Middle East

Iran’s Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant was brought a step closer to coming online on February 25 when Tehran started running tests at the facility. The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has said the tests will take four to seven months. In addition to advancing Iran’s nuclear program, this progress demonstrates the continuing leverage of Russia—which supplies Iran with the fuel for the reactor—in its dealings with the U.S.

Meanwhile, Iran has accumulated over a ton of low enriched uranium hexafluoride at its nuclear facility in Natanz, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency report released last week. If this quantity of uranium is further enriched, it could yield more than 44 pounds of fissile material—enough for a nuclear bomb. David Albright, the head of the Institute for Science and International Security, said, “If Iran did decide to build nuclear weapons, it’s entering an era in which it could do so quickly.”

Two explosions occurred in a bazaar in Egypt’s capital on February 22, killing one person and wounding 17, mostly foreign tourists. According to Stratfor, an Egyptian security source believes the attack in Cairo was carried out by a split-off of one of the main Islamist groups in Egypt that model themselves after al Qaeda. The attack also comes as Iran appears to be stepping up its covert involvement in the country through Hezbollah. Stratfor reports: “An Egyptian security source told Stratfor that Egyptian authorities recently uncovered a group of militants from Lebanon in the northern Egyptian port of al-Arish who were smuggling weapons into the country. Last week, Stratfor also came across information, which could not be verified, of Hezbollah sending military hardware to Islamist militant groups in Egypt” (February 22). Watch for increasing Iranian support for the Islamists in Egypt, and possibly even involvement in a future regime change in that country. Bible prophecy indicates an alliance between these two nations in the end time.

In other Mideast news, two rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon on February 21, most likely by Hezbollah. Also, Benjamin Netanyahu, chosen by Israel’s president to form a new government, is still battling in that endeavor. It appears increasingly likely that a right-wing coalition will be the final result.

Europe

The global financial crisis claimed its first EU victim as Latvia’s government resigned February 20. Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis submitted his resignation to the president after the two largest parties in the ruling four-party coalition demanded that he go. President Valdis Zatlers said his country may even need snap elections to restore political order. Latvia has been hit hard by the financial crisis. On January 13 it experienced its worst protest since the fall of the ussr. What began as a peaceful protest of around 10,000 disgruntled citizens turned violent as the main demonstration drew to a close. Rioters smashed shop windows, looted stores, tried to storm parliament, and clashed with the police. Many Latvians are worried about their future. Their economy shrank by 10.5 percent in 2008, and it is expected to shrink by another 12 percent this year. Social unrest caused by the credit crisis is a trend to watch. A whole swath of right-wing parties took power in the wake of economic collapse and unrest in the 1929 Depression.

In a sign that the economic crisis is pushing European states closer together, Romania announced on February 25 that it wants to adopt the euro before its current target of 2014. A day earlier, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said that the European Union should relax the rules on adopting the euro to allow other countries to adopt the common currency faster.

The economies of Eastern Europe are in dire trouble. They have borrowed $1.7 trillion from abroad, mostly in the form of short-term debt. $400 billion—around one third of the region’s total gross domestic product—must be paid back or rolled over this year. Watch for these nations to look to the EU, and Germany in particular, for the solution to their problems.

Asia

The number of American troops stationed in Japan should be cut as Tokyo takes on more responsibility for its own defense, Japanese opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa said on Tuesday. “I think putting Japan-based troops on the front line does not have much significance in times like these, and the 7th Fleet would be enough for the U.S. presence in the Far East from a strategic viewpoint,” Ozawa said. “The Americans’ role should become smaller if Japan has a decent strategy for dealing with global issues and shares greater burdens at least on matters associated with our country.” This declaration came just a week after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed an agreement with the Japanese government to transfer 8,000 U.S. Marines from Japan to the U.S. territory of Guam. Japan is building up its military forces and forging stronger ties with its East Asian neighbors. As a result, the Japanese have less need for American defense forces to be stationed on Japanese territory. The day is coming when American troops in Japan will be expelled completely. To find out the significance of this development, read “America’s Loss—Asia’s Gain” from our November/December 2007 Trumpet.

Africa, Latin America

Zimbabwe’s inflation can no longer be figured without a scientific calculator: Some economists estimate inflation has reached 10 sextillion percent. In the tradition that helped Harare reach that number, the government seized 77 more white-owned farms in the last two weeks. These seizures were the government’s response to a Southern African Development Community Tribunal ruling in November that the government policy of seizing white-owned property for redistribution to indigenous blacks was discriminatory and illegal.

Bolivia is suffering its worst epidemic in this generation: Nearly 30,000 have contracted dengue fever in the past two months. The disease has begun to spread to neighboring countries as well. Paraguay has reported 191 cases, Argentina reports 78, and Chile has reported its first case. The disease, which is spread by mosquitoes, is rarely fatal—with nearly 30,000 sufferers, Bolivia reports only 18 deaths—but with such a high contraction rate, it is a serious national health crisis.

The Catholic Church is becoming more proactive in Latin America. The Pontifical Commission for Latin America released a statement for Hispanic-American Day (March 1) which alerts Catholics to “an urgent necessity to bring the light of the gospel to public, cultural, economic and political life” in Latin America. It also says that “Latin America needs to recover and reaffirm the Christian values that lie at the root of its culture and traditions.” Watch closely as the Vatican becomes more aggressive in political affairs in Latin America as well as within Europe.

Anglo-America

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, a man whose every word is analyzed by investors, kept an upbeat tone on Tuesday, saying the recession might end this year and that regulators are not planning to nationalize banks. About the Fed’s scramble to fix the economic sector, he said: “We’re not making it up.” Talking up the economy, however—no matter what the real facts are—is part of the job description.

Newsweek magazine made a similarly startling admission about the office of the president. In its 10th Obama cover story in four months, the magazine labeled him “therapist in chief,” a confidence man in charge of keeping Americans upbeat no matter what. Newsweek opined that the president is “poised to bring us back from the brink” and described “how Obama can talk us out of a depression.” Watch for facts more than rhetoric to determine America’s economic future.

President Obama delivered a major speech on Tuesday to Congress and the nation, emphasizing the ailing economy and talking about the need to insure America’s uninsured, among other things. The president followed up by announcing that his budget will include $634 billion to expand health coverage. The Trumpet expects matters to get worse the further the nation sinks away from God.

U.S. treasuries could take a backseat to a new euro bond as the international investment of choice if some Eurocrats get their way. The idea has been met with significant resistance from Germany and indifference from other nations. If it were successful, however, it could be the beginning of the end for the U.S. dollar. One way or another, Europe will rise to replace the vacuum the United States has left as the world’s economic superpower.