Middle East

On Tuesday four cars were crushed, a bus smashed and 16 people wounded as another Palestinian bulldozed his way through West Jerusalem. The attack took place just outside the King David Hotel, where presidential hopeful Barack Obama would later stay that night. In response, Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski indicated a possible crackdown on Arab construction workers throughout the city. The terror attack has caused tensions to escalate between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem. Immediately after the terror attack, a group of about 50 religious Jews assembled at the crime scene to protest the spread of terrorism, chanting slogans denouncing the leadership in the United States, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. A few hours later, in a Jewish neighborhood frequented by Arab shoppers, an angry mob of Orthodox Jewish youths attacked two Arabs.

This year’s uptick in violent attacks in Jerusalem has some commentators wondering if we might be witnessing the beginning of the third intifada. According to Haaretz, “Since the start of the year there have been five major attacks in Jerusalem, claiming the lives of 12 Israelis. During the first half of the year, the Shin Bet security service arrested 71 Palestinians from East Jerusalem suspected of being involved in attacks, compared to 37 such arrests during the entire year of 2007.” The Trumpet has been predicting the forceful division of Jerusalem for a number of years now. The latest attack is one more step in the direction of Zechariah 14:1-2 being fulfilled.

Meanwhile, Israel faces another potential catastrophe: a shortage of water. After four years of consecutive drought, Israel’s Water Authority was forced to authorize emergency plans on July 8 to combat the nation’s worst water crisis in recorded history. Earlier this month, Israel’s main source of fresh water, the Sea of Galilee (also known as Lake Kinneret), dropped below its bottom red line—the water level at which it is recommended to stop pumping from the water source. Israel’s two other main water sources, the Coastal Aquifer and the Mountain Aquifer, are seriously dry as well. Just as the United States and Australia are facing severe weather curses, so is Israel. Read Joel Hilliker’s July 2 column, “Healing Our Sick Land,” for the reason why.

As Iran continues to manipulate the international community on nuclear issues to gain concessions in other areas, Iranian Vice President Reza Aghazadeh said Thursday that negotiations with world powers on Tehran’s nuclear program could solve problems in Lebanon and Iraq. “If the negotiations get under way, then solutions could be found for many problems like Iraq, Lebanon or fuel prices,” said Aghazadeh, who also heads Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. Aghazadeh was speaking to reporters in Vienna after his meeting with the head of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency. A day earlier, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed to make no concessions in his country’s nuclear drive.

And finally, entrenched hostility between India and Pakistan is easing with Islamabad seeking help from New Delhi to combat terrorism. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 24 that both countries should work together more deeply to combat “terrorism and extremism” in the region and that a stable Afghanistan was “in the safe interest of all countries of the region,” Reuters reported. Gilani will meet with Singh on the sidelines of a South Asian summit in Sri Lanka next month.

Europe

The pope is not happy with Europe. This week he refused to meet with the European Parliament in Strasbourg, which invited the pope to speak as its principal Christian guest in its Year of Intercultural Dialogue. One member of the Catholic hierarchy spoke of “great disillusionment” with the European project. Another spoke of how the European Union “has become too secularist.” Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, also criticized Europe’s lax religion. Europe is “moving backwards in the area of religion because legislative bodies on the Continent are increasingly moving further away from Christian principles,” he said. “Laws being passed in almost every country in Europe do not coincide with Christian principles.” He went on to say that religious “superiors have a clear challenge, and at the same time an inescapable task: to root out the subtle forms of internal secularization that have become present in our surroundings.” The Vatican wants to play a larger role in governing Europe. For more information, see our article “Wanted: Savior for Europe” from August 2006.

Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is now above the law apparently. Berlusconi faced trial in Milan, where he was accused of paying a $600,000 bribe to his former tax lawyer to give misleading testimony. Now his worries are over, as Italy’s senate gave final approval on Thursday for a law banning criminal investigations on the president, the prime minister, and the speakers of the Senate and Lower House. This is a shocking step toward dictatorship from a major European country.

Meanwhile, the Lisbon Treaty marches forward. Italy’s senate voted unanimously in favor of the Lisbon Treaty this week. It will probably pass through Italy’s lower house of parliament next week by a large margin. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote about how he believes the Lisbon Treaty is essential for Europe, and must move forward. The Irish, who voted down the treaty, can be persuaded, Steinmeier believes. His boss, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, agrees, saying, “I am confident we will implement the Lisbon Treaty.” Europe’s inexorable march toward becoming a superstate continues.

