks no longer want to live in the EU. Its European affairs minister Egemen Bagis told EUobserver on Friday (22 June) that ‘In the past, when Turks were asked do you want to live in Europe, 80 percent would say Yes. Now, 85 percent say No’… He noted that in 2010, 27,000 Turks went to live in Germany, but 35,000 German citizens moved to Turkey…

“In the Ankara and Istanbul regions it is already on par [economically] with Greece, former Communist EU countries and parts of Spain and the UK… [A new] EU visa deal will also see Turkey sign an ‘operational agreement’ with the EU’s joint police body, Europol. A report by British MPs last year said Turkish-based organised crime groups are a growing threat to EU security on heroin and cocaine smuggling and human trafficking…”

Turkey won’t become part of the EU, but its friendly relationship with continental Europe will continue.  For more information on the biblically-prophesied destiny of Turkey, please read our Q&A’s on Esau, the future of Turkey, and the reason for the severe future punishment of Turkey.

“New Egyptian President Faces ‘No-Win Situation’”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 25:

“Results from the mid-June presidential election showed that the Muslim Brotherhood candidate had managed a narrow win over his opponent Ahmed Shafiq, the former prime minister of deposed leader Hosni Mubarak… He was… congratulated by world leaders, including United States President Barack Obama, who the White House said had pledged continued support for Egypt’s democratic transition. A number of European Union foreign ministers also called on Morsi to implement democratic reforms in Egypt…

“Outlawed under Mubarak, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood has never before enjoyed such widespread support in Egypt… The question remains as to how much authority Morsi will actually have after major power grabs by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) before election results were announced. Not only did the council dissolve the newly elected parliament, which had been dominated by Islamists, but it also claimed control of many presidential powers…

“Conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘…The now drastically reduced powers of the president make clear that the military, despite statements to the contrary, is unwilling to give up its influence. It fears democracy as much as it does the Muslim Brotherhood…’

“Conservative daily Die Welt writes: ‘The events taking place in Cairo are a mere simulation of democracy. Can any conclusion be drawn from this about the future of the Arab Spring? Yes, but only uncomfortable ones. The first is that because of the chaos and hardship, a large portion of the Egyptian people apparently don’t want pure democracy, but rather strict rule by the old elite. After all, the widespread approval of former Mubarak Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq was real. The second lesson is that right now the only counterweight to the old regime is the… Islamist party Muslim Brotherhood… The future of the country will now be decided between two extremes of anti-freedom — the military on one side and the fundamentalists on the other’…

“Left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘Two scenarios are possible for Egypt after the election victory for the Muslim Brotherhood: The Pakistani scenario, with a partnership between the military and Islamists, or an Algerian scenario, where the two sides clash… Both scenarios are bad for the country…”

The Arab Spring was to become a cold nightmarish Winter from the very beginning…

Iran and Hamas Welcome Egyptian Election

Reuters wrote on June 24 that “Iran’s Foreign Ministry congratulated Egyptians on Sunday over the victory of Islamist Mohamed Morsy… and said the country was in the final stages of an ‘Islamic Awakening… and a new era of change in the Middle East.’”

Newsmax added on June 24: “The Gaza Strip’s governing Hamas on Sunday welcomed the victory of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt’s presidential vote, saying its ideological success would help the Palestinian cause… Hamas had a mixed relationship with the previous, U.S.-aligned Egyptian president, who supported Israel’s blockade on Gaza. ‘We will look to Egypt to play a big, leading role, a historic role, regarding the Palestinian cause, in helping the Palestinian nation get freedom, return home, and totally end the Gaza siege,’ Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas government, told Reuters Television… Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood share ideological roots, including a hostility to Israel, with which Egypt signed landmark peace accords in 1978-1979.”

Will Egypt “deliver” Hamas’s expectations? For a biblical persepctive, please read our Q&A on the future of Egypt.

Germany tells the USA: “Clean Up Your Own Backyard!”

On June 25, 2012, Der Spiegel Online wrote the following:

“In a sign of tensions between Berlin and Washington, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on Sunday that President Barack Obama should focus on cutting America’s own budget deficit before advising Europe on how to tackle its debt problems. [He] rebuffed recent criticism of Germany’s handling of the euro crisis from Barack Obama, telling the US president to get his own house in order before giving advice. ‘Herr Obama should above all deal with the reduction of the American deficit. That is higher than that in the euro zone,’ he told German public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday night. It is easy to give advice to others, he added. Obama, worried about the impact of the debt crisis on the global economy and financial markets — and on his own prospects for re-election –has been urging Europe to step up its efforts to tackle the problem…”

As especially Germany finds herself more and more to be the target of “hypocritical” and “incompetent” American criticism, we can expect an acceleration of an already tense relationship between the two countries.

Godfather of Global Warming Reconsiders

The Toronto Sun wrote on June 22:

“Two months ago, James Lovelock, the godfather of global warming, gave a startling interview to msnbc.com in which he acknowledged he had been unduly ‘alarmist’ about climate change. The implications were extraordinary.

“Lovelock is a world-renowned scientist and environmentalist… Having observed that global temperatures since the turn of the millennium have not gone up in the way computer-based climate models predicted, Lovelock acknowledged, ‘the problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago.’ Now, Lovelock has given a follow-up interview to the UK’s Guardian newspaper in which he delivers more bombshells…

“Lovelock has now come out in favour of natural gas fracking… as a low-polluting alternative to coal… ‘It just so happens that the green religion is now taking over from the Christian religion,’ Lovelock observed. ‘I don’t think people have noticed that, but it’s got all the sort of terms that religions use… [He also] mocks the idea modern economies can be powered by wind turbines… Finally, about claims ‘the science is settled’ on global warming [he stated:]: ‘One thing that being a scientist has taught me is that you can never be certain about anything. You never know the truth. You can only approach it and hope to get a bit nearer to it each time…’”

On that note, unfortunately, many scientists are moving further and further away from the truth, believing and teaching dogmatically, for example, the ridiculous and unbiblical theory of evolution. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Theory of Evolution—a Fairy Tale for Adults?” 

Our Immigration Law System in Desperate Need of Correction

The Salt Lake Tribune reported on June 6:

“Three sisters who tearfully begged for a chance to go before a judge to avoid deportation within days were granted something beyond what they imagined. A yearlong stay in Utah, courtesy of the federal government… The sisters’ case rose to prominence Monday when the sisters told their story publicly in front of LDS Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The three, all Mormon, said they were hoping for a miracle to stave off the final order of deportation set for June 15… Their story in the United States began in 1993, when they arrived in Utah on tourist visas as 13-, 10- and 8-year-old girls. But they overstayed their visas. Silvia Avelar [one of the sisters] said her parents were duped by an unscrupulous lawyer who never filed the proper paperwork.

“… after the Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act was signed in 1996…, adjusting legal status became difficult. The sisters said they didn’t know much about the problematic paperwork because they were children then. So they just continued to live in Utah, eventually graduating from high school, getting married and starting families.”

To even imagine that they should be deported, under those circumstances, defies any human sense of justice. It is high time that our ridiculous immigration law system is being revived. At least, the government did the right thing in this case to use their discretion to defer the deportation order. But in far too many cases, no such merciful action is forthcoming. 

However, we did not anticipate, nor do we support, measures by the Obama Administration which appear to be unconstitutional, ignoring or setting aside our Immigration system. Rather, corrections need to be made through legal channels and within the legal boundaries. It is sad, however, that both the Democrats and the Republicans have been unwilling, so far, to tackle the issue in order to bring about long-term solutions. 

While the measures which are being introduced now by the Obama Administration seem to be motivated politically, and while the mainstream liberal press is anxious to put their spin on the developments, conservative news reports attack the new measures, without being willing or capable of offering real solutions. And leading Republicans seem to be afraid of addressing the issue substantially, for fear that they may lose needed votes in the process.

Please note the following selection of articles.

Obama’s Immigration Proposals Bypass Congress

The Associated Press reported on June 15:

“The Obama administration will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives. The election-year initiative addresses a top priority of an influential Latino electorate…

“The policy change… bypasses Congress…

“Under the administration plan, illegal immigrants will be immune from deportation if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED, or served in the military. They also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed… The policy will not lead toward citizenship but will remove the threat of deportation and grant the ability to work legally, leaving eligible immigrants able to remain in the United States for extended periods…

“The extraordinary move comes in an election year in which the Hispanic vote could be critical in swing states like Colorado, Nevada and Florida… Romney opposes offering legal status to illegal immigrants who attend college but has said he would do so for those who serve in the armed forces.”

We wonder whether Mitt Romney will stick to his rather arbitrary position.

Obama and Napolitano Declared a Year Ago: “We Don’t Have the Authority!”

The Washington Times wrote on June 15:

“For years the [Obama] administration had said it didn’t have the authority to make such a move, saying it couldn’t decide to stop deporting wide categories of people on its own without approval from Congress. But on Friday President Obama says administration now interprets the law to give it the discretion… The decision is an effort to go around Congress, which has repeatedly failed to pass a bill granting legal status to this category of illegal immigrants…

“‘The fact of the matter is there are laws on the books that I have to enforce. And I think there’s been a great disservice done to the cause of getting the Dream Act passed and getting comprehensive immigration passed by perpetrating the notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things. It’s just not true,’ Mr. Obama said last year.

“And Ms. Napolitano last year specifically rejected the kind of categorical move she made on Friday, telling senators she only had the authority to examine cases individually.”

We wonder what “outstanding legal expert” convinced President Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that they now have the authority to engage in such conduct, and what “apparent incompetent legal consultant” had advised them differently just about a year ago.

Political Reactions of Approval, Condemnation and Silence to a Political Move

The Washington Post wrote on June 16:

“Former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) on Saturday became the latest national Republican to criticize President Obama’s order stopping deportations of some young people who were brought to the country illegally as children, although he — like Mitt Romney and others— declined to go into detail on the substance of Obama’s move. ‘For the president of the United States to say, “I’m going to unilaterally change the enforcement of the law,” is something that if a Republican would do, they’d be crying for impeachment,’ [he said]… 

“Santorum’s comment echoed the criticism from other Republicans that in bypassing Congress on the deportation issue, Obama overstepped his authority. Most Republicans thus far have declined to wade into the substance of the immigration issue, however, caught between potentially alienating Hispanic voters through opposing Obama’s move on the one hand and alienating the GOP base by embracing a proposal some have cast as ‘amnesty’ on the other.”

USA Today reported on June 17:

“Mitt Romney says President Obama’s immigration announcement Friday was the result of electoral politics, not an effort to improve the nation’s immigration policies. ‘If (Obama) really wanted to make a solution that dealt with these kids or illegal immigration in America, than this is something he would have taken up in his first three and a half years, not in his last few months,’ Romney said… But… the Republican presidential candidate declined to say he would overturn Obama’s order…”

We wonder why…

Fox News wrote on June 15:

“President Obama thwarted the will of Congress and shunned the 20 million under- and unemployed Americans by announcing he will grant work permits to 2 million to 3 million illegal workers. This unconstitutional fiat ignores the rule of law and bypasses Congress, which on three occasions rejected DREAM Act amnesties in part to protect unemployed workers born here or who came here legally.

“The Constitution gives immigration policy powers to Congress alone. The president has no authority to give a de facto amnesty to millions of illegal aliens… Republican leadership in Congress up until now has stood by, terrified to tackle immigration priorities…”

So, the blame for the most recent disastrous development must be placed squarely on the shoulders of our entire political “establishment.”

Steve King: “I Will Sue the Obama Administration”

Newsmax reported on June 15:

“Iowa Rep. Steve King said on Friday that he would sue the Obama administration to block its newly announced plan to grant amnesty to certain children of illegal immigrants… The Republican congressman, vice chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement [said] that he had prevailed in a lawsuit against his own state on a similar separation of powers issue. ‘I have done it once in the past successfully when then-Governor Tom Vilsack thought he could legislate by executive order — and the case of King vs. Vilsack is in the books,’ King said. ‘And that individual, by the way, is now the secretary of agriculture. I wonder if he’s not counseling the president on his legal proceedings.’”

Suing the Obama Administration is one thing. But what constructive concepts is Steve King bringing forward to end the inhumane mess of our present Immigration system?

Sheriff Joe Arpaio: “I Will Still Enforce the Immigration Law”

Newsmax reported on June 16:

“The long feud between ‘America’s toughest sheriff’ and the nation’s president just got longer. Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Friday’s move by President Barack Obama to give amnesty to children of illegal immigrants is politically motivated and will encourage more Mexicans to cross the border but that he will still enforce all immigration laws in his state of Arizona…

“Last December, the Justice Department released a scathing report accusing Arpaio and his office of committing a wide range of civil rights violations against Latinos…

“Arpaio has been a vocal advocate of investigating Obama’s place of birth. The president has produced a birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii, but rumors that he was in fact born in Kenya — and thus ineligible to be president — have persisted. The sheriff drew national headlines when he announced in March that a six-month probe by investigators had found that ‘probable cause exists indicating that forgery and fraud may have been committed’ in the release of President Obama’s long-form birth certificate…

“The hardliner against illegal immigration became sheriff of Maricopa County — Arizona’s largest, which centers on Phoenix — in 1993. He has been re-elected five times and is up before voters again in November…”

We wonder how this battle will be fought. Will law-enforcing officers and personnel continue to arrest illegal aliens—or those who are found without proper documentation—and will then the government refuse to deport them? The tragic consequence would be that they are going to be held for an extended period of time in “isolation”—perhaps in little cells like those reserved for convicted criminals on death row. Such atrocities are well-known in the Immigration environment—and Immigration judges are powerless and “without jurisdiction” to direct the INS how to treat their “prisoners.”

And so, the battle of words will continue, and sadly, when the political “pressure” is over after the election in November, not much should be expected in terms of real rectification of a grievous wrong in the United States, pertaining to its immigration policies and administration. After all, these wrongs have been largely ignored, while they have been going on for a VERY long time.

“Fast and Furious” Gets More Furious

Newsmax wrote on June 20:

“Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley charged in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV Wednesday that President Barack Obama’s decision to invoke executive privilege in the bungled ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ gun-running scheme could indicate that the president is involved. [As will be recalled, the US government sold guns to Mexican gangs, thieves, robbers and murderers, leading to the death of one US border patrol officer.]

“‘I wonder why. Is it because the president does have something to do with it? And I don’t have any evidence of that, but it would be the first time that I had any suspicion,’ asserted Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, just hours before a House committee voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over Justice Department documents related to Fast and Furious. ‘Well the only thing I can say is, it raised questions in my mind that maybe they knew more about Fast and Furious than they ever wanted us to know and that the documents that we requested might prove that,’ declared Grassley. ‘It would be very harmful to the president, and in an election year they want to cover up until after the election.’…

“Obama invoked executive privilege for the first time since being sworn in as president to withhold documents from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which subsequently proceeded with the contempt vote along party lines later in the day. The president’s decision to invoke executive privilege came as a shock to Grassley and House Republicans. Presidents have invoked the privilege for years — it’s actually rooted in arguments made by George Washington himself — but the U.S. Supreme Court first acknowledged a constitutional basis for the practice in its 1974 United States v. Nixon decision. Still, courts have never given presidents absolute authority to defy congressional subpoenas…

“The contempt citation must still be approved by the full House, and could technically result in a federal case against Holder. Grassley does not think that such an outcome is likely, nor does he think Congress would be able to compel prosecution of Holder…

“The president could also be trying to protect Holder, he said. Grassley and his staff have been conducting an investigation of the Fast and Furious operation that put weapons in the hands of Mexican drug cartels apart from the investigation being conducted by California Rep. Darrell Issa, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The congressional investigation stemmed from Grassley’s inquiry into whistle-blower allegations that the government had allowed the transfer of illegally purchased weapons found at the scene of the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry. The Department of Justice denied the allegations for 10 months before withdrawing its denial, according to Grassley…”

The Hill added on June 20:

“If the measure against Holder passes the House, it will be sent to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who will convene a grand jury that would decide whether to indict Holder. The U.S. Attorney’s office would be the designated prosecutor for the committee if Holder were to be indicted. The attorney general would face a maximum sentence of one year in prison if convicted by a jury.”

The Washington Post clarified on June 20:

“The panel’s actions will be reported to the full House, where Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and GOP leaders have scheduled a floor vote for next week unless Holder hands over the documents before then. If passed by the House, the matter would then move to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald C. Machen Jr., who is an employee of the Justice Department.”

“64 Drone Bases Now Located Throughout United States”

The Inquisitor wrote on June 17:

“If you think big brother is watching you there’s a chance you’re right. Public Intelligence, a non-profit that advocates for free access to information recently released a map of military UAV activities in the United States. The map which was assembled through various military reports, including a June 2011 Air Force presentation shows 64 US drone bases on American Soil, including 12 Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles which are capable of armed attacks…

“The American Civil Liberties Union released a report in December 2011 in which they voiced concern over military drones flying over American skies while potentially spying on US citizens. According to the civil rights group ‘The drones’ presence in our skies threatens to eradicate existing practical limits on aerial monitoring and allow for pervasive surveillance, police fishing expeditions, and abusive use of these tools in a way that could eventually eliminate the privacy Americans have traditionally enjoyed in their movements and activities.’

“Military Drones are forbidden from flying American skies outside of test areas, however that doesn’t mean they won’t ‘accidentally’ record activities. So far the biggest concern appears to be actual human harm after one drone crash landed in Maryland, a crash that raised further questions about military run drone centers in the United States.”

When will America wake up and recognize what is going on? How many intrusive governmental actions which might very well be illegal and unconstitutional are we to experience? In Nazi Germany, far too many jumped on the bandwagon, as it seemed to be the expedient thing to do at the time, until the irreparable damage was done. 

