WorldWatch
Middle East
Libya halted 60 percent or more of its oil production on August 29. The nation is divided between two rival governments, and one of its few national institutions that works with both sides is its central bank. It is also one of its few institutions with access to foreign currencies. Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who controls western Libya, recently tried to unilaterally appoint a new bank chief, causing the current one to flee the country. Warlord Khalifa Haftar controls eastern Libya, which produces most of the nation’s oil, its only major export. Haftar retaliated by drastically decreasing oil production, denying the bank its greatest source of revenue. This attracted the attention of the European Union, Libya’s largest oil customer. The Europeans have not yet intervened, but the more unstable Libya becomes, the fewer choices they will have.
Even somewhat minor international oil disruptions like this are worth monitoring because Daniel 11:40-43 include Libya in a Middle East power bloc called “the king of the south” that will push at “the king of the north” and provoke war. Gerald Flurry states in his booklet The King of the South that this southern power, led by Iran, will cut off oil supplies to Europe as a major part of its push.
In late August, Israel Defense Forces troops discovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages who had been recently murdered. Large numbers of Israelis, perhaps hundreds of thousands, reacted by demonstrating in the streets of Tel Aviv and elsewhere—not to demand the eradication of Hamas but to demand a ceasefire agreement and to denounce Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for standing in the way.
Hamas launched a horrific massacre and murdered more than 1,100 people on Oct. 7, 2023. It is now losing the resulting war in Gaza. Yet by murdering hostages, it has succeeded in prompting Israelis to make Hamas’s cause, a ceasefire, into their cause, and to identify Hamas’s enemy, Netanyahu, as their enemy. Netanyahu faces pressure from the United States and other nations to not only accept a ceasefire but make it permanent, effectively leaving Hamas leaders in control of Gaza and legitimizing their regime.
Israeli missiles struck Syria on September 8, killing 18 people and wounding 43. The strikes, which Israel has yet to acknowledge, occurred in the vicinity of the northwestern city of Masyaf, where Iran operates a major weapons research facility. Syrian President Bashar Assad allows Iranians to use Syrian territory for arming Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, but he has been reluctant to strike Israel, even after Israel struck Iranian targets in Syrian territory. Assad may even attempt to expel Iran from Syria to make himself less of a target. Mr. Flurry has forecast for years that Iran will lose control of Syria. He reaffirmed this forecast in the August Trumpet issue, saying this will happen soon. With or without Assad, Syrian foreign policy is about to change, drastically.
Europe
The first international treaty on artificial intelligence is so vague that it may seem inconsequential, but it is dangerous. Signed on September 5, the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law was approved by the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom, among others. It states: “Each party shall adopt or maintain measures with a view to ensuring that activities within the life cycle of artificial intelligence systems respect equality, including gender equality, and the prohibition of discrimination, as provided under applicable international and domestic law.” Signatory nations are obliged to carry this out and to prevent the spread of information, but how to do so and what limits there should be on that power is not defined.
The strongest force behind this agreement was the EU, which already has its own AI Act. Pope Francis also specifically advocated for it. Like various climate-change treaties signed over the years, the vagueness and broadness of the powers this agreement grants to government officials is just as important as the threats it addresses.
The European Union has also appointed its first-ever defense commission. Andrius Kubilius, a former prime minister of Lithuania, has been assigned to organize the EU’s defense industry and help member countries rearm after ammunition and other equipment shipments to Ukraine have resulted in massive shortages. He will also expedite the movements of troops throughout Europe, coordinate European efforts in space, and push for integration of European militaries into a united force.
Kubilius will have a limited budget and potentially limited authority if member states retain sovereignty over their militaries. But his appointment is a major signal of Europe’s ambition to become a military union.
The late Herbert W. Armstrong forecast the rise of a 10-nation superpower in Europe. “This coming union of 10 nations is first to start as an economic system with very great prosperity,” he wrote. “Later it is to become a political union” and then “a colossal, super-modern, military power with power to blast whole major cities at once off the map.” Read “Why the Trumpet Watches Europe’s Push Toward a Unified Military.”
A practical step toward this result started in Lithuania on August 19, when construction began on a new German military base. In December 2023, the two countries signed an agreement to deploy 5,000 German troops to cover Europe’s eastern flank and deter Russia. In April, the first troops arrived to prepare for construction. The deployment of a permanent German brigade in another country will be the first of its kind since World War ii. Watch for Europe’s military power to rise and for Germany to take the lead.
