Middle East

Israeli ground forces entered the Gaza Strip last weekend as the Jewish state intensified its efforts to stop Hamas rocket attacks. After two weeks of bombardment of Hamas positions, however, the rocket attacks have not stopped. “Even assuming that Israel succeeds in crippling Hamas’ military wing and in restoring some of its own deterrent prowess against irregular forces in the region,” writes Stratfor, “Hamas will not be eliminated as either a political or militant force in the territory” (January 5).

Meanwhile, Israel has said that it accepts the “principles” of a European-Egyptian ceasefire proposal. It has agreed to accept a ceasefire based on the conditions that an international force will prevent smuggling into Gaza and that terrorist activity stops. While international pressure remains on Israel, little attention is being paid to the fact that Hamas is refusing to accept a truce. While demanding Israel pull out, Hamas has agreed to no actions, but is willing, says the deputy head of its political bureau, to “talk about other issues including calm and rockets.” Even the United States, after initially supporting Israel’s efforts to defend itself against Hamas, is now pressuring Israel to accept a European-Egyptian ceasefire proposal.

As the battle raged on in Gaza, Israel came under attack from the north on Thursday with rockets being fired from Lebanon. Israeli officials ordered schools to be closed in the area and advised residents to stay in shelters following the attacks in which two people were injured. Hezbollah denied involvement.

While the international community demands that Israel immediately stop defending itself against the rain of rockets on its people, some Muslim states—while loath to admit it—really want the Jews to soundly defeat Hamas. Why? Because Hamas’s survival would be a victory for Iran. And they know the Iranian mullahs want not only to defeat Israel, but also to foment radicalism among Muslims throughout the region in pursuit of their broader revolutionary goals—which would threaten their own positions. The governments of nations like Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other “moderate” Arab states are bearing harsh criticism from their peoples for not doing enough to support Hamas or to stop Israel, while Iran is rallying popular opinion with its harsh condemnations of Israeli aggression. Watch for Egypt, in particular, to become more radicalized as a result of Tehran’s efforts.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made his fourth visit to Iran this week, where he met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other top Iranian leaders. During the visit, the leaders of both countries pledged closer cooperation, and Maliki promised that Iraq would not be used as a base for an attack on Iran. Maliki said Iran and Iraq have formed two committees, made up of Cabinet members from both countries, to strengthen economic relations. Iranian state television reported that economic cooperation between the two countries would increase to $10 billion in 2010, up from the current $4 billion. The economic cooperation will center on energy, trade and reconstruction in Iraq, according to the Iranian vice president. Maliki even agreed with Iran’s position on Gaza, saying “the responsibility of Islamic and other countries of the world is not merely aiding Palestinians, but they also must prepare the ground to put the criminal [Israel] in his place.” All this comes just days after American troops pulled out of the Green Zone in Baghdad. From now on, January 1—the date of the pullout—will be “Sovereignty Day,” a national holiday in Iraq. The Trumpet has long predicted that as the U.S. presence in Iraq is reduced, Iran would cement its influence in the country. We are progressively seeing this come to fruition, as the Iraqi leadership looks more and more to Tehran.

Europe

Israel’s Gaza war consumed much of Europe’s attention this week. Czech President Karel Schwarzenberg led an official EU delegation to the area to try to broker a truce. French President Nicolas Sarkozy also wanted a piece of the action, and so traveled there to craft a ceasefire of his own. This crisis is exposing Europe’s need for a leader to prevent these farcical situations in the future. (For more on this, see Thursday’s column, “Europe: New Year, New Crises, New Opportunities.”) One of the solutions the international community has put forward to end the war is to send European troops to Gaza. German politicians have volunteered the German army. “If the parties to the conflict were to desire it, German soldiers could of course play a role,” said Gert Weisskirchen, a Social Democratic (spd) spokesman on foreign policy. A foreign-policy spokesman for the Christian Democratic Union, one of the spd’s coalition partners, said that sending German troops to the area would be feasible, but only if they had “robust” powers. For more on where this is leading, see our Aug. 28, 2006, article “On Jerusalem’s Doorstep.”

So far, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been the only European head of state to pin the responsibility for violence in Gaza entirely on Hamas. In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on January 5, Merkel reiterated Germany’s support for Israel and stressed that no ceasefire should be declared until Israeli security could be guaranteed. It seems, however, that the majority of Germans disagree with her pro-Israel stance. In response to the ongoing military operation in Gaza, a wave of anti-Israel demonstrations has hit Germany. Roughly 10,000 demonstrators marched in Frankfurt on January 3 carrying banners equating the current Israeli offensive with a second Holocaust. A media watchdog outlet in Frankfurt monitoring anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism told the Jerusalem Post that chants emerged from this crowd of “Gas the Jews!” and “Merkel out!” For more, see our May 2008 Trumpet article “Angela Merkel’s Historic Holocaust Speech.”

Germany is not the only country facing anti-Semitic violence in the wake of the Gaza conflict. In one of a spate of anti-Semitic incidents across France, attackers rammed two cars packed with gasoline bombs into a synagogue in the French city of Toulouse on Monday, causing the building to catch on fire. The people inside, attending class with a rabbi, escaped unharmed. A wave of anti-Semitic attacks has also hit Belgium. In Antwerp, attackers tried to torch an Orthodox Jewish family’s house. Angry rioters burned Israeli flags in the city, vandalized Jewish symbols and scrawled graffiti on Jewish shops. Several Jews received death threats saying, “You are not safe. I know where to find you. Child by child.” In England, arsonists tried to burn down a synagogue. A group of three Arab-looking men dragged a Jew from his car and assaulted him. The Community Security Trust, a Jewish defense group, reported 24 anti-Semitic incidents in a week. In Denmark, a 27-year-old shot two Israelis with a handgun. In Sweden, a man threw a burning object through a synagogue window at the congregation inside. These are just some of the sordid incidents in a spate of anti-Semitic violence sweeping across Europe. The recent anti-Israel attacks are a result of the same old anti-Semitism that has plagued Europe for millennia.