Great Britain in Financial Danger

The Wall Street Journal reported on June 15:

“Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, which operates the city’s stock exchange, agreed to acquire the London Metal Exchange for £1.39 billion (US$2.16 billion). The offer will be financed with cash and £1.1 billion in bank loans. LME is the world’s largest exchange trading nonferrous metals, including copper and aluminum.”

The Bible states that ultimately, foreigners and aliens will rule over the nations of Great Britain and America—including and especially in monetary matters.

Reuters reported on June 15:

“The country slid back into recession around the turn of this year, and more pain looms as a relentless debt crisis in the euro zone – the main market for Britain’s exports – hits trade and makes companies reluctant to invest and hire… ‘In broad terms, the numbers look disastrous,’ said David Tinsley, economist at BNP Paribas… The goods trade deficit with non-EU countries widened to 5.2 billion pounds in April from 4.2 billion pounds in March and against forecasts for a gap of 4.2 billion pounds… There was also a record gap in goods trade with the European Union, which absorbs the lion’s share of Britain’s goods exports. Goods export volumes to the bloc dropped 6.5 percent, outweighing a 2.3 percent fall in imports from the EU.”

The economy of Great Britain looks VERY grim. Will it experience a temporary recovery, or will it continue to decline—as is the case in the United States, which seems to have reached the point of no return.

Greek Election Results… “We Will Keep the Euro”

The Associated Press wrote on June 17:

“The New Democracy party came in first in Greece’s election Sunday and immediately proposed forming a pro-euro coalition government — a development that eased, at least briefly, deep fears that the vote would unleash an economic tsunami. Sunday’s vote was seen as crucial for Europe and the world, since it could determine whether Greece was forced to leave the joint euro currency, a move that could have potentially catastrophic consequences for other ailing European nations and the global economy. 

“As central banks stood ready to intervene in case of financial turmoil, Greece held its second national election in six weeks after an inconclusive ballot on May 6… 

“Although… no party will win enough seats in the 300-member parliament to form a government on its own, Greece’s two traditional parties — New Democracy and PASOK — will have enough seats to form a coalition together. ‘The Greek people today voted for Greece to remain on its European path and in the eurozone,’ New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said, adding that voters chose ‘policies that will bring jobs, growth, justice and security.’”

As the next articles show, the Greek elections did not substantially change the precarious situation which Greece finds itself in. It will remain to be seen whether the new shaky government of Greece will make the country more stable. It was sworn in on Thursday, with election winner and head of the conservative New Democracy party Antonis Samaras becoming the new prime minister. At the same time, it is clear that the euro is very important for Europe, and that it will not fail.

“Greek Elections Results Did Not Change Much…”

BBC News wrote on June 17:

“Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: ‘The election result does not change the fact that Greece still has 327bn euros of debt.’ …

“Berliner Zeitung: ‘The Greek election winner, Antonis Samaras, has nothing to celebrate… Under immense pressure of time, he has to form a government that faces impossible challenges… The sad truth is that the Greeks, who only yesterday rebelled against the cuts imposed by Europe in a desperate show of pride, are today waking up as beggars.’…

“The Guardian: ‘It is unclear what has changed – there’s no majority, no platform for stable government, still less any prospect of early recovery…’

“El Pais: ‘The main loser in the Greek election is the club of the enemies of the euro… If during this cruel crisis… the single currency displays only brutal architectural problems, but is alive, this means that it is much stronger than expected.’ 

“La Vanguardia: ‘Samaras’s victory clarifies the future of Greece and hence that of the euro and Europe…’”

Hated Germany to the Rescue

Die Welt wrote on June 15: 

“Even before the Greek election, it was clear that the situation would remain precarious, regardless of the winner… Europe is no longer what it was. The days of the postwar order are gone… Germany is stable and strong, and for that reason it is also hated by Greeks, the French, and probably soon by Spaniards and Italians too. It was also strong before the crisis, but it was quiet. (Germany was) humble and selfless, obeying the unwritten law of the postwar era: to atone for the crimes of the past.

“Chancellor Merkel insists on shared responsibility. She emphasizes that austerity and reforms are the way to solve Europe’s debt crisis. This clarity is even making many Germans uneasy. And yet these conclusions, which are actually banal, are being made within a political context that is increasingly volatile. Germany is showing strength, without trying to dominate, and yet it is punished by being despised. If Angela Merkel were to change course, if she were to buckle to criticism, then it would really not be good for Europe or for Germany. 

“The fact that Germany was long the EU’s paymaster does not mean that it can just subsidize other countries indefinitely. Especially not those countries which unabashedly insist on their right to these funds as if they were perpetual reparation payments (for the Nazi occupation during World War II).”

G-20 Summit in Mexico—The “World Turns to Unwilling Germany to Save the Euro”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 18:

“The euro is in trouble and only Germany can fix it. That appears to be the consensus as Chancellor Merkel attends this week’s G-20 summit in Mexico… the German chancellor will face a united front against her. Since the euro crisis has escalated, the chancellor has been more isolated than ever before. Everyone, from US President Barack Obama to French President François Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron to Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, together with an army of international economists, financial experts and journalists, is demanding that the Germans take on a greater financial burden…

“…a senior euro-zone diplomat in Brussels warns: ‘If Germany doesn’t make a move, Europe is dead’… abandoning the euro is… not an alternative. The costs would be too high, not least for Germany… It would be a disaster for German banks… No wonder, then, that top German business leaders are alarmed, including the Federation of German Industries (BDI). ‘Germany is the most important economy in the euro zone and the EU, which also makes it the most critical to the system,’ states an internal presentation for the BDI steering committee.

“According to the document, German companies have accumulated substantial assets abroad in recent years, including shares in companies, receivables and government bonds. These assets would be at stake if the monetary union broke apart…‘In relative terms, Germany and its industry would suffer the greatest losses should the euro zone fail.’…

“If the euro is to be saved, Europe’s politicians must quickly agree on a major effort… the formation of a true political union for Europe…”

And so, despised and hated Germany will save the euro, and it will, in the process, emerge as the most powerful and unquestioned leader of a political unification of the Eurozone.

Merkel Prevails at G-20 Summit

Deutsche Welle reported on June 20:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel can mark the G20 summit as a success. She withstood the criticism coming from the United States and emerging economies. She seemed little impressed and refused to move away from her stance or agree to grant more concessions to Greece. On the contrary, in Los Cabos she left no doubt that she expected Greece to fulfill its obligations as soon as possible. This is not necessarily a step closer towards finding a solution to the eurozone crisis, but at least the EU has shown a united front. The Greek election results confirming the country’s pro-EU course certainly have had their share in that too…

“US President Barack Obama, the strongest non-European critic of Merkel’s iron austerity policy, has even said he sees a new mindset across Europe and has expressed his understanding of Brussels’ approach to tackle the crisis… The cool, stoic Merkel and the emotional Jose Manuel Barroso, who denied any attempt for others to tell the EU what to do, and the rather pale Herman van Rompuy as the man in the middle between those two extremes: Their different roles within the EU have also worked well in Los Cabos.” 

In addition, Germany’s government and opposition clinched an accord Thursday, June 21, 2012, to ratify the new EU fiscal pact, according to The Local. However, note the next article as well.

President Gauck No Team-Player

Deutsche Welle reported on June 21:

“Politicians in Berlin celebrated a breakthrough on European economic policies and the fiscal pact on Thursday, only for the Constitutional Court and then President Joachim Gauck to throw a spanner in the works. [He] announced on Thursday that he would not ratify the EU’s second-generation rescue fund… until legal challenges to the fund had been cleared. The German Constitutional Court had asked earlier in the day that the president grant the Karlsruhe judges time to examine a probable legal challenge from the Left party.”

This is a highly unusual move by the Court and the President, to delay the President’s signature because of “probable” complaints from the Left which have not even been filed yet with the court. But it was known from the outset that Mr. Gauck would not be a team-player for the political establishment.

David Cameron—Bull in the China Shop?

Der Spiegel wrote the following on June 20, regarding David Cameron and the G-20 summit:

“How is one able to antagonize several countries within 48 hours? David Cameron accomplished this during the G-20 summit. The French government is angry, the Argentinian government is offended, and then the British Prime Minister even spoke about an old [controversial] soccer game against Germany… To think [first] never hurts…a possible lesson for Cameron’s next summit. Cameron departed; he can’t smash any more porcelain in Mexico.”

USA Hypocritical

Handelsblatt wrote on June 20:

“It is rather hypocritical when the Americans and the British, whose own mountains of debt have reached a high point, try to lecture the Europeans. One number is sufficient to reveal what a bad tactic this is. At a time when the budget deficits of the US and Great Britain are about 8 percent, the euro-zone members have almost managed to bring their deficits as a whole down to 3 percent.”

Syria’s Proxy War

Reuters reported on June 13:

“With the United States accusing Russia of providing attack helicopters and ethnic violence spiraling out of control, Syria’s conflict is pulling world and regional powers into a mounting proxy confrontation.

“While Washington, Moscow and Beijing as well as European and Middle Eastern capitals have all endorsed Kofi Annan’s peace plan, analysts say it has become increasingly obvious that they have also been taking sides.

“Publicly critical of violence by all parties but broadly lining up behind embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad are not only Iran but also long-term ally Russia. At stake for Moscow could be its Tartus naval base and lucrative trade, including arms sales. While there are few signs of any direct involvement, China looks to be throwing its diplomatic weight behind Moscow, both keen to avoid a repeat of events in Libya.

“Washington maintains it is not providing direct military support to the opposition Free Syrian Army, but has pledged ‘non-lethal’ support. Some believe it may be helping facilitate arms deliveries from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and perhaps others.

“There are also growing signs al Qaeda-linked militants may be entering the fray against Assad, worrying Western states.”

And so, everyone seems to have their “dirty fingers” in the pie—until the powder keg explodes. Please note the next article:

Russia Prepared to Send Black Sea Fleet to Syria

Itar-Tass (as linked by the Drudge Report) wrote on June 15:

“A number of warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are prepared to go to Syria, the Russian General Staff told Itar-Tass on Friday. The Mediterranean Sea is a zone of the Black Sea Fleet responsibility. Hence, warships may go there in the case it is necessary to protect the Russian logistics base in Tartous, Syria,’ it said… 

“Tartous is the only Russian naval base outside of the former Soviet territory – this is the logistics center serving Russian ships on missions in the Mediterranean Sea. The base opened in 1971 under an agreement with the Syrian government.”

Are Iran, Syria, China and Russia Planning War Games?

The Times of Israel wrote on June 19:

“Iran, Syria, Russia and China are planning the ‘biggest-ever wargames in the Middle East,’ according to an unconfirmed report on the semi-official Iranian news site Fars News. A Syrian official denied the claims. According to the article, the four countries are preparing 90,000 troops, 400 aircraft and 1,000 tanks for the massive joint maneuvers, which are to take place along the Syrian coast within a month.

“The report states that Russian ‘atomic submarines and warships, aircraft carriers and mine-clearing destroyers as well as Iranian battleships and submarines will also arrive in Syria’ and that Egypt has agreed to let 12 Chinese warships cross the Suez Canal for the exercises.”

Egypt—Major Standoff Between Army and Brotherhood

The Telegraph wrote on June 18:

“The Muslim Brotherhood claimed its candidate, Mohammed Morsi, had taken a marginal lead over Ahmed Shafiq, a former general close to the ruling military… But the significance of the vote was called into question by a major new declaration by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the military authority which has ruled Egypt since the overthrow of ex-President Hosni Mubarak in February last year. 

“After dissolving parliament, in the wake of a ruling last week by the constitutional court, SCAF announced it was taking back legislative and budgetary powers. It was also taking charge of rules for the drafting of a new constitution, which will give it the right to veto any proposal. In the case of dispute, a final decision will go to the same constitutional court responsible for the dissolution ruling. A new parliamentary election will only be held once a new constitution was in place, the declaration added. 

“The Brotherhood, which had reluctantly accepted the dissolution of parliament and said it would continue to compete in the election, reacted angrily. Mohammed Saad el-Katatny, another Brotherhood leader and speaker of parliament, said he did not accept the declaration. He said the current constitutional committee, appointed by parliament before it was dissolved, would continue with its work, threatening the first major stand-off since the revolution between the Brotherhood and the army, Egypt’s two dominant political forces. The Brotherhood tweeted a statement saying the army’s constitutional declaration was ‘null and void’…

“The army’s sudden assertion of power may be a response to the success of the Brotherhood in the immediate wake of the revolution, when it won the parliamentary election, tried to seize control of the constitutional committee, and then took the lead in the first round of voting for the presidency.”

The “Arab Spring” was destined to failure from the very outset. As the next article shows, it has produced instability and violence in the region, as well as fears of dictatorships potentially being much worse than those which have been overthrown.

The “Blessing” of the Arab Spring—Growing Lawlessness in Sinai Desert

The Associated Press reported on June 18:

“Militants crossed from Egypt’s turbulent Sinai Peninsula into southern Israel on Monday and opened fire on civilians building a border security fence, defense officials said. One of the Israeli workers was killed, and two assailants died in a gunbattle with Israeli troops responding to the attack. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which underscored the growing lawlessness in the Sinai desert since longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was toppled by a popular uprising last year…

“Israeli security officials have grown increasingly anxious about the security situation in the Sinai since Mubarak’s ouster. Continued political turmoil in Egypt, weak policing in the Sinai and tough terrain have all encouraged Islamic militant activity in the area. The mountainous desert now harbors an array of militant groups, including Palestinian extremists and al-Qaida-inspired jihadists, Egyptian and Israeli security officials say.”

Crown Prince Nayif of Saudi Arabia’s Died

The Los Angeles Times wrote on June 16:

“Crown Prince Nayif ibn Abdulaziz, head of Saudi Arabia’s feared Interior Ministry who after a series of attacks inside the kingdom became a close Washington ally against Al Qaeda, died Saturday, months after he was named heir apparent in the world’s leading oil power… Nayif was an authoritarian who backed the country’s puritanical Wahabi clerics and cracked down on political dissent, especially over the last year as rumblings of Arab uprisings reached the desert monarchy. 

“He was often at odds with the modest social and political reforms championed by the king. In many ways, Nayif epitomized the Saudi state — loyal, if opportunistic, toward its international friends and ruthless to challengers, whether they be terrorists operating in neighboring Yemen or activists and lawyers protesting against discrimination inside the kingdom…

“In Washington, President Obama credited Nayif with helping the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to develop ‘a strong and effective partnership in the fight against terrorism, one that has saved countless American and Saudi lives’… That connection with Washington — from the early days of oil exploration to the later battle against terrorism — has been based more on strategic alliance than friendship. 

“The two countries are close, but American officials criticized the Saudis after Sept. 11, 2001, for perpetuating an extremist strand of Islam that often inspired terrorism. Nayif originally claimed that 9/11 was a Jewish conspiracy, but that sentiment changed two years later when Al Qaeda began attacking inside the kingdom.”

Our Q&As on Saudi Arabia, “Who Is Saudi Arabia in the Bible?”, and “What Does the Bible Say About Saudi Arabia?” give more information from a biblical and prophetic perspective.

Deep Troubles of the Vatican

The following contains interesting excerpts from a very lengthy article. These excerpts show adequately the current dilemma of the Catholic Church and the Vatican, but according to the Bible, out of the current problems, a mighty and powerful pope will arise, whose decisiveness will utterly surprise the Curia and the entire world. 

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 15:

“The mood at the Vatican is apocalyptic. Pope Benedict XVI seems tired, and both unable and unwilling to seize the reins amid fierce infighting and scandal… Vatican insiders jockey for power and speculate on his successor…

“Since the end of May, the pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, has been detained in a 35-square-meter (377-square-foot) cell at the Vatican, with a window but no TV… [he] allegedly smuggled faxes and letters out of the pope’s private quarters. But it remains unclear who was directing him to do so. 

“Even with Gabriele’s arrest, the leak still hasn’t been plugged. More documents were released to the public last week, documents intended primarily to damage two close associates of Pope Benedict XVI: his private secretary, Georg Gänswein, and Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s top administrator. According to one document, ‘hundreds’ of other secret documents would be published if Gänswein and Bertone weren’t ‘kicked out of the Vatican’…

“Fear is running rampant in the Curia, where the mood has rarely been this miserable. It’s as if someone had poked a stick into a beehive… No one trusts anyone anymore… It all began in the accursed seventh year of the papacy of Benedict XVI… [He] turned 85 in April. This makes him the oldest pope in 109 years… he is still enviably fit, both mentally and physically, especially compared to his predecessor in his later years…

“The Vatican is disintegrating into dozens of competing interest groups… everyone is against everyone… Perhaps Benedict XVI simply knows the Vatican too well to seriously attempt to reform it…The revelations about the secret Vatican documents… suggest a Vatican mired in corruption and character-assassination campaigns, a plot that seems hardly limited to a butler’s alleged act of theft…

“The Vatican’s old guard, made up of Italian cardinals and their backers, believed that they had found a transitional pope in Ratzinger. But now the transition is in its eighth year… The German pope will not be remembered much for his avowed fight to preserve the unity of the Church. Instead, he will be remembered as a… pontiff plagued by scandals, mistakes and gaffes. He even built walls back up that seemed to have been worn down long ago…

“He has annoyed the Protestants by declaring that denominations other than his own are not true churches. He has alienated Muslims with an inept speech in the Bavarian city of Regensburg. And he has insulted Jews by reinserting a prayer for the conversion of the Jews into the Good Friday liturgy. He has also snubbed the Church by currying favor with the traditionalists of the Society of St. Pius X, which rejects the Vatican II reforms…

“The fact that the pope is German has not had a lasting effect on Germans. When he was newly elected, the German media spoke of a ‘Benedict effect,’ of how having a German pope would positively influence conversion and retention rates in Germany. But, if it ever really existed, this effect quickly dissipated. Since Benedict’s election in 2005, the number of people leaving the Catholic Church in Germany has more than doubled… Only 30 percent of Germans are still Catholic today… in deeply Catholic Latin America… the number of Catholics has been sharply declining. Evangelical Christians, on the other hand, are multiplying there like the loaves and fishes in Canaan…

“Benedict has understood better than others what the Church’s real condition is — and how far removed it is from his ideal. His stumbling block has always been the Curia. Perhaps the real thing learned over the last seven years is just how powerless… a pope can be… For some time, he has been overcome by periods of ‘deep sadness,’ says a source close to Benedict, though he notes that it is unclear whether this is merely sadness or genuine depression…

“In the Curia and the backrooms of the Vatican’s palaces, efforts are already underway to search for a successor. The possible outcomes of a conclave are analyzed and candidates are discussed, as was done seven years ago. Some say the next pope should be someone like Pius XII, the pope between 1939 and 1958 who was a calculating and predictable power player and Vatican insider. Or someone like Paul VI, the pope from 1963 to 1978, who paid attention to the Curia’s interests… The Italians, with 30 votes, still form the largest bloc in a conclave. Some believe that, after more than 33 years of foreign dominance — first by a Pole and then by a German — it’s high time to elect an Italian pope. After all, proponents of the idea argue, an Italian cardinal knows the Roman Curia best. But the Italians’ prospects have become slim…

“Benedict himself knows that he doesn’t have much time left… Will the once liberal-minded and now conservative pastor find the strength to foster reconciliation at the end of his life?”

