WorldWatch
Middle East
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Dec. 21, 2022, that he had come to agreements with his coalition partners to successfully form Israel’s 37th government. Israel has had four elections in the last five years. It has been plagued by instability and inconsistency. But the Netanyahu-led coalition won convincingly in last month’s elections, giving him an outright majority and the mandate to form what many consider the most conservative government in Israel’s history. Five of the six parties in the coalition are religious conservatives committed to security, safety and stability, something that clearly resonated with voters. As prime minister previously, Netanyahu worked closely with United States President Donald Trump, and the two slowed the disintegration of their nations. Now that “Bibi Is Back,”* expect a temporary resurgence in Israel, and expect Trump to regain the White House.
Meanwhile, Iran continues to develop nuclear-weapons technology. On Nov. 23, 2022, the regime began enriching uranium to 60 percent purity at its underground Fordow nuclear plant. The move came as a response to the International Atomic Energy Agency ordering Iran to cooperate with investigations into its undeclared nuclear sites. While Iranian scientists have already enriched uranium to 60 percent at other sites, this move is significant because Fordow uses advanced IR-6 centrifuges, which can produce weapons-grade uranium.
Some experts believe that even if Iran builds a nuclear warhead, it lacks the technology to create a missile capable of delivering it. That may no longer be the case. On November 8, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps successfully tested the Ghaem-100 satellite launcher. The unit’s aerospace division said the rocket is only for launching communications satellites, but a U.S. State Department spokesman said, “Space launch vehicles incorporate technologies that are virtually identical to, and interchangeable with, those used in ballistic missiles, including longer-range systems.” Gerald Flurry has warned for decades about Iran’s illegal missile program. Iran’s push for nuclear weapons is rapidly approaching the finish line. Read more in his booklet The King of the South.
Europe
Poland is rapidly emerging as a major military power in Europe. On Dec. 7, 2022, the U.S. State Department approved a $3.8 billion deal to sell 100 M1A1 tanks to Poland and upgrade them to the newest model. This is on top of an earlier deal for Poland to buy 250 M1A2 tanks. The Polish military already possesses more tanks and howitzers than Germany, Central Europe’s historic military heavyweight, and these two deals alone involve more modern tanks than are currently operated by any European power. Poland also aims to increase its troop numbers to 300,000, making it the third-largest contributor of personnel in nato, after the U.S. and Turkey, and to more than double its defense spending to 5 percent of its gross domestic product. The upgrades are so drastic that Politico called Poland “Europe’s coming military superpower.”
Poland is not the only European military acquiring advanced weapons. Germany’s largest military upgrade since the end of the Cold War is gaining steam: On December 15, Germany’s legislature approved the purchase of 35 U.S. F-35 fighter jets at a cost of more than $10 billion. It also approved the purchase of new rifles and other equipment, to be financed from the $100 billion special fund announced in February 2022. The first F-35s are scheduled to enter service in 2028 and will enable German pilots to carry U.S. nuclear bombs stationed in the nation.
Gerald Flurry wrote: “America is giving Germany access to its most-advanced and deadliest weapons. The crucial question is, does the United States really have control over those bombs?” Now America is providing Germany with an advanced stealth warplane that can conduct nuclear strikes. Read “America’s Naive Trust in Germany.”
The German government has announced plans to withdraw its 1,121 troops from Mali, according to Der Spiegel. The United Nations mission minusma has been Germany’s largest overseas deployment, and Germany continues to pursue its goal of training and cooperating with the security forces in the region to combat terrorism in the Sahel. It is now increasing its focus on Niger, which has proved to be friendlier to Western nations like France, which has moved a large contingent of its troops there, and less welcoming to Russia. Based on Psalm 83 and Daniel 11:40, Mr. Flurry has stated that Europe’s war on terrorism will lead to an all-out confrontation with the chief sponsor of terrorism: Iran. Germany’s missions in the region are preparing for this clash.
But Germany need not go abroad to find terrorists. On December 7, about 3,000 police officers raided 130 properties and arrested 25 people with suspected links to the extremist Reichsbürger movement. Reichsbürgers, meaning “citizens of the Reich,” claim that the federal government is illegitimate and the German empire is the true, rightful German state. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann referred to the group as a “suspected terror network” and said, “the suspicion exists that an armed attack on constitutional organs was planned.” One of the suspects is an active member of Germany’s elite special forces. Another was a judge. The repeated discovery of such plots shows that some in Germany are dangerously angry about the current state of affairs and willing to go to extremes. It suggests that extreme views and sympathies exist throughout German society. It also confirms forecasts by Herbert W. Armstrong that a Nazi spirit would rise again in Germany. Read “Why Does Germany Have So Many Neo-Nazi Conspiracies?”
Asia
Japan’s government voted on Dec. 2, 2022, to give the country’s military “counterstrike capabilities.” But the authorization allows Japanese forces to strike enemy missile launch sites preemptively if they appear poised to fire on Japan, meaning that Tokyo has actually authorized its military to strike first. The plan includes deploying 50 satellites starting this year and 130 new depots for long-range standoff missiles.