In Spain, the spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference of Spain, Bishop Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, declared that the bishops would support public protests to oppose the government if it continued to support liberal abortion laws. “We want to support whatever we can so that lawmakers know that Catholics do not want this,” said Bishop Martinez Camino. “Promoting laws that give license to kill contradicts human and Christian consciences.” The current Spanish prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has been a thorn in the Vatican’s side for years. He opposes the Catholic Church on almost every issue. He has pushed for more liberal abortion laws, legalized homosexual “marriage” and easier divorce, and demanded that the Vatican cease meddling in state affairs. Most recently, Zapatero’s secularist government has upheld a court ruling ordering the Spanish city of Valladolid to remove all crucifixes from a local school. Watch for the Vatican to try to turn Spain around to its way of thinking.

Asia

Russia raised the stakes in the natural gas crisis in Ukraine on Wednesday when it shut off all gas supplies piping into the country. This cutoff resulted in massive gas shortages across Eastern Europe, which receives most of its natural gas supplied from Russian via Ukrainian pipelines. Now Ukraine must agree to double the amount it pays for Russian gas in order to end this crisis. Such a price hike would be a death blow to the ailing Ukrainian economy and force the whole nation to kowtow to Moscow. Only then would the Kremlin consider lowering gas prices. As one senior Lithuanian official put it, “You have to become a vassal state, then you get what you want.” This gas crisis has also reminded Europe in a very dramatic way of how vulnerable it is to Putin’s strong-arm tactics. With this vulnerability in mind, the German-led European Union is likely to give up any ambitions it has to annex Ukraine, in return for energy security. To learn more about the impact such gas cuts will have on both Russia and Europe, read our Jan. 16, 2006, article “Russia, Germany and Energy Politics.”

The Japanese government is seeking to pass a bill that would allow its naval forces to take a more aggressive role in world affairs. This bill would eliminate current restrictions on Tokyo’s naval forces and allow them to aggressively fight against pirates anywhere in the world, whether they are attacking Japanese vessels or not. It would also give the Japanese Defense Ministry the authority to dispatch naval forces without asking permission from the Diet. Since World War ii, the Japanese military has operated under a constitution that renounces war as a sovereign right and limits the use of force to a strictly defensive capacity. Japan is currently evolving away from its pacifist constitution and taking on a much more aggressive military role on the world scene. As Tokyo continues to sideline its pacifist constitution, its massive defense force could quickly evolve into one of the most deadly offensive forces on Earth. For more information on the future of the Japanese military in world affairs, read our February 2003 Trumpet article “Japan’s Place in the Future.”

Anglo-America

Shocking news broke this week when President-elect Barack Obama chose Leon Panetta, who was chief of staff for former President Clinton, to be the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Besides revealing the liberal bias of the cbs television network, the following exchange from Wednesday reveals a catastrophic lack of wisdom in the incoming administration. cbs co-host Harry Smith: “Is [Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein’s opposition to the appointment] just the way of the Senate saying you’ve got to go through us first? Or is there real opposition to Leon Panetta?” Liberal magazine The New Republic editor Michael Crowley answered, “Now, a little bit controversial here … some people are concerned that Panetta does not have an intelligence background. Has never worked at the agency, never had a national security-specific job.” Defending the idea of placing a complete novice in charge of one of the key agencies protecting America from terrorism and other attacks, Crowley added, “Other people say he is a competent, tough good organizer, and someone Obama trusts. So, looks like he’s going to have a smooth confirmation after a little bit of initial complaints.” Smith agreed, saying, “Somebody who can connect the dots, maybe. That’s the most important thing.” The Trumpet recognizes the shortsighted appointment of an individual qualified only as an “organizer” who can “connect the dots” to head the cia in a time of war and in the face of potentially nuclear terrorism as a landmark moment in American history that will directly affect the length of its future history.

International investors will soon dump U.S. assets, a former Bank of England policymaker has said. On Monday, Willem Buiter wrote in the Financial Times, “There will, before long (my best guess is between two and five years from now), be a global dumping of U.S. dollar assets, including U.S. government assets. Old habits die hard. The U.S. dollar and U.S. treasury bills and bonds are still viewed as a safe haven by many. But learning takes place.” Americans should ready themselves for a massive devaluation in the dollar when international investors dump their holdings, especially in view of American politicians trumpeting “borrow and spend your way out of recession” policies to uphold the stratospheric standard of living.

In related news, Obama warned Thursday of dire consequences if Congress does not pass his upcoming economic stimulus plan and do so quickly. Obama said that if his up-to-$800 billion plan is not implemented quickly, a “generation” of lost wages and doubled-digit unemployment will result. “For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs. More families will lose their savings. More dreams will be deferred and denied,” Obama said. “And our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.” The Trumpet contends that the American economy is already past the point of no return.

A California headline this week comes from Oakland, where protests over the apparently homicidal shooting of an unarmed man by police turned violent Wednesday night, with protestors breaking windows, setting fires and attacking police. Over 100 protestors and rioters were arrested.