Has Germany Failed to Learn from History?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 12:

“The European Union was created to avoid repeating the disasters of the 1930s, but Germany, of all countries, has failed to learn from history. As the euro crisis escalates, Berlin should remember how the banking crisis of 1931 contributed to the breakdown of democracy across Europe.

“… today’s Germans appear to attach more importance to the year 1923 (the year of hyperinflation) than to the year 1933 (the year democracy died). They would do well to remember how a European banking crisis two years before 1933 contributed directly to the breakdown of democracy not just in their own country but right across the European continent… While 24 European regimes had been democratic in 1920, the number was down to 11 in 1939…

“Giving up some sovereignty is inevitable. However, becoming subject to a ‘neo-colonial’ submission of one’s fiscal policy to Germany… is not acceptable… [Germans] must understand that the costs of a breakup of the euro zone would be astronomically high — for themselves as much as for anyone. After all, Germany’s current prosperity is in large measure a consequence of monetary union. The euro has given German exporters a far more competitive exchange rate than the old deutsche mark would have. And the rest of the euro zone remains the destination for 42 percent of German exports. Plunging half of that market into a new Depression can hardly be good for Germany.

“Ultimately, as Chancellor Merkel herself acknowledged last week, monetary union always implied further integration into a fiscal and political union. But before Europe gets anywhere near taking this historical step, it must first of all show that it has learned the lessons of the past. The EU was created to avoid repeating the disasters of the 1930s. It is time Europe’s leaders — and especially Germany’s — understood how perilously close they are to doing just that.”

But have we learned our lessons? Hardly! Note the next article as well. And so, the Bible predicts that Europe, under German leadership, will become a totalitarian power bloc—and liberties and freedoms of its citizens will be severely limited.

Europe Could Limit Movement of People and Money

On June 12, the Associated Press reported:

“European officials are working on range of contingency scenarios covering action that could be to control the movement of people and money in the event of Greece abandoning the euro currency, a European Union spokesman admitted Tuesday. [A] spokesman said Tuesday that, legally, limits could be imposed on movement of people and money across national borders within the EU if it’s necessary to protect public order or public security.”

Germany Will Save the Eurozone

The Wall Street Journal wrote on June 4:

“Germany will ultimately take whatever steps necessary to keep the euro zone intact, said Deutsche Bank’s former Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann on Monday. ‘If it comes to worst, before the euro zone collapses, everything will be done to bail the euro zone out,’ Ackermann said… Later he said that he had ‘no doubt’ that the German people would support a rescue operation for the euro zone. ‘Destruction is much more expensive than further construction. A demolition of the euro zone will create chaos in Europe and probably also in many parts of the world,’ he said… Ackermann said a Greek exit from the euro-zone would be ‘very difficult but manageable.’”

And so, the Eurozone (perhaps in a slightly different configuration than right now) will be saved; the euro will not fail; and Germany will come to the rescue, if need be. And, there will be political unification.

“Europe Needs Enhanced Governance in Eurozone”

Reuters reported on June 13:

“Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy… said that while each country had to take its own measures to clean up public finances and reform the economy, only closer European integration could solve the crisis… European Union leaders plan to call for much stronger banking and fiscal integration and enhanced governance in the euro zone at a summit later this month…”

Germans Become Disillusioned with Obama and America

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 13:

“Germans were ecstatic when Barack Obama took over the keys to the White House from George W. Bush. Now, though, a new Pew Research Center survey shows that disillusionment with the US president is widespread in Germany and that Obama has not lived up to the high expectations Europeans had of him… Germans are disappointed in the US president’s unilateralism; his use of force, particularly drone strikes; his inaction with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian situation and his lack of effort in curbing climate change.

“Nevertheless, they still have overwhelming confidence in Obama’s overall international leadership. In fact, at 87 percent, Germans are the most supportive in Europe… and nine out of 10 Germans want to see Obama re-elected…

“Obama’s personal popularity has always exceeded German support for America. And today only half the Germans (52 percent) have a favorable view of the United States… Among the eight European nations surveyed, only in Greece (35 percent) is pro-American sentiment weaker… Germans also don’t see America as an economic superpower… [Only] 13 percent say the U.S. plays that role. No other Europeans judge American economic prowess so harshly.

“This decline in support for the United States is closely linked to Germans’ critical views of Obama’s handling of particular international concerns… one of the signature Obama security policy initiatives — drone strikes targeting extremist leaders and groups in nations such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia — have drawn German criticism. Fifty-nine percent of Germans disapprove of such actions, about the median for Europe…

 ”In retrospect, hopes for an Obama presidency were unrealistically high, especially among Europeans… Reality was unlikely to live up to these expectations… this new survey suggests frustrations with Obama and the United States are mounting. And leaders in Berlin, Washington and elsewhere need to be cognizant of their implications, especially if the American people give Obama a second term.”

The Local wrote on June 13:

“Germans are feeling less positive towards the United States and disappointed with their erstwhile hero, President Barack Obama, with significant opposition to the US use of drones to target and kill terrorists. The US enjoyed a huge surge of popularity within Germany in 2009 when Obama succeeded President George W. Bush…

“Yet there seems to be a certain complacency, or possibly lack of interest since the election four years ago which brought Obama to power. Then 56 percent of Germans said they were following the race to the White House closely, whereas now that figure is just 36 percent.”

In spite of these concerns, it is amazing that almost 90 % of Germans would support President Obama’s re-election. This is undoubtedly due to misinformation and complacency, but Germans are also very concerned of a Republican President, as they still remember and strongly reject the troublesome Bush-era.

Jewish Support for Obama Plummets

Newsmax reported on June 10:

“President Barack Obama has seen a 10-point plunge in support among Jewish voters… The move is significant because American Jews have been bedrock supporters of the Democratic Party for decades. Often regarded as instinctively liberal but hawks on support for Israel, Jews are a key voting bloc in Florida, one of a handful of high electoral vote ‘swing’ states Obama must win to defeat Romney. Their votes also could make a difference in a close race in Ohio or Pennsylvania.

“The Republican Jewish Coalition notes the 29 percent of Jewish voters who support Romney, represents the ‘highest level of Jewish support for a Republican presidential candidate in 24 years.’ RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said that if the numbers hold in November, they would spell ‘a disaster’ for Obama and his party.”

Jerusalem to Be Occupied by Egypt?

On June 7, Al Alarabiya News reported the following:

“If Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi became president, Egypt’s new capital will no more be Cairo, but the new capital will be Jerusalem, a prominent Egyptian cleric said at a presidential campaign rally, which was aired by an Egyptian private TV channel. ‘Our capital shall not be Cairo, Mecca or Medina. It shall be Jerusalem with God’s will. Our chants shall be: “Millions of martyrs will march towards Jerusalem”,’ prominent cleric Safwat Hagazy said, according to the video aired by Egypt’s religious Annas TV on Tuesday…

“‘The United States of the Arabs will be restored on the hands of that man [Mursi] and his supporters. The capital of the [Muslim] Caliphate will be Jerusalem with God’s will,’ Hegazy said, as the crowds cheered, waving the Egyptian flags along with the flags of the Islamist Hamas group, which rules the Gaza Strip. ‘Tomorrow Mursi will liberate Gaza,’ the crowds chanted. ‘Yes, we will either pray in Jerusalem or we will be martyred there,’ Hegazy said…

“Voting for Mursi… would mean handing Egypt to an Islamic movement [which] has monopolized power since the uprising.”

These are interesting developments in the Middle East which could trigger ultimate military intervention of Europe, as prophesied in Scripture.

Egypt in Chaos

CNN wrote on June 14:

“Egypt’s highest court declared the parliament invalid Thursday, and the country’s interim military rulers promptly declared full legislative authority, triggering a new level of chaos and confusion in the country’s leadership. The Supreme Constitutional Court found that all articles making up the law that regulated parliamentary elections are invalid, said Showee Elsayed, a constitutional lawyer. The ruling means that parliament must be dissolved, state TV reported.

“Parliament has been in session for just over four months. It is dominated by Islamists, a group long viewed with suspicion by the military. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in control of the country since Mubarak’s ouster, said that it now has full legislative power… The court also ruled that former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik. the last prime minister to serve under ousted President Hosni Mubarak, may run in a presidential election runoff this weekend…

“Some analysts also called it a coup… Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center, said the court rulings are the ‘worst possible outcome’ for Egypt and the transition to civilian rule is ‘effectively over.’”

“Suicides No. 2 Cause of Death in Military”

USA Today reported on June 14:

“The most common way that U.S. servicemembers die outside of combat is by their own hand, according to an analysis released by the Pentagon on Wednesday. Since 2010, suicide has outpaced traffic accidents, heart disease, cancer, homicide and all other forms of death in the military besides combat, the report says. One in four non-combat deaths last year were servicemembers killing themselves.

“This year, suicides among troops occur on average once a day, according to Pentagon figures obtained by USA TODAY. The data, first reported by the Associated Press, show that after the end of the Iraq War, suicides may become more common than combat deaths. There were 154 confirmed or suspected suicides this year through June 3, while 127 troops died in the Afghanisthan War, Pentagon data show.

“Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Congress on Wednesday that he has directed all military branches ‘to immediately look at that situation and determine what’s behind it, what’s causing it and what can we do to make sure it doesn’t happen.’ All the services except the Navy are seeing increases in suicide among active-duty members this year… The Army — which has the highest suicide rate… is spending about $75 million to understand why it is happening and what to do about it. No one so far has answers, said Army Col. Carl Castro, who leads researchers trying to find effective forms of prevention and treatment…”

Accusations Fly Between Russia and USA Over Syria

The Guardian wrote on June 13:

“The US has alleged that Russian-made weapons are killing Syrians on ‘an hourly basis’ as the feud between Washington and Moscow over the arming of the Assad regime intensified Wednesday. In the face of a strong denial from the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, stood by her assertion that Russian attack helicopters are on their way to Syria in a move that would ‘escalate the conflict quite dramatically’.

“The state department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, repeated the claim and ratcheted up the confrontation by saying that the Russians have also been resupplying arms used against the civilian population… Lavrov… said Russia is supplying weapons only for self-defence. ‘We are now finishing the fulfilment of contracts that were signed and paid for a long time ago. All of (the contracts) are solely for means of air defence,’ he said. Lavrov said the arms are ‘only something that Syria would need in the event of an armed attack on it from without’…

“The Russian foreign minister turned the tables on the US by accusing the Americans of arming the Syrian opposition… Nuland denied the charge… However, there is growing evidence that US allies in the region, principally Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, are arming the opposition Free Syrian Army… Nuland also said there was ‘no comparison’ between Russia sending weapons to Syria and the US arming the monarchy in Bahrain, which has brutally put down civilian demonstrations with the help of the American-supplied Saudi military resulting in scores killed and thousands arrested. Some are alleged to have died under torture.”

Russia Rejects Foreign Intervention in Syria

CNN wrote on June 9:

“After days of international shuttling on what to do with the troubling situation in Syria, Russia’s foreign minister said Saturday his country will never agree to foreign intervention. Despite warnings of Syria spiraling into a civil war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a televised briefing in Moscow there was no alternative other than implementing Special Envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan, despite its failures. ‘The situation looks more and more grim,’ Lavrov said. ‘For the first time since the beginning of this crisis we see the question of foreign intervention. And our position remains unchanged. We will never agree to sanction the use of force in the U.N. Security Council.’

“He called foreign intervention a ‘dangerous game’ and said it would have serious consequences in the entire region. He also blamed the recent violence, which has included horrific reported massacres in Houla and Qubeir, in part to opposition groups being supported by other nations. Russia, along with China and four Central Asian nations, has signed a joint declaration rejecting armed intervention in Syria and reiterating support for Annan’s peace plan. Russia and China — both Security Council members — have also blocked proposed United Nations efforts to punish President Bashar al-Assad’s regime with sanctions.”

Russia is acting purely because of self-interest, as it is heavily involved in all kinds of monetary and military operations with Syria. We also see consensus reached between Russia, China and four other Asian nations, which is in opposition to the desired course of action of Western powers.

Russia Turns to a Police State

Financial Times Deutschland wrote on June 13:

“Russia is becoming a police state that increasingly often drags in opposition leaders for interrogation and searches their apartments… Since March presidential elections, … Putin has been slowly tightening the thumbscrews. It’s not just the new laws governing demonstrations, which cut back massively on freedom of assembly rights, but also the increasing ‘unexplainable’ hacker attacks on critical websites. Together they reveal a clear policy of intimidation. It is not impossible that Putin’s chicanery will fundamentally change the culture of protest in Russia. There is a real chance that the educated middle class could give birth to violence.”

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote on June 13:

“…  change is taking place in Russian society, one which might be slowed by repression, but cannot be stopped. It remains unclear, however, what the results might be…”

Enough of KGB Rule in Russia?

CNN wrote on June 13:

“Antigovernment slogans and calls for change resounded in Moscow’s central boulevards Tuesday, suggesting that Russian authorities’ recent moves to suppress dissent haven’t damped the opposition’s spirits. In the first major protest since President Vladimir Putin began a new six-year term May 7, Muscovites of all ages and political convictions flooded the city center, chanting ‘Russia without Putin’ and ‘Enough of KGB rule.’ The event was dubbed the ‘March of Millions’ to symbolize the wave of discontent that has enveloped Russia’s largest cities since disputed parliamentary elections in December…

“Tuesday’s protest, which fell on the Russia Day holiday, came on the heels of a concerted effort by authorities to limit opposition protesters’ room to maneuver… Moscow police on Monday carried out raids on the homes of as many as 15 opposition figures… Amnesty International later condemned the searches as politically motivated.

“On Friday, Putin signed into law draconian legislation increasing fines to $10,000 for participants and $30,000 for organizers involved in protests that are unauthorized, attract larger crowds than permitted, or cause damage or injury.”

Putin will try to rule brutally and with an iron fist. Will he prevail, or will he be leading his country into civil war? Only time will tell.

How Russians View Europe

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 13, 2012:

“The ongoing euro crisis appears to have diminished the enthusiasm of the Russian people towards the European Union. They have become much more critical over the past year with regards to Russia’s relations with the EU… The number of supporters for Russia becoming a member of the EU (38 percent) appears to have stayed the same, but the number of opponents has increased. Almost half of the respondents (47 percent) reject the idea that Russia should join the EU. That is 11 percent more than last year…

“From a Russian perspective, the main objective of the European Union is to promote economic growth (55 percent). It is these core issues that the EU in recent months has neglected, but that the Russians find the most important. The debt crisis in the eurozone has dampened economic growth. And Russian confidence in the EU has also disappeared… Forty percent of those surveyed believe a main objective of the EU is territorial expansion. One in five said it was the development of a universal security system, the same number who believed it was to further European interests in the world. This presents a fundamental problem…

“At the same time, Russians do not think their country has an especially positive image within Europe… Just under a quarter of respondents say Russia is thought of as a reliable strategic partner. Twenty-two percent were more skeptical, suggesting that Russia, especially within Europe is seen as a wayward superpower with imperial ambitions…

“Weakness within the European Union has also had an effect on any bilateral relationship between the EU and Russia. In April 2011, 52 percent of those surveyed rated relations as friendly and amicable; current DW-Trend respondents indicate this has dropped to 43 percent.

“However, the relationship between Germany and Russia has suffered less. Although the proportion expressing a belief the relationship between two countries was friendly has dropped six percent to 24 percent, a clear majority, 70 percent of the Russian population, see German-Russian relations as either friendly or amicable.”

Of course, there is really no realistic possibility that Russia would ever join the EU. At the same time, the relationship between Germany and Russia will ultimately become hostile.

China on Collision Course with Europe

Reuters reported on June 12:

“China will take swift counter-measures that could include impounding European aircraft if the EU punishes Chinese airlines for not complying with its scheme to curb carbon emissions, the China Air Transport Association said on Tuesday. The warning came as the U.N.’s aviation body expressed concern about the growing threat of bilateral reprisals.