Asia

This week, Reuters reported that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin will visit China on July 26-27 to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan for talks on energy cooperation. China’s rapidly industrializing economy desperately needs access to Russian oil and gas, while Russia, always on the lookout for new customers to increase its leverage over its European regulars, is also looking to secure its sparsely populated eastern borders.

India’s ruling Congress Party barely survived a no-confidence vote in parliament July 22. Had the government lost the vote, elections would have been called and the U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear deal would have been killed. However, with soaring inflation and rising commodity prices putting pressure on India’s economy, the current Congress-led United Progressive Alliance coalition remains on shaky ground, and it is unclear whether the nuclear deal will ultimately be implemented.

Africa, South America

Newspaper reports say Russia intends to station nuclear bombers in Cuba. Stratfor says the plan under consideration is for a refueling base, not a nuclear base, but either way, it is a major provocation aimed at Washington. Ever since Fidel Castro brought the world to the brink of war by green-lighting America’s Soviet enemy to install nuclear missiles in his island nation, Washington and Cuba have found zero common ground. In response to the bomber station reports, Fidel personally issued a statement, despite no longer being the leader of Cuba. Cuba doesn’t owe the United States an explanation, he said, and his brother Raul, the current president of Cuba, is right to maintain a dignified silence. Whatever Raul’s reasoning, he is evoking memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis. For more on Latin America’s growing opposition to the United States and where it is headed, read “Latin America Swings Left” and “The Threat From Latin America.”

On July 24, Zimbabwean leaders finally began talks to resolve the country’s political crisis, which churns in the wake of failed presidential elections and the subsequent illegitimate reelection of incumbent Robert Mugabe. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s official inflation rate is just over 2 million percent, but many economists believe the real rate to be much higher. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has announced that steps are being taken to deal with this hyperinflation: “[T]he next few days will see the Reserve Bank unveiling measures that would address concerns on the current minimum cash withdrawal limits, as well as with the IT systems digit handling constraints,” said the central bank’s governor. In other words, right now their computer systems don’t even know how to deal with the new 100 billion dollar bill, which isn’t quite enough to buy a loaf of bread. Read “Kenya: The Unseen Danger in Political Violence” to understand the path that Zimbabwe is following.

Anglo-America

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former dark horse contender for the Republican presidential nomination, warned the House Financial Services Committee on July 9 that America is racing toward a major economic disaster: “Time is short for making a course correction before this grand experiment in liberty goes into deep hibernation,” he said, adding that “big events” are about to occur. He went on,

… I have days, growing more frequent all the time, when I’m convinced the time is now upon us that some big events are about to occur. These fast-approaching events … will affect all of us. They will not be limited to just some areas of our country. The world economy and political system will share in the chaos about to be unleashed. …There are reasons to believe this coming crisis is different and bigger than the world has ever experienced. … The financial crisis, still in its early stages, is apparent to everyone: gasoline prices over $4 a gallon; skyrocketing education and medical care costs; the collapse of the housing bubble; the bursting of the nasdaq bubble; stock markets plunging; unemployment rising; massive underemployment; excessive government debt; and unmanageable personal debt. Little doubt exists as to whether we’ll get stagflation. The question that will soon be asked is: When will the stagflation become an inflationary depression?

Read “America’s Bubble Economy” from the March/April 2000 Trumpet for more on the true underlying reasons for the impending economic storm.

After meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama spoke in Berlin on Thursday to a crowd of 200,000, some of whom clung to lampposts, others sporting red-white-and-blue-dyed hair, some waving American flags and others interrupting the speech, chanting “Pres-i-dent! Pres-i-dent!” the Times Online reported. Supportive banners and placards waved in the air. Obama used the venue, Berlin’s Victory Column—rather than his first choice, the highly symbolic Brandenburg Gate—to extend his “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for” theme to Germans, saying, “People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment, this is our time.” In spite of his anti-Iraq War stance forming the central plank of his campaign, the senator adopted a tough tone on the global war on terror, inviting Germany to play a more aggressive role in Afghanistan, committing more troops there.

The Timesreported, “The substance of the speech was somewhat thin—it was, in the end, merely an appeal to work more closely together ….” However, an American president calling for a stronger Germany is a breathtaking statement, from a historic vantage point. German self-esteem has been low during the Bush administration, the Times wrote, but Obama’s apparent “partnership of equals” would put more power in the hands of Berlin.