Middle East

Iran continues its pushy foreign policy. On Wednesday, Tehran said it successfully tested a new medium-range ballistic missile that is more precise than earlier models and can reach as far away as southeastern Europe. The Iranian defense minister says the new generation missile has two stages—which could potentially make the missile’s range even greater—and uses solid propellant—which would allow heavier payloads to be carried farther. While there is some doubt as to whether Tehran’s claims are accurate, if they are true it would indicate significant advances have been made in Iran’s missile program.

The Iraqi cabinet will vote on a revised Status of Forces Agreement (sofa) between the United States and Iraq this weekend. If the cabinet votes to accept the agreement, which would authorize U.S. forces to remain in Iraq after the end of this year, it will then go to parliament for final approval. Iran has been working hard to undermine support for the security pact. As part of its efforts, Iran has been using its Shiite allies in Baghdad to repeatedly delay the signing of the sofa, hoping to block the agreement or at least delay it until President-elect Barack Obama takes office. As for Washington, its biggest priority “is to ensure that there are enough caveats in the sofa’s text to deprive the Iranians of any confidence that the United States will be withdrawing in a couple of years and leaving the door open for Iran to swoop in and consolidate Shiite influence in Baghdad” (Stratfor, October 30). We can expect Tehran to continue to put pressure on Baghdad to block any such agreement. At the same time, Iraqi politicians are mindful of provincial elections coming up in January and don’t want to be accused of selling out to U.S. “occupiers.”

Iran has also sought to turn Iraqi Shiite public opinion against the sofa through the influence of Shiite clerics. Tehran has restored ties with Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, an influential Lebanese Shiite cleric who has good relations with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, hoping he will promote Iran’s interests in Iraq. Fadlallah recently issued a fatwa against the sofa negotiations, echoing Iran’s position and calling for an “unconditional withdrawal of occupation forces” from Iraq.

Meanwhile, Tehran has welcomed the election of Barack Obama as the next U.S. president. In addition to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulating Obama, a number of senior Iranian officials last week made positive statements toward the U.S. Of particular note, the Iranian ambassador to Kuwait said his country was ready to normalize ties with America. Iran is expecting the policies of an Obama administration to allow it to strengthen its position in the region. Back in June 2003, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry asked whether the U.S.’s removal of Saddam Hussein had “cleared the way for Shiite Iran to rule over Shiite Iraq.” Keep watching as this scenario comes closer to fruition.

Europe

The European Union launched its first-ever naval mission off the coast of Somalia to protect UN shipments and commercial vessels from pirates on Monday. The naval force will be composed of at least seven ships and surveillance aircraft, contributed by eight to ten countries, including France, Germany, Spain, Greece and the Netherlands, with Spain, Portugal and Norway also likely to participate. On the same day, 12 EU defense ministers pledged to support the European Air Transport Fleet (eatf). The eatf would allow the EU to possess its own transportation fleet for both military and humanitarian missions worldwide by having members of the group provide planes for missions and resources to maintain the fleet.

While visiting the Gaza Strip last week, an eight-person delegation of the European Parliament invited Palestinian Legislative Council members—including Hamas leaders—to visit the EU assembly in Brussels next year. EU parliamentarians made the invitation despite the fact that the European Union, America and much of the rest of the world consider Hamas a terrorist organization, and many states boycott the group. It is unlikely Hamas leaders will be able to accept the invitation seeing as many are in jail for being terrorists, and others are unable to leave Gaza or their protective sanctuaries in Syria and Lebanon. However, by recognizing Hamas in this way, Europe gives legitimacy and support to one of the region’s most anti-Israel terrorist groups—bringing Hamas a step closer to receiving funds and backing from the rest of the world. To find out the underlying motive behind Europe’s involvement in the Middle East and its support of the Palestinians, read “The Counterfeit Peacemaker” from the August 2001 Trumpet.

Germany is officially in its worst recession in 12 years, it was revealed this week. On November 11, Germany’s finance minister said the global financial crisis could breed political extremism in the country. If Germans blame unrestrained capitalism for their woes and lose faith in the economic system, people could turn to far-right parties, Peer Steinbrück said. Steinbrück fears that Germany’s €500 billion (us$637 billion) rescue package could be used to stir up feelings of social injustice. Voters could link the financial crisis with Germany’s highly publicized corruption and tax-evasion scandals and the excessive salaries of rich bosses, he warned. The result? The minister said people might choose either to stop voting, or to throw their support behind politically extreme movements seeking to exploit the situation. Steinbrück noted that a global financial crisis preceded the rise of the Nazis.

Asia

Current Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday that he fully supports a bill that would extend the term of the Russian presidency from four to six years. He has even ordered that the United Russia party ensure that this bill passes through the Russian legislature without hindrance. The bill will also extend the term of Duma legislators from four to five years. Many analysts are already saying that this move is designed to strengthen the United Russia party and pave the way for Putin’s return to the Russian presidency. Putin has marshaled the return of Russia to great-power status and is not about to lose control of his creation. Whether Putin returns as Russian president or whether he continues to garner control under some other title, it is practically assured that he will continue to rule over Russia.