“Chinese airlines, which have been told by Beijing not to comply with the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme, refused to meet a March 31 deadline for submitting carbon emissions data. A new stand-off looms after EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said the carriers would have until the end of this week to submit their data or face enforcement action…

“China is among a raft of countries including India, Russia and the United States that have protested against the inclusion of all flights using EU airports into the emissions scheme.”

The developments between Europe and especially China and Russia need to be watched with great care, as the relationship between the Asian and European countries will deteriorate drastically.

Coming—a German Populist?

Reuters wrote on May 31:

“How many countries will Germany need to bail out before it has erased the guilt of the Holocaust? That is the provocative question posed by Thilo Sarrazin [a former regional politician and Bundesbank governor]… In a much-quoted passage, he says supporters of eurobonds are driven ‘by that very German reflex according to which atonement for the holocaust and the world wars will never be complete until we have delivered our entire public interest, and even our money, into European hands.’ This title has raced to the top of best-seller lists and sent jittery markets into panic…

“An opinion poll last week provides just the latest proof that Sarrazin has his finger on the national pulse: Over half of Germans think their country has suffered by joining the euro, while 79 percent reject eurobonds as a solution to the crisis… the German political establishment is falling over itself to bury his arguments… many topics are declared outside the realm of political competition. As a result, all mainstream parties are in favor of Europe, the euro and the Atlantic alliance, and against war, inflation and nationalism. The result is a restricted political sphere where politicians have often been able to act against public opinion without fear of challenge… But those who dare cross the threshold of political correctness – as Sarrazin has repeatedly done – tap into a vast reservoir of pent-up popular frustration. And because the establishment cartel turns them into outcasts rather than arguing with their views, this reservoir continues to grow…

“It is unlikely that the anti-charismatic Sarrazin will end up becoming the German equivalent of Holland’s Geert Wilders or Austria’s Joerg Haider. But the refusal of mainstream politicians to make the case for European integration or to engage in full-throated political competition with their opponents could pave the way for someone equally undesirable to claim that mantle. It would be a tragic paradox if the German establishment’s guilt over past extremism hampers its ability to overcome the populists of the future.”

Even though the euro will not collapse (compare also the next article) and Germany will not forsake the euro or leave the Eurozone, the warning in the article is well expressed. Partially due to the manipulative conduct of Germany’s “mainstream” politicians not to address or deal with politically incorrect or inexpedient issues (inexpedient for their political career in their respective parties, that is), and their consensual habit to tell the German people what they must and must not think, an extreme “populist” WILL arise in Germany. But most don’t realize that that strong charismatic politician will be pro-Europe—not against it—but he will see to it that all power and authority over Europe will ultimately end up in his hands.

The Euro Will Not Fail

The EUObserver reported on June 4:

“Top EU officials Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso have told Russia that the euro is a safe bet.  The two men spoke alongside Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a press briefing after the 29th regular EU-Russia summit, held on Monday (4 June) in St Petersburg.

“Van Rompuy promised to publish a blueprint for deeper EU economic integration ‘by the end of this year’ and predicted that eurozone GDP will grow between 1 and 3 percent in 2013. ‘There is no way back for the euro, there is only the way ahead of more integration … As for what happens if we fail, I will not answer hypothetical questions. We will not fail. We will not fail,’ he said.”

And Van Rompuy is right—the euro will NOT fail. Note also the next article.

Estonia Is Booming Because of the Euro

On June 5, 2012, CNBC reported the following:

“Sixteen months after it joined the struggling currency bloc, Estonia is booming. The economy grew 7.6 percent last year, five times the euro-zone average. Estonia is the only euro-zone country with a budget surplus. National debt is just 6 percent of GDP, compared to 81 percent in virtuous Germany, or 165 percent in Greece… Estonia’s achievement is all the more remarkable when you consider that it was one of the countries hardest hit by the global financial crisis. In 2008-2009, its economy shrank by 18 percent. That’s a bigger contraction than Greece has suffered over the past five years.

“How did they bounce back? ‘I can answer in one word: austerity. Austerity, austerity, austerity,’ says Peeter Koppel, investment strategist at the SEB Bank… At a recent conference of European and North American lawmakers in Tallinn, Koppel was lambasted by French and Italian parliamentarians when he suggested Europeans had to prepare for an ‘inevitable’ decline in living standards, wages and job security, in order for their countries to escape from the debt crisis…

“Estonians have endured some of the harshest austerity measures with barely a murmur. They even re-elected the politicians that imposed them… memories of the grim days of Soviet occupation make it easier to accept sacrifices today. Among the young, there is a widespread awareness that in a nation of just 1.3 million people, the freedom and opportunities their generation enjoy depends on unity in times of crisis…”

So, it’s obvious that the institution of the euro is not the cause for financial problems—it is the way in which governments spend the money and go into heavy debt.

Germany Pushing for European Fiscal Union

Reuters reported on June 3:

“When Jean-Claude Trichet called last June [in Aachen, Germany, where Charlemagne was crowned as the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire] for the creation of a European finance ministry with power over national budgets, the idea seemed fanciful, a distant dream that would take years or even decades to realize, if it ever came to be. One year later, with the euro zone’s debt crisis threatening to tear the bloc apart, Germany is pushing its partners for precisely the kind of giant leap forward in fiscal integration that the now-departed European Central Bank president had in mind.

“After falling short with her ‘fiscal compact’ on budget discipline, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pressing for much more ambitious measures, including a central authority to manage euro area finances, and major new powers for the European Commission, European Parliament and European Court of Justice…

“Until states agree to these steps and the unprecedented loss of sovereignty they involve, the officials say Berlin will refuse to consider other initiatives like joint euro zone bonds or a ‘banking union’ with cross-border deposit guarantees – steps Berlin says could only come in a second wave. The goal is for EU leaders to agree to develop a road map to ‘fiscal union’ at a June 28-29 EU summit… European countries would then put the meat on the bones of the plan in the second half of 2012… including a timetable for overhauling EU treaties, a step Berlin sees as vital for setting closer integration in stone… If European countries go ahead, the steps would represent the most significant policy leap since they agreed to give up their national currencies and cede control over monetary policy 13 years ago.

“But the hurdles are daunting… Spain, whose banking troubles have made it the latest target of financial markets, signalled over the weekend that it was on board with a key element of the plan… But other states, including the bloc’s second-biggest member France, have deep reservations about ceding so much sovereignty… But even if the Germans do win over the French and other sceptical countries like Finland and Austria, there are serious doubts about whether a 5-10 year plan for closer integration – weighed down by lengthy national debates over treaty change – will be enough to restore investor confidence now… As long as the Greek nightmare continues and doubts about Spain’s banks persist, no amount of closer integration is likely to calm investor nerves…

“Another problem with the German-led drive is that of democratic legitimacy. Many of Europe’s struggling citizens already blame technocrats in Brussels for their troubles. And lawmakers across the bloc are keen to safeguard their right to veto EU decisions. Against that backdrop it will be extremely difficult for leaders to convince their electorates about the integration steps under consideration in Berlin and other capitals. To address this, officials are mulling a significant strengthening of the role of the European Parliament (EP), which is directly elected by the bloc’s citizens… ‘The issue is that democratic control will now take place at a European level, and not at a national one,’ [a French] official said. ‘I think the problem is not so much the European people but the European politicians who don’t want to relinquish their power. There you will see a lot of resistance.’”

Still, fiscal and even military union will come—at least for core European nations, and perhaps after a prolonged crisis in Europe which may seem to allow for no other option. And then, out of that fiscal and military union will emerge, through flattery, a charismatic leader who was not originally chosen for that office. It is even possible that this leader had once an influential position, but that he received a  “deadly wound” or suffered political defeat, which would be cured or healed in time. Once in power, his mind will change. The Bible indicates that that leader might be a homosexual, and it calls this leader the beast, the king of the North, and King Jareb of Assyria. Note the following articles.

The Daily Mail added on June 5:

“European leaders are edging closer to a federal union in response to the financial crisis engulfing the Continent. In crisis talks yesterday, Britain and the US joined forces to urge Germany to create a central Brussels body that could assume sovereignty over individual countries’ budgets and fiscal policies.

“There is growing frustration in London and Washington at Germany’s reluctance to take steps towards a single economic government… fears were aired yesterday in a conference call between finance ministers from the G7 group of leading nations… They fear a core eurozone, led by Germany, would be in a powerful position to push whatever policies it wanted affecting the rest of the 27-member EU… German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed this week that measures to create a closer union for countries in the euro were being considered…”

So, this article states that other countries are pushing Germany to create a central Brussels fiscal body. The article from Reuters, quoted above, says the exact opposite—that it is Germany pushing the others. So whoever pushes and is being pushed—it is clear all want to create such a fiscal union. Deutsche Welle wrote on June 6, 2012:

“Faced with impending economic disaster, European leaders are thinking up new ways to save the single currency. ‘A secret plan to save Europe’: That’s how the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag described it this weekend… European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi were all working behind the scenes on a master plan… Last week, Barroso indicated that EU leaders were ready to discuss a closer economic union amidst mounting concerns about Spain… Barroso did not specify exactly what he meant by a ‘full economic union.’…”

But it won’t stay with just a fiscal or full economic union, as the next articles show.

“United States of Europe May Be the Only Way to Save Euro”

The Guardian wrote on June 4:

“It is a measure of the speed at which the politics of the euro crisis is changing… By announcing there could be no censorship of the eurozone to-do list, [Merkel] meant tabling radical, federalist steps involving gradual loss of national sovereignty over budgetary, fiscal, social, pensions, and labour market policies with the aim of forging a new European political union over five to 10 years.

“The USE – United States of Europe – is back. For the eurozone, at least. Such ‘political union’, surrendering fundamental powers to Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg, has always been several steps too far for the French to consider. But Berlin is signalling that if it is to carry the can for what it sees as the failures of others there will need to be incremental but major integrationist moves towards a banking, fiscal, and ultimately political union in the eurozone.

“It is a divisive and contested notion which Merkel did not always favour. In the heat of the crisis, however, she now appears to see no alternative… The impact of ‘the project’ will be immense, if it takes off… A much more entrenched two-speed Europe would emerge, with key decision-taking centred in the eurozone and not in an EU of 27 or 28.

“The gap between Britain and core Europe might become unbridgeable, generating only mutual rancour and ultimately ending the UK’s unhappy EU dalliance… In the third year of muddling through, the choices facing Europe’s leaders are getting starker – the death of the euro or the birth of a new European federation.”

The answer is clear from the Bible: There WILL BE a political union of core European countries—but apparently without Britain.

Political Union and Two-Speed Europe

Deutsche Welle reported on June 7, 2012:

“The German chancellor… [Angela] Merkel sees the future of the EU in a closer political union that gives Brussels more authority. ‘We don’t only need a currency union, we also need a so-called fiscal union…’ she said in an interview with German broadcaster ARD aired on Thursday. ‘And we also need first and foremost a political union, meaning we must cede responsibilities to Europe step by step,’ she added.

“Merkel acknowledged that the EU now has ‘different speeds’ referring to the countries in the eurozone and those that have their own national currencies. She said the differences would become more pronounced over time, because the euro countries would inevitably draw closer together. ‘We can’t stand still because [others] don’t yet want to come along,’ she said.”

The EUObserver added on June 7:

“… the Chancellor [made] the clearest case yet for a two-speed Europe in matters of economic integration. While these statements and similar comments she has made in the past are raising expectations about what the 28 June summit in Brussels can achieve, the German leader cautioned against thinking that it would lead to a big bang solution for the European Union. But even despite Merkel’s traditional down-playing of expectations ahead of an EU meeting – the summit is increasingly taking on a high-stakes feel…”

The Local stated on June 7:

“Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that she would work towards a European political union even if that meant a two-speed approach.”

“Israel’s Deployment of Nuclear Missiles on Subs from Germany”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 4:

“Many have wondered for years about the exact capabilities of the submarines Germany exports to Israel. Now, experts in Germany and Israel have confirmed that nuclear-tipped missiles have been deployed on the vessels. And the German government has long known about it…

“Deep in their interiors, on decks 2 and 3, the submarines contain a secret that even in Israel is only known to a few insiders: nuclear warheads, small enough to be mounted on a cruise missile, but explosive enough to execute a nuclear strike that would cause devastating results. This secret is considered one of the best kept in modern military history. Anyone who speaks openly about it in Israel runs the risk of being sentenced to a lengthy prison term.

“Research SPIEGEL has conducted in Germany, Israel and the United States, among current and past government ministers, military officials, defense engineers and intelligence agents, no longer leaves any room for doubt: With the help of German maritime technology, Israel has managed to create for itself a floating nuclear weapon arsenal: submarines equipped with nuclear capability…

“In Germany, the government’s military assistance for Israel’s submarine program has been controversial for about 25 years, a topic of discussion for the media and the parliament. Chancellor Angela Merkel fears the kind of public debate that German Nobel literature laureate Günter Grass recently reignited with a poem critical of Israel. Merkel insists on secrecy and doesn’t want… the details of the deal to be made public. To this day, the German government is sticking to its position that it does not know anything about an Israeli nuclear weapons program…

“For Israel, a country about the size of the German state of Hesse, which could be wiped out with a nuclear strike, safeguarding this threat potential is vital to its very existence. At the same time, the nuclear arsenal causes countries like Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia to regard Israel’s nuclear capacity with fear and envy and consider building their own nuclear weapons…

“Helmut Schmidt went even further, long before Grass. ‘Hardly anyone dares to criticize Israel here, out of fear of being accused of anti-Semitism,’ the former chancellor told Jewish American historian Fritz Stern. Yet Israel is a country, Schmidt suggests, that ‘makes a peaceful solution practically impossible, through its policies of settlement in the West Bank and, for far longer, in the Gaza Strip.’ He also condemns the current chancellor for, in his view, allowing herself to be essentially taken hostage by Israel.

“Schmidt says, ‘I wonder whether it was a feeling of closeness with American policies, or nebulous moral motives, that led Chancellor Merkel to publicly state in 2008 that Germany bears responsibility for the security of the State of Israel. From my point of view, this is a serious exaggeration, one that sounds very nearly like the type of obligation that exists within an alliance… Germany has a particular responsibility to make sure that a crime such as the Holocaust never again occurs. Germany does not have a responsibility for Israel’…

“For Chancellor Merkel, on the other hand, there was never any doubt that she would do what Israel asked, even at the cost of violating Germany’s own arms export guidelines. The rules, amended in 2000 by the SPD-Green coalition government, do allow weapons to be supplied to countries that are not part of the EU or NATO in the case of ‘special foreign or security policy interests.’ But there is a clear regulation for crisis regions: The rules state that supplying weapons ‘is not authorized in countries that are involved in armed conflicts or where there is a threat of one.’ There is no question that that rule would include Israel. But that did not stop the chancellor from making a deal for the delivery of submarine number 6 — just as she was not deterred by Netanyahu’s unwillingness to make compromises…

“Still, disappointment within the Chancellery is running high, as Netanyahu has simply ignored Merkel’s requests. Israel’s policy of settlement continues unabated… Merkel has apparently reached the conclusion that there’s no point in saying anything further to Netanyahu, since he’s sure not to listen in any case…”

As mentioned in our previous Update, the relationship between Israel and Germany is a rocky one, and many Germans are not thrilled with the course of their government. How long will Germans tolerate conduct, as described in the article, stemming from their leaders and Israel’s politicians? How long will German politicians “cooperate”? The revelation that Germany is providing Israel with the opportunity to deploy nuclear warheads on German submarines is most certainly not going to be ignored.

Fall of Gaddafi Not Good News for Fight Against Locusts

The Financial Times wrote on June 5:

“The death of Muammar Gaddafi continues to reverberate across Africa – this time in the form of desert locusts. The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations warned on Tuesday that croplands in Niger and Mali were at imminent risk from locust swarms moving south from Libya and Algeria. The revolution in Libya played a major role in allowing the pests to breed, it said.

“‘The fall of Gaddafi was an enormous factor, to be honest,’ said Keith Cressman, FAO senior locust forecasting officer. ‘It depleted the Libyans’ capacity to monitor and respond as they normally would.’ Insecurity along the Libya-Algeria border – a fallout from the uprising – meant that teams are still unable to properly spray the affected areas.

“Desert locusts have the capacity to destroy vast areas of croplands. During a plague, a swarm can stretch for several hundred square kilometres comprising billions of locusts, each capable of eating its own weight in food a day… Desert locust swarms formed in Libya and Algeria in mid-May, after good rains and the resultant growth of vegetation on which they feed. The first swarms have already been sighted in northern Niger, which is currently experiencing a food crisis…”

Highly-praised and politically “correct” revolutions might have negative repercussions which we might not even think of—apart from instability and insecurity, as can be seen presently in Egypt where the Islamist “Muslim Brotherhood” and representatives from the “old Regime” are fighting for political leadership.

Use of Drones All Over America?

WorldNetDaily reported on June 1:

“America is not a battlefield, and its citizens are not ‘insurgents in need of vanquishing,’ argues a civil rights attorney who is urging the governor of Virginia to move forward carefully in the state’s use of the remote-controlled aerial vehicles.

“‘A rapid adoption of drone technology before properly vetting the safety, privacy and civil liberties issues involved would be a disaster,’ said John W. Whitehead, founder of the Rutherford Institute, in a letter to Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell today. Whitehead was reacting to a radio interview in which McDonnell said that the use of drones in American skies was ‘great’ and ‘the right thing to do.’ The governor said the abilities that made drones effective on a battlefield also would make them effective in America…

“WND recently reported the federal government is moving quickly to open the skies over America to drones for commercial and government purposes. Veteran Washington Post and Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer is forecasting ‘rifles aimed at the sky all across America’… the federal government announced it is beginning to allow public safety agencies to fly unmanned aircraft – drones – with fewer and fewer restrictions… Congress has adopted the position of encouraging more drone flights, with the ‘goal of adapting technology used by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.’… not only can drones spy on people, many of them now are armed.”