Eight years after millions of Brits voted to leave the EU, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer visited Germany on August 28 for what he called “Operation Reset.” The Telegraph wrote: “Sir Keir Starmer needs Olaf Scholz of Germany to carry out his plan to undo the Tories’ hard Brexit.” Starmer said, “We must turn a corner on Brexit and fix the broken relationships left behind by the previous government. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset our relationship with Europe.” He also wants a defense pact with Germany. Reuters wrote: “An Anglo-German defense partnership could resemble the Lancaster House pact between Britain and France agreed in 2010, according to officials, with pledges to create a joint force and share equipment and nuclear missile research centers.” The Trumpet and its predecessor, the Plain Truth, have forecast for decades that Britain will trust in its old World War enemy and suffer dearly for it. To learn more, read “Britain in Prophecy” in Hosea—Reaping the Whirlwind, by Gerald Flurry.
Asia
On September 18, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to add 180,000 troops to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, bringing the total number of military personnel to 2.4 million, with 1.5 million active servicemen. This will push Russia past the U.S. and India into second place for the world’s largest active military force, just behind China. The order takes effect on December 1. The surge in new troops may mean “a major increase in Russian combat capability,” according to Geopolitical Futures. The new manpower could enable Putin’s forces to oust Ukraine from Russia’s Kursk region and push deeper into Ukraine. The Bible prophesies that Putin will turn Russia into a military superpower that will join forces with other Asian nations and field the largest army in human history. This military expansion is a small step toward fulfilling this prophecy.
China’s government will require some foreign companies with operations in the country to include a Chinese “representative” on their board of directors, the Daily Mail reported on September 9. The new law applies to any foreign company with more than 300 employees working in China, and it means that tech firms and other businesses will find it extremely hard to protect sensitive information from espionage and infiltration by the Chinese Communist Party.
This has major implications for America’s national security. Microsoft, for example, is the main technology supplier to the U.S. government, including the Pentagon, the State Department and the fbi. The Daily Mail quoted one source as saying: “Once you’re on the board, you are privy to all sorts of incredibly sensitive information, incredibly sensitive decision-making, and you can exert a substantial amount of pressure on the people [who] are on the ground in China. If one day they want to exert pressure on Microsoft or any of the many other multinational companies that operate there, they know who to call. What they’re going to do is just steal all the data.” China has spied on U.S. companies for decades, stealing intellectual property and gathering information for cyberattacks. When this law is implemented, such intrusions can be conducted from inside U.S. companies, from the top.
Anglo-America
Americans’ belief in God has dropped to an all-time low. According to a Gallup poll published on July 22, only 37 percent of adults in the United States now accept that God created humans in their present form at some point within the past 10,000 years. The rest either believe that humanity evolved without God’s help or that God created humans by making gradual alterations to amoebas over millions of years. The Gallup data indicates that 69 percent of Americans with a college degree believe in human evolution, compared to 51 percent of those without a degree. About a quarter of American adults hold college degrees, and millions are currently pursuing them, and absorbing anti-Creator doctrines in the process.
Human beings must believe in something: When their faith turns away from their Creator, it turns toward other gods, irrational ideologies and secular religions like “diversity, equity and inclusion.” This doctrine rejects the Christian teaching that all human beings are created equal, and equally in need of forgiveness, and instead teaches that people suffer different degrees of “inequity” principally due to “white privilege.” This ideology combines Marxism, racism and factionalism to divide America. It permeates much of higher education. At least 26 universities have recognized the danger and pledged to eliminate it from their curricula. However, a September 17 Fox News Digital report found that 10 of these universities have retained their “diversity, equity and inclusion” departments and merely rebranded them with more-benign-sounding names.
As Marxist ideologies infiltrate American education, Marxist spies infiltrate America’s federal government. On September 3, federal prosecutors charged Linda Sun for being a secret agent of the Chinese government. Sun worked as deputy chief diversity officer (2018–2020) for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and deputy chief of staff (2021–2022) for current Gov. Kathy Hochul. She is alleged to have helped establish relationships between New York politicians and Chinese officials, to have blocked Taiwanese officials from contacting U.S. officials, to have censored speeches and press releases according to the Chinese government-approved language, and to have secretly granted Chinese officials access to a high-level state government conference call.
During the Cold War, educator Herbert W. Armstrong warned that communism would be used to sap America’s strength, pervert its morals, sabotage its educational system, wreck its social structure, destroy its religious life, weaken its economic power and demoralize its armed forces, with the goal of ultimately overthrowing its government by force and violence. This is reality today as Marxists attack America from without and within. Read “The Communist Infiltration of America Was Prophesied” in our booklet He Was Right.