In response to a landmark cooperation agreement between the Indian Space Research Organization and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the Chinese have made it known that they want in on the action. Senior Chinese scientist Ouyang Ziyuan said on Wednesday that all three of these Asian nations have unparalleled technological competitiveness and that he hopes to see more scientific cooperation between them in the near future. In particular, he said that India, Japan and China should work together to “deepen mankind’s understanding of the moon.” These three Asian nations working in conjunction with Russia would be able to create a space alliance so powerful that it could act as a counterbalance to the space programs of both America and Europe. In today’s technologically advanced world, every nation racing to establish a foothold in space is acutely aware that dominance of outer space leads to dominance here on Earth. Continue to watch the heavens; space wars loom on the horizon.

A contingent of Chinese peacekeeper arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Wednesday with the purpose of helping the Congolese government in its fight against Tutsi warlord Laurent Nkunda. Nkunda and his militiamen are enraged over a $9 billion deal that the government struck with China, which would give Chinese companies mining rights in exchange for the construction of badly needed road and rail links. Nkunda does not want this deal to go through because he funds his rebel militias by selling the minerals from these mines on the black market. Most of those minerals eventually end up in Europe through the efforts of a network of German shareholders working in conjunction with the Nuremburg-based firm Gesellschaft für Elektrometallurgie. This region of Africa is turning into a battleground between China and Germany as they compete for the mineral wealth of Africa. For more information on how this conflict will develop, read “The Battleground,” from the March 2006 Trumpet, by Joel Hilliker and Robert Morley.

Latin America

Mexico has had two successes recently: First, the Mexican government arrested one of the original members of the Zetas and raided a safe house resulting in the largest weapons seizure in the history of Mexico. While this is a victory for Mexico, it is still miniscule in the broader scheme of gang violence in the country. Also, Mexico chose to insure almost its entire oil export for 2009 for between $70 and $100 a barrel. If prices stay near $50 a barrel, the country will be $18.9 billion ahead. When the deal was made, analysts were concerned because of rising oil prices, but now Mexico looks economically brilliant despite the chaos erupting in global financial markets.

Following the failure of economic negotiations between the European Union and Latin America’s Andean Community, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru have each announced they will pursue bilateral trade agreements with the EU. These countries have often pursued trade pacts without success because of their incompatible goals. Ultimately, these Latin American countries will establish much stronger relationships with the European Union; whether those relationships are formed by individual nations or larger trade blocs remains to be seen, but from Europe’s perspective, there is definitely an advantage to several small powers forming a dependence on the superpower rather than Europe dealing with a stronger regional bloc.

Anglo-America

Homosexuals and their supporters are on the march this week following last week’s ballots on homosexual “marriage.” Citizens voted to overturn the California Supreme Court ruling that legalized such unions in California, with similar bans also passing in Florida and Arizona. Does this trend signal a moral renaissance in America? No. Besides an even more morally liberal House of Representatives and Senate being simultaneously elected, another state supreme court has legalized homosexual “marriage”: Connecticut. At the same time, angry homosexuals, who might otherwise be lauding “the will of the people” if the vote had gone their way, have staged protests throughout California every day since the people overturned the state supreme court ruling. They have also filed three lawsuits asking the state supreme court to overturn the people’s decision. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said, “It’s unfortunate, obviously, but it’s not the end. I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area.” U.S.News writes that “the fierce battle over this culture war issue appears to be far from over.” The Trumpet forecasts that American morality will lose.

In financial news this week, the Labor Department has revealed that the American economy has lost 1.2 million jobs so far this year. This translates to a national unemployment rate of 6.5 percent—the highest rate in 14 years. The overall unemployment rate, including those who have given up on finding work and those who are working in-between, part-time jobs, is 11.8 percent. Analysts say the nation is already in a cycle of recession and that the economy will continue to contract throughout 2009.

On Sunday, Britain’s Telegraph newspaper published a leaked government report that states, “For the foreseeable future the UK will continue to be a high-priority target for international terrorists aligned with al Qaeda. It will face a threat from British nationals, including Muslim converts, and UK-based foreign terrorists, as well as terrorists planning attacks from abroad. … The majority of extremists are British nationals of South Asian, mainly Pakistani, origin but there are also extremists from North and East Africa, Iraq and the Middle East, and a number of converts.” The report reveals the extremists are predominantly UK-born.

The overall news may look bleak here on Earth, but two teams of astronomers have published the first photographs in history of planets orbiting stars other than our sun. One planet, Fomalhaut b, 25 light-years away, was photographed by the Hubble telescope. Three others were snapped using telescopes in Hawaii. Although the world is facing violent times ahead, these are temporary. Man’s ultimate potential, which lies with the stars and their planets, is not.