As we reported in our last Update and addressed in our StandingWatch video and radio programs (see the posting of the radio program on www.standingwatch.org), “Does God Approve of US Drone Attacks?”, most Americans are indifferent regarding the use of drones in foreign countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, even though thousands of civilians and children have already been killed in the process, being labeled as casualties of war. But apart from legitimate privacy concerns, what if those drones are being also used soon in our own country to kill innocent Americans? This possibility is not far-fetched, given the preparations of Congress and the Feds. Will American citizens wake up to these real and frightening dangers, before it is too late and before they themselves have become the targets of uncontrolled governmental violence and even death?

What’s Bilderberg Up To?

WorldNetDaily wrote on June 2:

“An intense and amplified police presence outside the Westfields Marriott Convention Center greeted the more than 1,000 protestors of the Bilderberg Conference on Day 3 of the secret conclave that gathers global leaders of finance and government. More than 35 uniformed police officers guarded the primary entrance of the Westfields Marriott, where Bilderberg attendees were quickly shuttled in and out amidst a hail of verbal assaults from protestors, the primary question constantly being asked by those in [the] crowd being why these world leaders were meeting behind closed doors and a wall of armed security.

“‘We know you are in there, the world knows you are in there, and we know what you are up to,’ shouted radio personality Alex Jones… who hosts the radio program ‘The Alex Jones Show’ and runs the popular news site Infowars.com… Comparing the Bilderberg Conference to the shadowy globalist group that controlled S.H.I.E.L.D. in this summer’s mega blockbuster ‘The Avengers,’ Jones said that the United States was losing its sovereignty to a cabal of unelected and unaccountable globalists with the ultimate goal of subjugating the U.S. military to the control of the United Nations and NATO generals… Wired.com reported that the Pentagon pulled out of working on ‘The Avengers’ film, because they couldn’t ascertain who the fictional, multinational peace-keeping organization answered to… ‘That is the ultimate goal of Bilderberg, the end of American sovereignty and the implementation of a globalist elite that controls every aspect of your life,’ said Jones…

“Daniel Estulin, author of ‘The True Story of the Bilderberg Group,’ contends the idea behind each and every Bilderberg meeting ‘is to create what they themselves call the aristocracy of purpose between European and North American elites on the best way to manage the planet… In other words… the creation of a global network of giant cartels, more powerful than any nation on Earth, destined to control the necessities of life of the rest of humanity’…

“Four years ago there were rumors that Barack Obama had been picked as the Democratic presidential nominee. Two days after the event, Hillary Clinton bowed out. Observers also point out George H.W. Bush attended in 1985. He became president in 1988. Bill Clinton attended in 1991. He became president a year later. Tony Blair attended in 1993. He became prime minister of England in 1997. Romano Prodi attended in 1999. Later that year he became president of the European Union Commission. In 2004, Sen. John Edwards spoke to the group. He was later anointed the Democratic vice presidential nominee by presidential candidate John Kerry.

“Estulin… described the group as ‘a vehicle through which private financier oligarchical interests were able to impose their policies on what is nominally sovereign governments’… The meetings are private, invitation-only for about 150 individuals from the worlds of politics, business, finance, energy, media and nobility. No resolutions are voted on, no minutes are taken and no statements are issued.

“Estulin has cited David Rockefeller’s own admission. Rockefeller, a Bilderberg member, wrote: ‘Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure – one world, if you will. If that’s the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.’”

“In 2009, Bilderberg Chairman Etienne Davignon boasted that the Euro single currency was a recommendation of the Bilderberg group.”

Especially interesting is the statement that the euro was a recommendation of the Bilderberg group. Since former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was extremely instrumental in creating the euro, being referred to in Germany as the “father of the euro,” it must be asked what direct or indirect relationship, if any, he had with the Bilderberg group. In any event, if all the alleged facts mentioned in the above-quoted article, and in articles quoted in our previous Update, are true, then all of us are in deep trouble. Note the next article as well.

Why Do Greens Attend Bilderberg Conferences?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 6:

“Industry leaders from around the globe, heads of government and leaders of organizations such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organization gathered over the weekend in Chantilly, Virginia for the 60th edition of the fabled Bilderberg conference on finance and foreign affairs. The list of participants reads like a global who’s who of the rich and powerful. Outgoing Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann was there, as was Shell CEO Peter Voser, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann. Jürgen Trittin, co-floor leader of the Green Party in German parliament, was also in attendance.

“Now Trittin has found himself having to defend his participation after many people asked what a Green Party leader — one who represents the left wing of his party, no less — was doing at the secretive annual gathering. The politician… has been the subject of a flood of criticism since his return from the US.

“The German business news magazine Wirtschaftswoche has described the Bilderberg conference, which takes place at a different location each year, as ‘the most admired circle of power.’ Critics of globalization, including many Green Party supporters, would rather describe it as the most dangerous circle of power. For them, the exclusive, invitation-only meetings, named after the Hotel de Bilderberg where the first conference was held in 1954, represent a kind of informal, non-democratic world government.

“According to the Bilderberg website, ‘the meeting is private in order to encourage frank and open discussion.’ But the fact that the media is excluded from the meetings has encouraged the proliferation of conspiracy theories. For many people on both extremes of the political spectrum, Bilderberg represents a kind of secret society which meets to make deals on issues of global importance. Some even see it as an attempt to create a totalitarian world government, dubbed a ‘new world order.’…

“Unfortunately for Green Party politician Trittin, many of his own supporters subscribe to the Bilderberg conspiracy theories… Tritten is not, however, the first Green Party politician to take part in Bilderberg. Former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer attended the conference in 2008. That was, however, after Fischer had already retired from active politics.”

Still, Fischer’s attendance at the Bilderberg conference in 2008 is remarkable. One might wonder what, if anything, was discussed in regard to his future political career.

Russia and China Moving Closer Together

On June 5, 2012, AFP wrote the following:

“Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in China on Tuesday for a three-day visit aimed at bolstering a crucial alliance that has seen the giant neighbours block further action against Syria. Both energy and foreign policy cooperation are high on the agenda… Putin’s China trip, his first to Asia since starting an historic third term last month, comes after failed attempts by EU leaders to sway him on Syria — a Soviet-era ally Moscow still supplies with arms.

“Beijing and Moscow have walked in lockstep on Syria to growing anger from Arab and Western nations, with EU President Herman Van Rompuy telling Putin in Russia on Monday that world powers needed to ‘find common messages on which we agree’… Putin has been keen to play up the importance of Russia’s at-times uneasy ties with China, which have grown stronger in the past year as both used their veto power on the UN Security Council to block action against Damascus.

“Although the two nations had periodic border conflicts and viewed each other with suspicion in Soviet times, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov declared this weekend that Russia had an exemplary partnership with China on foreign policy. ‘All in all, we consider the cooperation on foreign policy on all levels between Russia and China a successful model of coordination between partners,’ Lavrov said in comments posted on the Russian foreign ministry’s website. Beijing’s state-run China Daily newspaper also played up the relationship between the two countries in an editorial on Tuesday, saying it was in ‘good shape’ and ‘bodes well for the future’…

“Putin is a frequent guest of Chinese leaders, last visiting Beijing in October in his then capacity as prime minister. It was his only foreign trip after he announced in September his plan to run for president. A month after his trip, he was awarded a Chinese version of the Nobel prize for ‘keeping world peace’.”

The cooperation between Russia and China and other Far Eastern countries will continue, ultimately leading to war between them and Europe.

June Declared as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month

The Christian Post wrote on June 2:

“President Barack Obama called on Americans to celebrate evolving attitudes toward the homosexual community as he proclaimed June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.

“This June, let’s take some time to celebrate teachers and students who take a stand against bullying openly gay and lesbian service members’… he urged. Obama made the proclamation Friday and expressed again his evolved personal belief in ‘marriage equality for same-sex couples’ ‘because we must treat others the way we want to be treated.’ He cited the Golden Rule when he first revealed on May 9 that he now believes gay and lesbian couples should be able to get married… His proclamation for LGBT Pride Month comes just after a group of African-American pastors requested a meeting with Obama to discuss their concerns over his ‘endorsement of gay marriage as a civil right.’ The Coalition of African American Pastors says they’re disappointed and heart-broken over the president’s new stance.

“Obama has declared June as LGBT Pride Month every year since taking office in 2009. Considered the most pro-gay president in history, Obama has repealed the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy in the military to allow gays to serve openly, stopped defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court, and after many years of ‘evolving’ expressed support for same-sex marriage, among other things… The president vowed to continue to ‘advance the rights of LGBT Americans’ and called on Americans to… ‘celebrate the great diversity of the American people.’”

President Obama is really pushing the envelope. Not that this is so surprising—given his extremely liberal views throughout his political life… and his activities before he entered politics. And so, we are not hearing about an Obama declaration of a specific month to celebrate “True Christian Standards,” nor do we learn about “the Married Couple between a Man and a Woman Pride Month.” Not that it would really matter that much—except, it would make his preference for conduct which the Bible terms to be abominable less obvious, and he would at least apply the Golden Rule correctly, rather than misinterpreting it for behavior for which it was never intended. If anyone thinks that such actions and proclamations by President Obama and his Administration have no serious consequences for the direction of this country, think again and read the next article, as published by WorldNetDaily on June 4:

“A ruling from Judge Tim L. Garcia in the New Mexico Court of Appeals says states can require Christians to violate their faith in order to do business, affirming a penalty of nearly $7,000 for a photographer who refused to take pictures at a lesbian ‘commitment’ ceremony in the state where same-sex ‘marriage’ was illegal. The women complained under the state’s anti-discrimination requirements and a state commission, the New Mexico Human Rights Commission, imposed the penalty, which now has been affirmed by the appeals court judges. The judges explained in the 45-page ruling that the photography company is a ‘public accommodation’ and those cannot discriminate under state law based on ‘sexual orientation.’…

“When the district judge’s decision arrived, it seemed to substantiate the concerns of opponents of a federal ‘hate crimes’ bill signed into law by President Obama during his first year in office that gives homosexuals special rights. Attorney General Eric Holder admitted in a congressional hearing that under the measure an attack on a homosexual would be dealt with differently than one on another citizen.”

But America is by no means alone or unique in its “evolution” towards acceptance of same-sex marriages. Please note the next article:

Europe the Most “Gay-Friendly” Continent on the Globe

The EUObserver wrote on June 6, 2012:

“Despite a recent surge in homophobia and differences between countries, Europe on the whole remains the most gay-friendly continent on the globe. Nowhere on the old continent – except in Turkish-controlled north Cyprus – is homosexuality illegal, ‘making Europe a region that stands out,’ according to Ilga, a global umbrella organisation for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi- and transsexual people’s) rights, in a report released last month.

“France was the first to decriminalise same-sex sexual acts between consenting adults shortly after the French Revolution in 1791. Armenia was the latest, in 2003. By contrast, roughly 40 percent of countries – mostly in Africa and the Middle-East – still penalise homosexuality. Some even execute gay people – Mauritania, Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as parts of Nigeria and Somalia.

“There are countries outside Europe which are catching up on toleration, notably in Latin America. Argentina, for example, recently passed a law on gender change that experts say goes well beyond those adopted in Europe… Big differences exist within Europe, with the east being less gay-friendly in general. Sexual minorities in Russia in particular are not as well off as they would be in, say, Germany or the UK.

“Russia’s legal code lacks the most basic protection from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Recently, St Petersburg adopted laws banning the homosexual ‘propaganda’ – a move widely regarded as contrary to the freedom of expression. The European Parliament last week in a resolution singled out Russia along with Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary, where similar laws have been tabled, condemning homophobia…

“Of the 10 countries in the world that allow same-sex couples to marry, seven are in Europe. EU law prohibits LGBT discrimination in employment situations. Europe is alone in having openly gay heads of government – in Iceland and in Belgium. It is most intolerant of hate crimes and most compliant with allowing adoption for same-sex couples or with recognising gender change…”

The Widening Catholic Scandal

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 4:

“Though Pope Benedict XVI’s personal butler has been arrested in connection with the ‘Vatileaks’ scandal, new documents released over the weekend indicate he had powerful backers that remain unidentified. The secret documents expose the pontiff’s awkward and helpless leadership in the Church… There’s no doubt that this flood of paper out of the Vatican is a sign of what the Italian weekly magazine Panorama calls one of the ‘worst crises in the history of the Holy See’… Despite the butler’s arrest, the leaks continued over the weekend…

“[Journalist] Nuzzi’s revelations open a unique window onto the inner workings of the Vatican and furnish proof of how the game of politics is played in the domain of the Holy Father. They show that, just like elsewhere, there are lies, intrigues and bitter feuds between rival parties… there is a memo the pope sent to the Vatican’s ambassador in Berlin, in which he gives the ambassador permission to complain to Chancellor Angela Merkel about criticizing Benedict’s behavior in the affair surrounding the controversial Catholic splinter group, the Society of St. Pius X…

“The questions have yet to be answered about who slipped Nuzzi the documents and who was keen for the world to find out about the allegedly deplorable state of affairs within the Vatican. Nevertheless, there is much speculation on St. Peter’s Square… These speculations often have something to do with power struggles between senior Italian Church officials intent on putting their favorite candidates in good positions for the next papal election. Others speculate that it involves a conspiracy against Bertone, the No. 2 official in the Vatican and confidant of the pope, whom many view as excessively high-handed. Supporters of this theory point to the fact that, in the wake of the recent child-abuse scandal, there was already a period in which even people within the Church were calling for Bertone’s dismissal.”

Will these scandals and power plays in the Catholic Church lead to the arrival of an extremely powerful pope? Or will the current pope feel the pressure and react with strength and determination to the butler’s backers of the breach of trust in the Catholic Church?

Gonorrhea Is Spreading

Reuters and The Guardian wrote on June 6 and 7:

“Drug-resistant strains of gonorrhea have spread to countries across the world… Scientists reported last year finding a “superbug” strain of gonorrhea in Japan in 2008 that was resistant to all recommended antibiotics and warned then that it could transform a once easily treatable infection into a global health threat. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said those fears were now reality with many more countries, including Britain, Australia, France, Norway and Sweden reporting cases of the sexually transmitted disease resistant to cephalosporin antibiotics – normally the last option against gonorrhea… more than 106 million people [are] newly infected with the disease every year…

“If left untreated, gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirths, severe eye infections in babies and infertility in both men and women. It is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the world and is most prevalent in south and south-east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In the United States alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of cases is estimated at around 700,000 a year… Gonorrhea can be prevented through safer sexual intercourse…”

The truth is, it can be prevented through no sexual intercourse outside marriage.

Ghosts in the White House

Roll Call reported on June 6:

“House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) celebrated the 25th anniversary of her election to Congress today at an event moderated by television personality Rachel Maddow… Pelosi… recounted an unusual anecdote about how the ghosts of past women leaders spoke to her at her first White House meeting as Speaker… Maddow [who is openly gay] began the conversation by recounting how in Pelosi’s first remarks after being elected in June 1987, the new Member said she had come to address HIV/AIDS issues. ‘As a gay kid growing up in the San Francisco Bay area in the 1980s … you became the person who all of us believed that no matter where we lived, anywhere in the country, that you were our Member of Congress,’ Maddow said…

“Finally, the Minority Leader offered a story from her first White House meeting after Democrats won control of the House in 2006, propelling her to Speaker. The meeting, between Bush and the leadership of the House and Senate to discuss the legislative agenda, was the first time a woman represented either the Senate or the House in such a setting. Though she’d been to the White House many times before, Pelosi said she suddenly felt ‘really closed-in in my seat’ on this occasion.

“‘I realized that on that chair with me was Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Hall, Lucretia Mott, you name it, they were all there. Sojourner Truth. They were all there on that chair with me. And I could hear them say “at last we have a seat at the table,”’ Pelosi said.”

Since there are no ghosts of those who have died, IF what Mrs. Pelosi described is accurate and not just based on imagination, these “ghosts” speaking to her would have been demons. (For more information, please read our free booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”). It is interesting that according to many reports, the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, as well as the ghosts from other Presidents, supposedly reside in or haunt the White House.

The Wikipedia Encyclopedia writes:  “There have been several stories about ghosts of former Presidents revisiting the White House. However, the most common and popular is that of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s Ghost, or to others as The White House Ghost, is said to have haunted the White House since his death.”

The website of haunted-places.com states:  “The White House has a reputation for being one of the most haunted homes in America. President Harry Truman said the place was haunted ‘sure as shooting.’ Kennedy’s Press Secretary James Haggerty admitted to sensing the presence of Lincoln’s ghost in the White House, and Clinton’s Press Secretary Mike McCurry admitted he was a believer… Hillary Rodham Clinton said: ‘There is something about the house at night that you just feel like you are summoning up the spirits of all the people who have lived there and worked there and walked through the halls there.’…

“There have been many séances in the White House, but the majority occurred during the administration of Abraham Lincoln. While living in the White House, he and his wife held several séances in the Green Room in an attempt to contact the spirit of their son, Willie, who died there… In his book The Choice, Bob Woodward of Watergate fame describes how in 1995, a séance was held by psychic Jean Houston in the White House solarium, during which Hillary sank into a trance and channeled the spirits of Eleanor Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi…

“Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was a guest of the White House when she heard a knock on her bedroom door in the middle of the night. When she answered it, Lincoln stood before her with his famous top hat and all. The Queen fainted, and when she came [to], he was gone. Britain’s Winston Churchill refused to sleep there after sighting President Abraham Lincoln’s ghost lurking about… in the Lincoln Bedroom… He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Abraham Lincoln standing by the fireplace in the room, leaning on the mantle. The two men looked each other in the face… as Lincoln’s apparition slowly faded away.

“Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Margaret Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Jacqueline Kennedy, Ladybird Johnson [wife of Lyndon Johnson], Susan Ford [Gerald Ford’s daughter], and Maureen Reagan [Ronald Reagan’s daughter] have all admitted sensing the presence of the Civil War president in the White House… Maureen, and her husband, Dennis Revell, both saw Lincoln’s transparent form next to the bedroom’s fireplace.”

On July 9, 2009, Weekly World News reported this:

“Just as Bill Clinton did before him, President Barack Obama is now getting help in the White House – from Abraham Lincoln’s ghost! A government insider has revealed that Honest Abe’s apparition has been seen in the Oval Office on several occasions, quietly conferring with the President on vital world issues!… In a 1993 issue, Weekly World News stunned the world with its exclusive story that the Great Emancipator was helping President Clinton guide America’s ship of state through troubled waters…”

This is eerie and spooky… but it shows where the leaders and influential people of the world—including those from the United States of America—might get their inspiration from.

Poland– a Country to Be Reckoned With

On May 25, 2012, Der Spiegel Online wrote the following:

“Poland… has become the most astonishing success story in Eastern Europe. Relations between Berlin and Warsaw have never been better… The country sees itself as a pioneer and role model for the ‘others’ in the East. It wants to become a power in Europe and for Europe, thereby assuming what it has always believed to be its rightful place in the world. We are a country to be reckoned with, say the Poles in Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Krakow.

“Poland is one of the world’s few success stories since the fall of the Soviet bloc, a development that is particularly noticeable in comparison with other countries in Eastern Europe. One of those is Ukraine, the second host of the European Championship, plagued by human rights violations and ruled by an authoritarian regime. If Poland is Europe’s model pupil, Ukraine is its bad boy…

“In 2009, a year of crisis, when the German, Italian and British economies each shrank by about 5 percent, Poland was the only country on the continent to experience economic growth (1.7 percent). By 2011, the Polish economy was already growing by an impressive 4.4 percent…

“Amid speculation over Greece’s future in the euro zone, the Polish government is fighting to join the common currency. Warsaw expects to fulfill the criteria by no later than the end of 2015. To do so, it is also prepared to give up sovereignty rights… Hardly any other population is as pro-European as the Poles. In surveys, more than 80 percent say that their country has benefited from joining the European Union…

“Just as Germany and France improved relations after World War II and then became friends, the same progression also seems possible between Germany and Poland today. Berlin is already Warsaw’s biggest trading partner…

“Krakow is the most beautiful city in Poland, a Central European jewel and UNESCO World Heritage Site… Legend has it that the mythical ruler Krakus founded the city on Wawel Hill after killing the dragon that had lived in a cave there… The city is a veritable think tank, with its 23 universities and colleges, and about 200,000 students… In addition to the Polish kings, the country’s greatest figures are buried in a crypt beneath the cathedral. Two years ago, former President Lech Kaczyski was also buried there, in a sarcophagus framed in a sea of white and red roses. For the country’s archconservatives, the fact that he lies so prominently in state is an appropriate appreciation of the former president. But his political opponents see it as presumptuous. They accuse the Catholic Church and Kaczyski’s party of operating a cult for what they see as a rather unsuccessful, nationalist politician…”

The Bible predicts that the Ukraine will forsake Europe and become an integral part of the Russian war machine, while Poland will be, in all likelihood, a strong player in the European unification. It might even become one of the ten core nations or groups of nations which will lead Europe for a short time.

Germany—The Savior of Europe?

The Local reported on May 25:

“Germany is developing a six-point plan to boost growth in Europe, a magazine reported on Friday, amid a heated debate among EU leaders on how to best help indebted eurozone states. The plan, being worked on by the German government, includes setting up special economic zones in crisis-hit countries which could woo investors with lower taxes and less regulation, Der Spiegel said, without revealing its sources.

“Special bodies to privatise state-owned enterprises, along the same lines as when the assets of the former communist East Germany were sold off following German unification, would be created, the magazine said in a copy of its Monday edition. In addition, the proposals included labour market reforms, such as making it easier to hire and fire employees and bringing down wage costs. The plan further entailed proposals to boost on-the-job training for young people, similarly based on the long-established German model, the magazine said.”

Again, Germany is seen as the leader of Europe, destined to save the euro, and it becomes more and more willing to fulfill that role. To privatize and sell state-owned enterprises might sound to be a good idea, but if history is a guide, many West Germans suffered greatly financially when getting involved in buying property in East Germany. In addition, and for all practical purposes, East Germany was swallowed up by West Germany. It was by no means a unification of two equal partners, or a merger, but it was a (peaceful) occupation and takeover by the West Germans. Virtually all East German institutions were dismantled, and even the registration of West German churches in East Germany was disallowed and set aside by the new powers of occupying West Germany.

Europe Forced to Become a Political Union

The EUObserver wrote on May 22, 2012:

“The European Commission has said it will soon bring forward plans for an economic and political union…Last week, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the European Commission should be the government of Europe and its president should be directly elected.

“Britain, outside the euro and one of its more sceptical members, has also started making public statements about the need for fiscal and political union, with many arguing that the eurozone’s woes have been exacerbated by the fact that the EU lacked the tools – such as a central transfer system – to effectively deal with it.”

As the Bible shows, Europe will become a political AND military union—with frightening consequences for the rest of the world.

Israel vs. Turkey

Haaretz reported on May 30:

“Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday in a meeting with German President Joachim Gauck that despite Turkey’s vicious tongue-lashing against Israel over the past few years, Jerusalem has been behaving with ‘maximum restraint toward the Turkish provocations.’ Lieberman added that despite Israel’s restraint, it will not allow its officers and soldiers to be terrorized, for they acted completely justifiably and in accordance with international law, as was also determined by the UN’s international investigatory committee into the Gaza flotilla.

“‘We hope that the European nations will not cooperate with the Turkish provocation of baseless indictments against the former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff and other senior officers,’ Lieberman told Gauck, who is visiting Jerusalem. ‘We hope the European nations will put Turkey back in its place and prevent wild behavior by the NATO member that has gone off course and is behaving contradictorily to all acceptable international laws.’”

According to the Bible, the relationship between Israel and Turkey is bound to deteriorate even further.

The Rocky Relationship Between Germany and Israel

Deutsche Welle reported on May 26:

“German-Israeli relations have never been easy. German President Joachim Gauck hails from the former German Democratic Republic, which did not maintain official relations with Israel. As an ‘anti-fascist’ state, the GDR government did not consider itself in succession of the law of the Third Reich, and therefore did not shoulder the burdens of responsibility of German history. For West Germany, on the other hand, unconditional solidarity with Israel became a cornerstone of its policy.

“Konrad Adenauer, West Germany’s first chancellor, laid the groundwork in building a good relationship with the Jewish state, which was founded in 1948. In 1952, Adenauer and founder and Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion signed a reparations agreement – which entered into force the following year – to compensate for some of the atrocities of the Holocaust. Diplomatic relations were established in 1965. Today, Germany is considered one of Israel’s closest allies.

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel has even deemed Israel’s security a raison d’être of the German state, yet German citizens themselves long ago stopped heeding this principle. Israel has increasing lost respect among Germans [Note: Please note our next article and our accompanying comments on that issue.]

“‘Friendship does not exist between Germany and Israel,’ Munich-based historian Michael Wolffsohn noted matter-of-factly. A sense of distance has been growing between the two nations since 1981, clearly evidenced in surveys, he said at a recent podium discussion in Berlin.

“Israel enjoyed an exceptionally good reputation among Germans following the Six-Day War in 1967, he pointed out, but it began to suffer after the Yom Kippur War of 1973. A deep fissure in the relationship developed in 1981 concerning German plans to deliver weapons to Saudi Arabia, leading to a hefty dispute between then government leaders Menachem Begin and Helmut Schmidt. Israel is now one of the most unpopular states in the world in German eyes, Wolffsohn said.

“Young Germans in particular have developed a critical distance toward Israel… 70 years after the Shoah, the Zionist project has failed. ‘The Jewish state offers security neither to its Jewish nor its non-Jewish residents,’ historian Amar-Dahl said. Germans are slowly waking up to this as well. ‘People are beginning to realize that Israel’s hopeless policies have helped create this situation,’ she noted… Amar-Dahl said she could not speak of a ‘normal relationship between Germany and Israel.’ This would not be possible given the extent of Germany’s radical and monstrous crimes against Jews…

“In Israel, Germany is highly regarded as a weapons supplier. Just a few weeks ago, the Israeli Navy received the fourth Dolphin-class submarine from Germany. Israel has ordered a total of six German-made, nuclear-capable submarines, each costing up to a half-billion dollars, making them Israel’s most expensive weapons. Germany covers part of the costs, with the first two submarines given to Israel for free and the construction of the rest subsidized with several hundred thousand euros (100,000 euros = $125,000).

“Germany’s supply of submarines to Israel also prompted poet and novelist Günther Grass to express his concerns over the growing tensions in the Middle East and his criticism of Israel’s politics. The poem “What Must Be Said” by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate published in April in several German and international newspapers criticized Israel’s policies and its threats of attack on Iran, triggering a wave of outrage and prompting the Israeli government to deem Grass persona non grata…”

German-Israeli Relationship at the Brink

The Local wrote on May 23:

“A large majority of Germans view Israel as ‘aggressive’ and think Germany no longer has a special obligation to the Jewish nation, according to an opinion poll released Wednesday ahead of a state visit by Germany’s president.

“The survey, conducted by Forsa for Stern news magazine, found that 59 percent of those questioned viewed Israel as ‘aggressive’, an increase of 10 percentage points over a similar survey in January 2009. Seventy percent said they believed Israel pursued its interests without consideration for other nations, Stern said in a pre-release of its Thursday edition, up 11 percentage points from three years ago.

“And 67 years after the end of the Nazi regime, 60 percent said Germany had no special obligation towards Israel, while a third believed the contrary, according to the survey of 1,002 people conducted on May 15 and 16…

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been sharply critical of the Israeli government’s settlements policy in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, calling it an obstacle to fruitful peace talks with the Palestinians. And last month Grass sparked outrage when he published a poem in which he said he feared a nuclear-armed Israel ‘could wipe out the Iranian people’ with a ‘first strike’ and described the Jewish state as the region’s biggest threat to peace. Although his work came in for widespread condemnation in Germany, a subsequent move by the Israeli government to declare the 84-year-old author of ‘The Tin Drum’ a persona non grata was also roundly criticised.”

The relationship between Europe, under German leadership, and Israel will deteriorate. The results of the survey mentioned in the article are not representative of the overwhelming opinion of the German people—the number of those looking at Israel negatively is much higher than the official figure. The “widespread  condemnation” of Guenther Grass’s poem was not as severe as the article makes it out to be—and when evaluating Grass’s POETIC statements in context, they were not as critical of the state of Israel as portrayed by the mainstream media. Grass was in no way defending Iran, nor was he portraying himself as Israel’s enemy—just the opposite is true.

What is correct, however, is that the Israeli government’s move to ban any visits of Grass to Israel was condemned by the German people, as it was in Israel’s media. Grass published last week a new poem, criticizing Europe’s dealings with Greece. According to the German press, no uproar is expected, as he did not criticize Israel in his new poem.

The first state visit of German President Joachim Gauck in Israel has been observed with great interest.

Der Spiegel Online reported on May 31:

“Speaking to reporters on Tuesday in Jerusalem, Gauck appeared to distance himself from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s stated position that the security of Israel is Germany’s raison d’état, or national interest, and that Germany would stand by Israel even in the event of war with Iran — comments for which she herself has been heavily criticized at home.”

The Local added on May 31:

“Gauck, who visited Israel this week, said he was not at all talking about drawing a line under the Holocaust debate. ‘But there’s one tendency I don’t want to follow – pulling the perception of the Holocaust into a quasi-religious dimension, into something surreal,’ he said. Gauck’s comments came as he visited Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah. Gauck promised Abbas that Germany would continue to provide financial aid to the Palestinians – currently amounting to €70 million a year – as long as there was no solution to the Mideast conflict… Gauck also told Die Zeit that he agreed with the intention of a statement by his predecessor Christian Wulff that Islam belongs to Germany. The comment stirred huge controversy in Germany. But Gauck said he would have put it differently. ‘I would have simply said that the Muslims who live here belong to Germany,’ he said.”

As the next articles show, Iran is getting closer to producing the bomb. With fanatics in charge in that country, who seem to be determined to wipe Israel off the map, war in the region is becoming more and more a distinct possibility—either way.

Iran Closer to Production of Nuclear Weapons

Reuters reported on May 27:

“Iran has significantly stepped up its output of low-enriched uranium and total production in the last five years would be enough for at least five nuclear weapons if refined much further, a U.S. security institute said…

“During talks in Baghdad this week, six world powers failed to convince Iran to scale back its uranium enrichment program. They will meet again in Moscow next month to try to defuse a decade-old standoff that has raised fears of a new war in the Middle East that could disrupt oil supplies. Friday’s report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a Vienna-based U.N. body, showed Iran was pressing ahead with its uranium enrichment work in defiance of U.N. resolutions calling on it to suspend the activity.”

The Financial Times wrote on May 25:

“Over the past few weeks, there has been growing optimism in western capitals that Iran might be forced into a compromise over its nuclear programme and avoid a war with Israel and the US. However, after two days of anguished talks this week between Iran and world powers in Baghdad, such hopes were doused in a very cold dose of reality.

“As Israel and the US make contingency plans for a possible strike, the six powers – the US, EU, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China – put a proposal to Iran that would have seen Tehran freeze its production of more highly enriched uranium in return for a package of inducements from the US and EU, such as providing parts for Iranian civil aircraft. But after often fraught bargaining in Baghdad, diplomats left declaring they had made no progress at all…

“Washington is desperate to stop Israel carrying out an attack before November – an event that would drag the US into war and also destabilise President Barack Obama’s chances of re-election… the negotiations will get a great deal harder if there is no clear progress at the next meeting in Moscow on June 18. The meeting comes just before US and EU energy and banking sanctions take full effect on July 1, after which a breakthrough will be much more difficult.

“At the same time, failure at Moscow will force Mr Obama to ratchet up the rhetoric against the regime in order to counter Republican accusations that he is being strung along by Iranian prevarication… contingency planning for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is intensifying in the US and Israel.”

Syria’s Civil War

Newsmax, Thomsen and Reuters reported on May 29:

“The State Department is expelling Syria’s top diplomat in Washington following a wave of deadly attacks on civilians in Syria over the weekend… The U.S. move was coordinated with at least seven other Western countries, which also expelled Syria’s ambassadors from their capitals on Tuesday in response to the coordinated killing of more than 100 civilians in a Syrian town. The joint action marked a new phase in the international effort to halt the repression of a 14-month uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad and force him to relinquish power… France, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Australia said they were expelling the Syrian envoys from their capitals in a move that… underlined Assad’s diplomatic isolation…

“Gruesome video footage distributed by opposition activists has helped to shake world opinion out of growing indifference to a conflict in which more than 10,000 have been killed. But Russia, which with China has twice vetoed U.N. Security Council resolutions on Syria… insists that rebels share the blame for the massacre. Russia long saw Assad’s late father as the best defender of its interests in the region, and leases a major naval base in Syria… Sunni Muslim Gulf powers Saudi Arabia and Qatar favor arming the mostly-Sunni rebels fighting Assad, whose ruling cadre are mostly Alawites, members of an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam.”

The Austrian media outlet, net.news, published a biting and damning article about President Obama in the context of Syria. It titled its article “Coward Obama?”, and wrote on May 29:

“Barack Obama is silent. The man who normally cannot walk by a microphone, says nothing about the most recent massacre in Syria. For months he has been watching the slaughter without any action. Does the ‘World Power Number 1’ depart from its claim to protect the suppressed of this world, and to help the freedom fighters?”

Reuters wrote on May 31 that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary “Clinton rejects military option in Syria, following [the] Houla massacre. [She] says that unlike Libya, Syrian air defense is stronger, society is more diverse and opposition is not unified.”

At the same time, the German magazine Focus reported on May 29 that French President Hollande is now considering European military intervention in Syria. Angela Merkel responded that she is against any such action, but influential voices in Germany utter a different view point.

The Bible is very clear that in the end, Syria and Damascus will be destroyed, and Syrians will become slaves of a foreign power. In our Q&A on Syria, we stated the following:

“Jeremiah 49:23-27 gives us [a] stirring account of Syria’s impending destruction. It specifically mentions that the young men of Damascus will fall in her streets, and all men of war shall be cut off IN THAT DAY. It also says that GOD will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus which will consume the palaces of the city and of the leadership and prominent people of Syria… We can safely say that in the end time, Syria and Damascus will be destroyed. Even though the Bible does not expressly state who will be the nation or ‘king’ who will destroy Damascus and enslave the Syrians, if we look at prior historical events, it is possible that it will be done through the modern Babylonian system under the leadership of the modern ‘king’ of Assyria–a mighty future leader in Germany, also referred to in the Bible as the beast, King Jareb, and the king of the North.”

Power Struggle and Scandals at the Vatican

The Associated Press reported on May 28:

“One of the Vatican’s biggest scandals in decades appears to be widening with reports that an Italian cardinal may be involved in a power struggle involving leaked documents, corruption and intrigue. The pope’s butler, who has been arrested in the scandal, has pledged to cooperate in the probe. Leading Italian newspapers Corriere della Sera and Il Messaggero reported Monday that the pope’s butler — arrested three days ago for allegedly feeding documents to Italian journalists — clearly did not act alone, and that an unidentified cardinal is suspected of playing a major role in the scandal…

“The commitment by butler Paolo Gabriele to cooperate with Vatican investigators raises the specter that higher-ranking prelates may soon be named in the scandal over leaks of confidential Vatican correspondence that have shed light on power struggles and intrigue inside the highest levels of the Catholic Church.”