This authorization violates Japan’s Constitution, which the U.S. imposed after a war it was bombed into with an infamous preemptive strike: Japan attacking Pearl Harbor. That Constitution forbids Japan from maintaining “land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential.” But 75 years later, Japan has developed highly capable land, sea and air forces, including fifth-generation F-35 stealth warplanes and small aircraft carriers capable of launching them. It has also initiated a deal to buy hundreds of U.S.-built Tomahawk cruise missiles and to begin developing at least 10 new missile types at home, including hypersonic models.
The plans follow an announcement by Prime Minister Kishida Fumio on Nov. 28, 2022, for Japan to double defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2027. This will require the nation to spend $345 billion over the next five years and could make Japan the world’s third-highest military spender. The Center for Strategic and International Studies wrote that these developments will “shatter policy norms in place for much of the period since World War II.” But the Japanese feel norms must be shattered as Russia, China and North Korea become more belligerent.
As Russia’s war on Ukraine rages on, former President Dmitry Medvedev said on Dec. 11, 2022, that Russia is increasing production of new weapons to defend against enemies in “Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand” and beyond. This came just one week after Russia deployed advanced missile systems on the Kuril Islands, parts of which are claimed by Japan.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department reported on Nov. 29, 2022, that China is stockpiling nuclear warheads and is expected to reach numbers comparable to what Russia and the U.S. have. The report estimates that, as of 2021, China has more than 400 nuclear-capable warheads and is on pace to increase its arsenal to 1,500 by 2035. Only Russia and the U.S. currently possess more than 1,000 nuclear weapons. The presidential U.S. National Security Strategy, released on Oct. 12, 2022, stated, “By the 2030s, the United States for the first time will need to deter two major nuclear powers [Russia and China], each of whom will field modern and diverse global and regional nuclear forces.”
Bible prophecies show that several Asian nations will unite as “the kings of the east,” fielding a staggering 200 million troops. Ezekiel 38:1-2 show that Russia and China will lead this massive force; verse 6 includes “Gomer” and “Togarmah,” which refer to the main peoples who make up modern Japan. Today, animosity between Japan and China and Russia is one factor motivating these nations to build up their firepower. But these prophecies show that we should expect these nations to eventually lay aside this animosity and join forces.
Anglo-America
Contemporary university life in the United States resembles education under a one-party regime like in China or the Soviet Union. A Nov. 30, 2022, survey published by The College Fix found zero Republican professors in 33 departments across seven universities, including more than half of all departments surveyed at the University of Alaska–Anchorage, Cornell University, the University of Georgia, the University of Nebraska–Omaha, the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, Ohio State University, and the University of Oklahoma. Six of the seven states have majority Republican voters, yet these universities show a Democrat ideological monopoly. The study found that Democrat professors outnumber Republicans 11 to 1.
This indoctrination profoundly affects society, for example in the media. To take one example, on December 31, Dr. Anthony Fauci steps down as chief medical adviser to Joe Biden. Yet White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre used Fauci’s last press briefing to cover up COVID-19’s true origin. When the Daily Caller’s Diana Glebova tried to ask Dr. Fauci a question about whether it was appropriate for him to fund EcoHealth Alliance, which used its money for gain-of-function research in China, Jean-Pierre shut down the question. Today News Africa correspondent Simon Ateba defended Glebova’s inquiry, but Jean-Pierre accused him of being disrespectful and moved on to questions from more regime-friendly journalists. Former EcoHealth Alliance vice president Andrew Huff has published a book titled The Truth About Wuhan: How I Uncovered the Biggest Lie in History. It admits that EcoHealth Alliance worked with the U.S. government to give Chinese scientists the bioweapons technology they used to create COVID-19. Yet neither Dr. Fauci nor the White House will answer questions about it. Such journalism is as unwelcome at the White House as a Republican in a sociology department.
Democrats rushed to pass additional gun restrictions before the 118th Congress convened in January. On November 24, Joe Biden called for “stricter gun laws” after mass shootings in Colorado and Virginia. He called on Congress to ban semiautomatic weapons with high-capacity magazines, similar to the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban. This ban expired and was not renewed because it had no significant effect on firearm homicides and because it violated the U.S. Constitution provision that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
Canadian gun owners are having trouble as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pushed for a mandatory buy-back program covering 1,500 models of “military-grade” firearms from their owners. But several provinces and territories have resisted. On December 1, Saskatchewan’s provincial government introduced an act to “protect the rights of lawful firearms owners” from federal gun-control legislation. Officials in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and the Yukon Territory say they do not have enough federal police officers to confiscate Canadians’ guns. Communist Cuba, Nazi Germany, Red China, the Soviet Union and many other dictatorships and would-be dictatorships have confiscated their citizens’ guns in order to oppress them.