In the German press, and especially its tabloids, conspiracy theories are rampant. Bild Online suggested that four most influential cardinals were attempting to unseat Pope Benedict XVI. Der Spiegel Online added that the Pope is powerless against the ongoing intrigue in the Vatican. As could be expected, the Vatican denied any power struggle or intrigue. Note the next articles.

Scandal and Corruption in the Catholic Church

Deutsche Welle wrote on May 30:

“It’s a case of intrigue, betrayal, and secret documents that would make a good plot for a thriller: Paolo Gabriele, personal butler to Pope Benedict XVI, was allegedly a mole who passed confidential Vatican information to the press, uncovering alleged corruption, cronyism and mismanagement at the heart of the Roman Catholic Church – he even passed on details of an alleged murder plot against Benedict himself… ‘The butler’s arrest is the affair’s dramatic climax, because there is no one nearer to the pope,’ said Ludwig Ring-Eifel, editor-in-chief of the German Catholic News Agency (KNA). Gabriele has been at Pope Benedict’s side since 2006.

“… the Italian media has been rife with conspiracy theories this week. But the only consensus among them is that Gabriele was not working alone…”

The Washington Post wrote on May 29:

“Rumors have been flying in the press about possible cardinals implicated in the probe… The scandal represents one of the greatest breaches of trust and security for the Holy See in recent memory given that a significant number of documents from the pope’s own desk were leaked to an investigative journalist… Few people think Gabriele worked alone… The motivations for the leaks remain unclear: Some commentators say they appear designed to discredit Benedict’s No. 2, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Others say they’re aimed at undermining the Vatican’s efforts to become more financially transparent. Still others say they aim to show the 85-year-old Benedict’s weakness in running the church…

“Gabriele is an employee of the Holy See, a citizen and resident of the Vatican city state. He is being held by Vatican police…

“The scandal broke in January when Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi revealed letters from a former top Vatican administrator who begged the pope not to transfer him for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions of euros (dollars) in higher contract prices. The prelate, Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano, is now the Vatican’s U.S. ambassador. The scandal widened over the following months with documents leaked to Italian journalists that laid bare power struggles inside the Vatican over its efforts to show greater financial transparency and comply with international norms to fight money laundering. There was even a leak of a memo claiming that Benedict would die this year. The crisis reached a peak last weekend, when Nuzzi published an entire book based on a trove of new documentation, including personal correspondence to and from the pope and his private secretary, much of which paints Bertone in a negative light.”

More Earthquakes Hit Italy

Der Spiegel Online wrote on May 29:

“At least 15 people are dead after two earthquakes shook northern Italy on Tuesday. Just nine days after the last quake that left seven dead, many buildings had already been destabilized. Police reportedly struggled to handle a panic stricken populace amid communication and transportation difficulties… The first quake, which struck Tuesday morning around 9 am, registered a magnitude of 5.8, according to the US Geological Service (USGS). The second, which hit close to midday, reached 5.6.

“The temblors affected the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, where residents were still trying to recover from the last deadly earthquake on May 20. That 6.0 magnitude disaster was one of the strongest quakes the country has seen in the last three years and shocked the area around Bologna, injuring 50 and leaving thousands homeless. Tuesday’s quakes were reportedly felt from Genoa to Venice and from Bolzano to Florence. Factories, churches and warehouses reportedly collapsed, with the cities of Modena, Brescia and Milan among the most affected.”

How Bilderberg and Other Powerful Groups Manipulate Us

rt.com wrote on May 29:

“Every time a Bilderberg Meeting takes place, important things happen. The last time they met in the US was an election year, 2008 – and the world got Obama. This year they’re back in the US: will they decide who the next president will be? When in 2008 they gathered from June 5 to 8 in Chantilly, Virginia – just a stone’s throw from… Washington DC – Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were neck-in-neck in the battle for the Democratic Party’s presidential candidacy. On June 5 of that year, Barack and Hillary mysteriously ‘disappeared’ for some hours ‘somewhere in the DC area.’ Their agendas blocked out, they clearly sneaked off to ‘Meet the Bilderbergers.’

“The media kept mum about that…  two days later, Hillary withdrew from the race and Obama became the presidential candidate. Did Bilderberg make Hillary ‘an offer she couldn’t refuse’ to clear the way for Obama to the White House? Did they promise her that she would become his Secretary of State?

“Although most Bilderberg annual meetings are held in Europe – France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Denmark, England, Scotland, Norway – this US election year they’re again gathering at the Westfield Marriott Hotel in Virginia from May 30 to June 3. Either they’re very fond of that place… or of US elections… or both…

“We… saw George H. W. Bush attend their 1985 meeting, Bill Clinton attend their 1991 meeting, Tony Blair in 1993, and Romano Prodi, former head of the EU Commission, in 1999. So what exactly is Bilderberg? It’s neither an organization nor a lobby. The ‘Bilderberg Meetings’… is a ‘by-invitation-only’ club of around 140 very high-power people from business, finance, oil, politics, media, industry, academia and nobility who come together in a very private no-media / no cameras / extremely-tight-security surroundings…

“Though very high up on the Pyramid, Bilderberg is not the Global Elite’s power center. Rather, Bilderberg is a key group within a much more vast, more complex, less centralized, and highly effective Global Power Network… This includes such key entities as the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations (long-term geopolitical planners), its London-based sister entity Royal Institute of International Affairs (aka ‘Chatham House’), RAND Corp., CSIS, the American Enterprise Institute (strategic affairs specialists), Tavistock Institute in London (mass psychology research), the Carnegie Endowment, and the Trilateral Commission ‘umbrella’ entity (founded 1973 by Rockefeller / Morgan / Rothschild interests…)…

“It’s therefore no surprise to see that [Bilderberg’s] last year’s attendee list looks like a Who’s Who of banking, industrial and media CEO top brass: Deutsche Bank, HSBC, CitiCorp, European Central Bank, US Federal Reserve Bank, Lazard Frères, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, World Bank, Bank of Canada, AXA, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Fiat, Nestle, Novartis, Coca-Cola, Airbus, Eni, Telecom Italy, ExxonMobil, Alcoa, Marks & Spencer, Die Zeit, The Economist… European nobility regularly attend too: the Dutch Queen, the Spanish King and Queen, Norway’s Crown Prince… Interestingly, also in attendance are founders and top executives of giant Internet management and intelligence gathering companies as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Microsoft. Clearly, they run countries around the world, not voting citizens…”

The Digital Journal added on May 31:

“Starting today 150 of the world’s elite are meeting just outside Washington. Will they decide who to back as the next U.S. President? The agenda of the meeting is not available to the public, but much speculation is going around as to what the global elite will be discussing. Many people are wondering if the Bilderberg Conference is a place that decides the leaders in this world and many believe it is. Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush both apparently attended Bilderberg conferences in the years prior to election as President. Prior to becoming Prime Minister of England in 1997, Tony Blair was an attendee at the 1993 Bilderberg conference. Many believe that the 2004 conference decided 2008’s U.S. presidential election and rumors suggested that attending members backed Barack Obama for his future nomination at that year’s event.”

In its article of May 31, the Guardian confirmed the foregoing, strongly suggesting that the Bilderbergers decided on Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as the next Presidents.

It also stated: “As for this year’s election, rumours are already circulating about Bilderberg and presidential running mates, sparked off by a Washington Post report back in April on the matter of Republican senator Marco Rubio’s speech at the Summit of the Americas: ‘[John] Edwards gave a speech in June 2004 at the Bilderberg conference that was widely credited as one reason John Kerry chose him.’”

We may not be aware of worldwide activities of powerful secret groups, but that does not mean that they do not exist. In a revealing article in the German magazine “Wunderwelt Wissen,” which was published in May of 2012, the incredible and bizarre activities of the secret American organization “Skull and Bones,” which originates at the Yale University, were discussed (former President George W. Bush is a member of this group, and so is Democrat John Kerry). The same article also addressed other obscure groups, such as the Illuminati and the Bilderbergers.

Another German magazine, PM History, also ran an article in May of 2012, discussing the activities of the Free Masons. Most American Presidents belonged to that obscure, but powerful group, including George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt. So, the media knows about these secret groups, but generally omits to talk about them. As the article that was quoted above alleges, they may even be part of them. No wonder, then, that the media seems to manipulate the citizens in so many ways, by omitting to report important news, or by changing it when it does not fit their purposes.

Are U.S. Drone Attacks Christian, Moral and Legal?

The New York Times wrote on May 29:

“Mr. Obama has placed himself at the helm of a top secret ‘nominations’ process to designate terrorists for kill or capture, of which the capture part has become largely theoretical… Mr. Obama is the liberal law professor who campaigned against the Iraq war and torture, and then insisted on approving every new name on an expanding ‘kill list’… When a rare opportunity for a drone strike at a top terrorist arises…  it is the president who has reserved to himself the final moral calculation.

“Nothing else in Mr. Obama’s first term has baffled liberal supporters and confounded conservative critics alike as his aggressive counterterrorism record… [It shows] a paradoxical leader who shunned the legislative deal-making required to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, but approves lethal action without hand-wringing…

“The administration’s failure to forge a clear detention policy has created the impression among some members of Congress of a take-no-prisoners policy… Beside the president at every step is… a priest whose blessing has become indispensable to Mr. Obama, echoing the president’s attempt to apply the ‘just war’ theories of Christian philosophers to a brutal modern conflict… Yet the administration’s very success at killing terrorism suspects has been shadowed by a suspicion: that Mr. Obama has avoided the complications of detention by deciding, in effect, to take no prisoners alive. While scores of suspects have been killed under Mr. Obama, only one has been taken into American custody, and the president has balked at adding new prisoners to Guantánamo…

“Justly or not, drones have become a provocative symbol of American power, running roughshod over national sovereignty and killing innocents. With China and Russia watching, the United States has set an international precedent for sending drones over borders to kill enemies.  Mr. Blair, the former director of national intelligence, [not to be confused with Britain’s Tony Blair] said the strike campaign was dangerously seductive. ‘It is the politically advantageous thing to do — low cost, no U.S. casualties, gives the appearance of toughness,’ he said. ‘It plays well domestically, and it is unpopular only in other countries. Any damage it does to the national interest only shows up over the long term.’

“But Mr. Blair’s dissent puts him in a small minority of security experts. Mr. Obama’s record has eroded the political perception that Democrats are weak on national security. No one would have imagined four years ago that his counterterrorism policies would come under far more fierce attack from the American Civil Liberties Union than from Mr. Romney.”

And that is a sad statement, indeed. And so is the following article:

US Drone Attacks Summary Executions and War Crimes?

The Guardian wrote on May 29:

“More than a decade after George W Bush launched it, the ‘war on terror’ was supposed to be winding down. US military occupation of Iraq has ended and Nato is looking for a way out of Afghanistan, even as the carnage continues. But another war – the undeclared drone war that has already killed thousands – is now being relentlessly escalated. From Pakistan to Somalia, CIA-controlled pilotless aircraft rain down Hellfire missiles on an ever-expanding hit list of terrorist suspects – they have already killed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of civilians in the process.

“At least 15 drone strikes have been launched in Yemen this month, as many as in the whole of the past decade, killing dozens; while in Pakistan, a string of US attacks has been launched against supposed ‘militant’ targets in the past week, incinerating up to 35 people and hitting a mosque and a bakery.

“The US’s decision to step up the drone war again in Pakistan, opposed by both government and parliament in Islamabad as illegal and a violation of sovereignty, reflects its fury at the jailing of a CIA agent involved in the Bin Laden hunt and Pakistan’s refusal to reopen supply routes for Nato forces in Afghanistan. Those routes were closed in protest at the US killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers last November, for which Washington still refuses to apologise…

“In his first two years in office, the US president more than tripled the number of attacks in Pakistan alone. For their US champions, drones have the advantage of involving no American casualties, while targeting the ‘bad guys’… Since 2004, between 2,464 and 3,145 people are reported to have been killed by US drone attacks in Pakistan, of whom up to 828 were civilians (535 under Obama) and 175 children. Some Pakistani estimates put the civilian death toll much higher – plausibly, given the tendency to claim as ‘militants’ victims later demonstrated to be nothing of the sort.

“The US president insisted recently that the civilian death toll was not a ‘huge number’. Not on the scale of Iraq, perhaps, where hundreds of thousands were killed; or Afghanistan, where tens of thousands have died. But they gruesomely include dozens killed in follow-up attacks after they had gone to help victims of earlier strikes – as well as teenagers like Tariq Khan, a 16-year-old Pakistani boy decapitated in a strike last November after he had travelled to Islamabad to protest against drones.

‘These killings are, in reality, summary executions and widely regarded as potential war crimes by international lawyers – including the UN’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Philip Alston. The CIA’s now retired counsel, John Rizzo, who authorised drone attacks, himself talked about having been involved in ‘murder’.

“A decade ago, the US criticised Israel for such ‘extrajudicial killings’ but now claims self-defence in the war against al-Qaida. These are attacks, however, routinely carried out on the basis of false intelligence, in countries such as Pakistan where no war has been declared and without the consent of the elected government… Of course, drone attacks are only one method by which the US and its allies deliver death and destruction in Afghanistan and the wider Middle East, from night raids and air attacks to killing sprees on the ground. The day after last Friday’s Houla massacre in Syria, eight members of one family were killed at home by a Nato air attack in eastern Afghanistan – one of many such atrocities barely registered in the western media.

“But while support for the war in Afghanistan has fallen to an all-time low in all Nato states, the drone war is popular in the US…”

Please view our latest StandingWatch program on the issue, titled, “Does God Approve of US Drone Attacks?”

The “Natural Born Citizen” Controversy

Politico wrote on May 29:

“During a phone interview from Las Vegas, [Donald] Trump defended his ongoing claims that Obama may not have been born in the United States, a charge that Mitt Romney has sought to distance himself from even as he courts Trump’s support. ‘Many people do not think [his birth certificate] was authentic,’ Trump said…”

Reuters reported on May 29:

“So on a day when real estate and media mogul Donald Trump was trying to help Mitt Romney by stirring up a new round of questions about whether Democratic President Barack Obama was born in the United States, Romney’s own birth record became a reminder that in the 1968 presidential campaign, his father had faced his own ‘birther’ controversy. Back then, George Romney – who died in 1995 – was a moderate who was challenging eventual President Richard Nixon in the Republican primaries.

“Records in a George Romney archive at the University of Michigan describe how questions about his eligibility to be president surfaced almost as soon as he began his short-lived campaign. In many ways, they appear to echo today’s complaints that Trump and some other conservative ‘birthers’ have made about Obama while questioning whether Obama – whose father was from Kenya and mother was from Kansas – was born in Hawaii.

“In George Romney’s case, most of the questions were raised initially by Democrats who cited the Constitution’s requirement that only a ‘natural born citizen’ can be president. As early as February 1967 – a year before the first 1968 presidential primary – some newspapers were raising questions as to whether George Romney’s place of birth disqualified him from the presidency.

“By May 1967, U.S. congressman Emmanuel Celler, a Democrat who chaired the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, was expressing ‘serious doubts’ about George Romney’s eligibility. The next month, another Democratic congressman inserted a lengthy treatise into the Congressional Record in which a government lawyer… argued that George Romney was ineligible for the White House because he was born outside U.S. territory.

“In what today might seem like deja vu, eminent legal authorities soon were queuing up to argue in favor of George Romney’s eligibility. The New York Law Journal published a lengthy argument by a senior partner from Sullivan & Cromwell, one of Manhattan’s elite law firms, arguing that the fact that both of George Romney’s parents were U.S. citizens clearly established him as a ‘natural born citizen’ who was eligible to be president.

“In a paper in November aimed at clarifying presidential eligibility, the Congressional Research Service declared that the practical, legal meaning of ‘natural born citizen’ would ‘most likely include’ not only anyone born on U.S. soil but anyone born overseas of at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen.”

It is interesting to us that in the case of George Romney, his eligibility was immediately questioned, whereas in the case of Barak Obama, this very issue was initially totally “ignored” or “overlooked.” The controversy on the eligibility of Barack Obama is not easily going away, even though the mainstream press would love to suppress it. To be fair, there are many different legal opinions as to the requirements of a “natural born citizen.”

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, wrote this:

“Status as a natural-born citizen of the United States is one of the eligibility requirements established in the United States Constitution for election to the office of President or Vice President. This requirement was an attempt to allay concerns that foreign aristocrats might immigrate to the new nation and use their wealth and influence to impose a monarchy. The Constitution does not define the phrase natural-born citizen, and various opinions have been offered over time regarding its precise meaning.

“A 2011 Congressional Research Service report stated: ‘The weight of legal and historical authority indicates that the term ‘natural born’ citizen would mean a person who is entitled to U.S. citizenship ‘by birth’ or ‘at birth,’ either by being born ‘in’ the United States and under its jurisdiction, even those born to alien parents; by being born abroad to U.S. citizen-parents; or by being born in other situations meeting legal requirements for U.S. citizenship ‘at birth.’ Such term, however, would not include a person who was not a U.S. citizen by birth or at birth, and who was thus born an ‘alien’ required to go through the legal process of ‘naturalization’ to become a U.S. citizen.

“The natural-born-citizen clause has been mentioned in passing in several decisions of the United States Supreme Court and lower courts dealing with the question of eligibility for citizenship by birth, but the Supreme Court has never directly addressed the question of a specific presidential or vice-presidential candidate’s eligibility as a natural-born citizen.”

Where WAS Barack Obama Born?

Breitbart wrote on May 17:

“Breitbart News has obtained a promotional booklet produced in 1991 by Barack Obama’s then-literary agency, Acton & Dystel, which touts Obama as ‘born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.’… The biography does… fit a pattern in which Obama–or the people representing and supporting him–manipulate his public persona.

“David Maraniss’s forthcoming biography of Obama has reportedly confirmed, for example, that a girlfriend Obama described in Dreams from My Father was, in fact, an amalgam of several separate individuals… Obama has been known frequently to fictionalize aspects of his own life. During his 2008 campaign, for instance, Obama claimed that his dying mother had fought with insurance companies over coverage for her cancer treatments. That turned out to be untrue, but Obama has repeated the story–which even the Washington Post called ‘misleading’–in a campaign video for the 2012 election… Regardless of the reason for Obama’s odd biography, the Acton & Dystel booklet raises new questions as part of ongoing efforts to understand Barack Obama–who, despite four years in office remains a mystery to many Americans, thanks to the mainstream media.”

The Telegraph wrote on May 18:

“Whatever you think of Breitbart.com’s punishing vetting process, it has exposed just how little work the mainstream media did in investigating candidate Obama back in 2008… Obama’s old literary agent has issued a terse statement to the effect that the wording was all her fault and she never consulted her client. If that’s true, she’s a bad agent. A different agent, quoted by Breitbart.com, disagrees. He told the website ‘that while “almost nobody” wrote his or her own biography, the non-athletes in the booklet, whom “the agents deal[t] with on a daily basis,” were “probably” approached to approve the text as presented.’

“If we accept that Obama didn’t provide the biography, it would seem highly unlikely that he didn’t get a chance to vet it. Accepting that he didn’t do that either, it’s incredibly strange that the literary agent approached by Breitbart.com does not remember Obama calling the agency to register a complaint and make a correction. My mother spent a lot of her childhood in Grenada. If my literary agent told people I was born in the Caribbean, I’d at least pick up the phone to set the record straight.

“Look beyond the sordid details and the big story here is that this nugget wasn’t part of the wider discussion had back in 2008 about Obama’s background and credentials. And why not? The documents were easy to find – the one that showed that ‘born in Kenya’ was still being used in 2007 was on the Internet.”

What is puzzling is that in light of this damaging evidence, both Breitbart and the Telegraph insist that Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii. For example, the Telegraph wrote in the same article:

“Today, the President has satisfied all right-minded folk that he was in fact born in Hawaii. Breitbart.com itself has always rejected the absurd cult of birtherism. In fact, this story is really the opposite of birtherism – Breitbart infers that in the past Obama encouraged people to think that he was born abroad in order to establish an identity as an authentic, exotic voice in the debate on racial politics.”

And Breitbart wrote in their article:

“Andrew Breitbart was never a ‘Birther,’ and Breitbart News is a site that has never advocated the narrative of ‘Birtherism.’ In fact, Andrew believed, as we do, that President Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961. Yet Andrew also believed that the complicit mainstream media had refused to examine President Obama’s ideological past, or the carefully crafted persona he and his advisers had constructed for him.”

ABC News even went a step further, fantasizing the following on May 18:

“A possible source of the so-called ‘birther’ issue–or at least a potential cause of the rumors that have dogged President Barack Obama–has been identified. Obama’s former literary agency misidentified his birthplace as Kenya while trying to promote the then-Harvard Law grad as an author in 1991. According to a promotional booklet produced by the agency, Acton & Dystel, to showcase its roster of writers, Obama was ‘born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.’ Miriam Goderich edited the text of the bio; she is now a partner at the Dystel & Goderich agency, which lists Obama as one of its current clients. ‘This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me–an agency assistant at the time,’ Goderich wrote in an emailed statement to Yahoo News.”

Strange and very difficult to believe, because ongoing investigations question that Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii, and an affidavit by his grandmother claims that she was present when he was born in Kenya. Either way, Mr. Obama’s veracity is on the line. Either, he fabricated or helped fabricate a story in 1991, when he was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, claiming that he was born in Kenya, or he fabricated or help fabricate a story later, when running for the office of American President, claiming that he was born in Hawaii. To reiterate, only if he WAS born in Hawaii would he be legally qualified to hold the office of American President.

Both Obama and Romney Trample All Over 10th Amendment

The Washington Post wrote on May 20:

“The 10th Amendment, the amendment supposedly reserving for the states all powers not explicitly granted to the federal government, gets a lot of rhetorical love on the campaign trail. But on issues from medical marijuana to voter-identification laws to malpractice reform, both President Obama and presumptive GOP challenger Mitt Romney have shown few qualms about trampling all over the 10th Amendment.

“Earlier this month, Mr. Obama cited a respect for states’ rights as he announced his personal ‘evolution’ to support of gay marriage, but has repeatedly deployed his Justice Department to challenge states over their voter-ID and immigration laws, and medical marijuana use policies.

“For his part, Mr. Romney has repeatedly invoked the 10th Amendment to defend why he signed a state-level health law mandating coverage as governor of Massachusetts in 2006, only to oppose a similar program now at the federal level. But he has also called for overriding state laws to enact national tort reform, and has declined to say whether he would halt federal raids on dispensaries in states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal uses.

“Mike Maharrey, of the Tenth Amendment Center, said this kind of fair-weather federalism illustrates an inconsistency running rampant in both major parties. ‘That’s one of my greatest frustrations with the political process, not just with Obama and Romney, but both sides of the political spectrum tend to kind of turn to the 10th Amendment when it’s convenient,’ Mr. Maharrey said.”

This is the gist of politics–adopt positions which might be popular, and drop them when they could backfire. Hypocritical inconsistency seems to be the name of the game. Knowing this, why would any true Christian who is to stand up for and defend the TRUTH get involved in politics or grant their vote of confidence, support and approval to ANY of its political representatives?

Section 1021 of the 2012 NDAA Held Unconstitutional—For Now

The Associated Press reported on May 17:

“A day before Congress weighs an amendment to end indefinite military detentions in the U.S. [Note: This amendment did not pass], a federal judge Wednesday ruled the law that allows the practice unconstitutional.

“Saying the measure has ‘chilling impact on First Amendment rights,’ U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest, of New York’s Eastern District, found that a group of reporters and activists who brought the lawsuit had no way of knowing whether they could be subjected to it. That makes it an unconstitutional infringement on the First Amendment’s free speech right and the Fifth Amendment’s right to due process, Forrest said in a written opinion.

“The lead plaintiffs — Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges of the Nation Institute and Tangerine Bolen, who runs the website RevolutionTruth — argued that they conceivably could be grabbed under the law because they deal with sources that U.S. authorities may deem to fall under the law, Section 1021 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.

“The law defines the suspects who can be detained as a ‘person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces.’ Forrest found the language too vague, and repeatedly tried to get government attorneys to say that the reporters’ fears were unfounded. The lawyers declined.

“At the hearing on this motion, the government was unwilling or unable to state that these plaintiffs would not be subject to indefinite detention under [section] 1021,’ Forrest wrote. ‘Plaintiffs are therefore at risk of detention, of losing their liberty, potentially for many years. An individual could run the risk of substantially supporting or directly supporting an associated force without even being aware that he or she was doing so,’ Forrest wrote. ‘In the face of what could be indeterminate military detention, due process requires more.’

“‘We dealt a pretty big blow to two branches of Congress and President Obama,’ Bolen told The Huffington Post. Bolen got involved in the lawsuit because she worked extensively on the Wikileaks and Bradley Manning cases, and used her website to expose where the war on terror has gone tragically wrong, including interviewing Iraqis and Afghans with damning tales to tell. ‘Given that I engage in those two activities and I have an entire team around the world, I really felt that under the vague language of the NDAA, someone like me could easily get in trouble,’ Bolen said…

“The author and activist Naomi Wolf said watching the judge question administration lawyers repeatedly on the issue of who might be detained under the law — and the lawyers not answering — was downright chilling. To have the judge find that state of affairs unconstitutional was a profound relief, Wolf said in an interview.

“‘To hear those words — it’s so true, it’s so obvious — it puts in glaring relief the hideousness, the unconstitutionality, the darkness of this legislative effort and others like it,’ Wolf said. ‘She is so completely, obviously right. It’s nothing short of treason to have put forward legislation like this, let alone to have had most of the people who represent us and our president sign off on this clearly, obviously criminally unconstitutional — unconstitutional is inadequate. It’s anti-constitutional. It’s dictatorial. ‘I’m so happy as a mother. It’s so profound. All of us were put in danger by this law.’

“The White House had no comment on the ruling Wednesday night… The government has 60 days to decide whether to appeal.”

This law is indeed very dangerous and appears to be unconstitutional for the reasons stated in the article. The fears expressed in the article are also very real, especially in light of the evasive conduct of the government lawyers. However, it will remain to be seen whether the Obama Administration will appeal, and how a higher court might rule on the matter, given the politically charged surroundings during an election year.

Why To Be Concerned About Homosexuality?

On May 21, 2012, CNN published an interesting opinion by R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Although being dead wrong on his idea that we are no longer required to abide by God’s dietary laws, he does set forth succinctly why homosexuality is wrong in the eyes of God. We begin with quoting his erroneous conclusions regarding clean and unclean food:

“An honest consideration of the Bible reveals that most of the biblical laws people point to in asking this question, such as laws against eating shellfish or wearing mixed fabrics, are part of the holiness code assigned to Israel in the Old Testament. That code was to set Israel, God’s covenant people, apart from all other nations on everything from morality to diet.

“As the Book of Acts makes clear, Christians are not obligated to follow this holiness code. This is made clear in Peter’s vision in Acts 10:15. Peter is told, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ In other words, there is no kosher code for Christians. Christians are not concerned with eating kosher foods and avoiding all others. That part of the law is no longer binding, and Christians can enjoy shrimp and pork with no injury to conscience.”

This conclusion is totally false. Peter’s vision in Acts 10 has nothing to do with declaring unclean animals to be clean. Rather, Peter gives the meaning of the vision in verse 28, stating: “But God has shown me that I should not call any MAN common or unclean.” God never allowed the consumption of unclean food, and He will punish those in the end time who disregard His dietary laws (compare Isaiah 66:17). For more information, please read our free booklet, “And Lawlessness Will Abound…”

At the same time, Mohler’s comments regarding the biblical teaching on homosexuality are correct:

“Are conservative Christians hypocritical and selective when it comes to the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality? With all that the Bible condemns, why the focus on gay sex and same-sex marriage?…

“The Old Testament clearly condemns male homosexuality along with adultery, bestiality, incest and any sex outside the covenant of marriage. The New Testament does not lessen this concern but amplifies it… The New Testament condemns a full range of sexual sins, and homosexuality is specified among these sins. In Romans, Paul refers to homosexuality in terms of ‘dishonorable passions,’ ‘contrary to nature’ and ‘shameless.’ As New Testament scholar Robert Gagnon has stated, the Bible’s indictment ‘encompasses every and any form of homosexual behavior’… Jesus made clear that marriage was always meant to be one man and one woman…

“Why are Christians so concerned with homosexuality? In the first place, that question is answered by the simple fact that it is the most pressing moral question of our times. Christians must be concerned about adultery, pornography, injustice, dishonesty and everything the Bible names as sin. But when my phone rings with a call from a reporter these days, the question I am asked is never [about] adultery or pornography. It is about homosexuality.

“Christians who are seriously committed to the authority of the Bible have no choice but to affirm all that the Bible teaches, including its condemnation of homosexuality… In other words, we understand that the Bible condemns all forms of sin because our Creator knows what is best for us. The Bible names sins specifically so that each of us will recognize our own sinfulness and look to Christ for salvation and the forgiveness of our sins. Christian love requires that we believe and teach what the Bible teaches and that we do so with both strong conviction and humble hearts. The Church must repent of our failures in both of these tasks, but we must not be silent where the Bible speaks.

“Are Christians hypocrites in insisting that homosexual behavior is sin? We, too, are sinners, and hypocrisy and inconsistency are perpetual dangers. The church failed miserably in the face of the challenge of divorce. This requires an honest admission and strong corrective. At the same time, this painful failure must remind us that we must not fail to answer rightly when asked what the Bible teaches about homosexuality. Love requires us to tell the truth.”

An Unfathomable Divine Mystery?

The Catholic News wrote on May 17:

“The Catholic Church’s relationship to Judaism as taught by the Second Vatican Council and the interpretations and developments of that teaching by subsequent popes, ‘are binding on a Catholic,’ said the Vatican official responsible for relations with the Jews. Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke to reporters May 16 after delivering a speech on Catholic-Jewish relations in light of Vatican II’s declaration ‘Nostra Aetate’ on the church’s relations with non-Christian religions…

“The declaration highlighted the Jewish roots of Christianity and took ‘an unambiguous position against every form of anti-Semitism,’ he said… ‘God’s plan of salvation for humanity began with his covenant with the Jewish people and if Christianity ignores that, he said, ‘it is in danger of losing its location within salvation history.’ While Catholics profess that, in the end, all salvation will be accomplished through Jesus Christ, ‘it does not necessarily follow that the Jews are excluded from God’s salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the son of God,’ the cardinal said. ‘That the Jews are participants in God’s salvation is theologically unquestionable, but how that can be possible without confessing Christ explicitly is and remains an unfathomable divine mystery.’”

The Bible says that there cannot be any salvation except through Jesus Christ. This means that no one can and will be saved unless he or she accepts Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior and believes in His Sacrifice. However, the Bible also teaches that today is NOT the only day of salvation. To understand this “mystery,” please read our free booklet, “Is That in the Bible? The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation.”

Major Earthquake Hits Italy

BBC News reported on May 20:

“Thousands of people left homeless by a powerful earthquake in northern Italy are spending the night in shelters as aftershocks continue to hit the region. At least seven people died and more than 50 were injured when the quake struck in the early hours of Sunday. The magnitude six tremor, centred north of Bologna, destroyed or badly damaged many historic buildings… A 5.1 magnitude aftershock struck Sunday afternoon, destroying several buildings already weakened… Sunday’s earthquake was the worst to hit Italy since the L’Aquila tremor killed nearly 300 people in 2009.”

According to the Bible, more powerful earthquakes will strike around the world, and an extremely strong one might affect the city of Rome.

G8—Many Talks, No Solutions

Deutsche Welle reported on May 18:

“The leaders of the G8 group of the world’s most powerful countries did not show any new political paths at Camp David. They described problems well enough, but did not solve any…The big question after the two-day G8 summit at Camp David was, of course: did it bring any results? Did the eight government leaders, as well as their African guests, change the world – in any way at all? Well, no, they didn’t, is the answer. Well-known points-of-view were exchanged, both on the debt crisis in Europe and on the various flash points around the world. The initiative to strengthen Africa, which was brought to life three years ago, was once again emphasized over lunch with the African leaders. And that was pretty much it…

“The situation in Europe is getting trickier and trickier and turning German Chancellor Angela Merkel into the culprit for the crisis because she insists on budgetary consolidation. It borders on the absurd. Without painful reforms of state finances, which still loom for many countries, including that of the G8 host and its president, Barack Obama, there will not be a lasting exit from the debt crisis. While new French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti cozy up on the common ground they share with Obama, who is in the midst of an electoral campaign, it’s the facts that will count most at the end of the day. It’s a fact that financing stimulus programs with new debt would be a mistake. The chancellor is right – even if she is isolated in the exclusive club of eight leaders…

“There was at least one good thing to come from the summit: the commitment that Greece belongs in the eurozone. The country cannot and must not be left to its own devices. The offer being made to the Greeks is clear. Aid comes with strings attached. Now the Greeks will have the final say. The election in June will even be interesting for Barack Obama. If the attempt to keep Greece in the eurozone fails, the ensuing recession in Europe could pull down the world economy – and with it the United States. That is the last thing Obama needs right before American voters go to the polls in November. In a globalized world we are all Greeks, Europeans and Americans because we all depend on each other.”

Man has proven to be utterly incapable of finding true solutions and of ruling himself, and the most recent developments, as described above, are no exception. It will require the return of Jesus Christ to establish the Kingdom of God here on earth to bring lasting peace and prosperity to this war-stricken planet. See also the next article.

NATO Goes Ahead with European Missile Shield

The Local wrote on May 21:

“NATO leaders on Sunday gave the go-ahead for the new European missile shield, provoking anger in Russia. The US air base in Ramstein, western Germany, will host part of the system. The decision was made by 28 of the world’s most powerful leaders at the NATO summit in Chicago. It should be up and running before 2020 and protect Europe from missiles fired up to 3,000 kilometres away – roughly where Iran is. [Our comment: Deutsche Welle clarified on May 21 that “The White House says it expects initial operational capability by 2015, while the system will be fully functional in 2018. All 28 members of the alliance will participate in the financing.”]

“Initially a US warship carrying missiles will be installed near Turkey in the Mediterranean, followed by an early-warning radar system at the US air base in Ramstein [Germany]. Further bases are planned for Spain, Romania and Poland… The decision was not greeted warmly by Russia though, as Moscow fears the system could neutralise its own nuclear shield. The country’s government quickly called for joint control over the system and for NATO to sign a legally-binding guarantee that it is not aimed at Russia. But NATO rejected both demands, insisting on keeping two separate systems and refusing to sign a legally-binding document… analysts have questioned whether the shield is a full-proof defence against incoming rockets from rogue states.”

Paradoxically, the European defense shield will ultimately end up in complete European control, and it WILL help and encourage, to an extent, the Europeans to attack Russia and other Asian nations, as the Bible clearly reveals. However, the Asian power bloc will retaliate swiftly and brutally. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy,” and watch Norbert Link’s new video-recorded message, “The Seventh Trumpet.”