Middle East

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Monday. While the meeting was cordial on the surface, it reflected a growing divide between the United States and Israel. While the peace process and Iran’s nuclear program were top of the agenda, the two leaders look at these issues very differently. In Netanyahu’s view, the Iranian threat must first be removed before meaningful headway can be made in seeking peace with the Palestinians. Obama countered that the nuclear issue must take a backseat to the peace process. If the Palestinians get a state before Iran is neutralized, however, the threat to Israel’s existence grows significantly. President Obama is taking this position largely because he wants a partnership with Iran. Read Joel Hilliker’s column this week for more.

Meanwhile, Iran claims it successfully tested a new medium-range solid-fuel ballistic missile on Wednesday that could hit Israel and possibly Europe. Associated Press reports that “The launch raised concerns about the sophistication of Tehran’s missile program.”

Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah is also growing in power ahead of Lebanese elections June 7, in which it is widely expected to make strong gains. The Associated Press reported Thursday that Arab states are growing alarmed over Hezbollah’s reach and Iran’s power. Egypt has accused Hezbollah of planning attacks within the country; Yemen has accused Hezbollah of training Shiite rebels there; Saudi Arabia has voiced concern over Iran’s growing influence in the region; and Morocco accuses Iran of spreading Shiite influence in that country. “The double whammy by Hezbollah—of growing political influence at home, coupled with more outreach abroad—has put the squeeze on traditional but waning Arab powers like Egypt, already rattled by President Barack Obama’s outreach to their foe Iran,” AP said.

In Afghanistan, weapons and ammunition given to the Afghan security forces by the U.S. are falling into the hand of the Taliban, the New York Times reported May 19. “Of 30 rifle magazines recently taken from insurgents’ corpses, at least 17 contained cartridges, or rounds, identical to ammunition the United States had provided to Afghan government forces,” the Times said. Military officials, arms analysts and dealers say that poor Afghan oversight of arms inventories together with corruption in the Afghan forces may have helped keep the Taliban supplied with weapons and ammunition during the eight-year conflict. This is the result of America relying on the support of dubious allies to help fight its battles.

Europe

Economic data released May 15 shows that Europe’s economy is actually doing far worse than many economists originally thought. Germany is now in the deepest recession of any major economy. Italy, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands are suffering the worst slump since World War ii. During the first three months of this year, Germany’s economy shrank by 3.8 percent, the largest drop since Germany began keeping gdp data in 1970. Austria and the Netherlands shrank by 2.8 percent, Italy by 2.4 percent, Spain by 1.8 percent and France by 1.2 percent. These decreases in gdp are putting pressure on governments to cut spending. A total of 350,000 people marched in the streets of Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, Prague and other cities last weekend as part of a series of demonstrations calling for greater job protection. If the governments of Europe cut spending, far more people will come out and protest. For more on Europe’s future, read our Dec. 31, 2008, article “Did the Holy Roman Empire Plan the Greek Crisis?”

Italian automaker Fiat SpA is on a global shopping spree. On April 30, Fiat took over management of bankrupt U.S. auto giant Chrysler llc. Now Fiat ceo Sergio Marchionne is meeting senior German and American officials with a plan to take control of General Motors operations in Europe, South Africa and Latin America. If this plan goes through, it would put power over several traditionally American-dominated markets in the hands of the European Union. Fiat, however, needs public funding to make this colossal merger happen. That is why Marchionne is seeking up to $9 billion in loan guarantees from European governments. Most of this money would come from Germany. Whether this particular deal goes through or not, it is extremely significant that American automotive officials are now looking to transfer key assets to European countries. For more on where this trend will lead, read our March 2006 Trumpet article “Superpower Under Siege.”

“Ruling parties in some of the EU’s biggest member states are coming under heavy fire in EU election campaigns, giving Euroskeptic groups a chance to grab attention,” reported the EU Observer this week. European parliamentary elections take place in June, and Euroskeptic groups like Britain’s United Kingdom Independence Party are likely to do well. Across the EU, mainstream parties are experiencing scandals, meaning that smaller Euroskeptic groups may grab a greater share of the vote. Watch this trend—biblical prophecy informs us that Europe will soon be whittled down to 10 core nations or blocs.

Asia

The Kremlin has created a special commission designed to counter perceived anti-Russian propaganda within the former Soviet Union. In a decree made public on Tuesday, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev ordered the commission to investigate and counter “falsified” versions of history that could damage Russia’s international prestige. Critics are calling this commission a return to Soviet-era controls. The ruling United Russia party has also proposed new legislation that would mandate a jail term of three to five years for anyone in the former Soviet Union accused of rehabilitating Nazism. There are those in Latvia and Estonia who have already been accused by the Kremlin for rehabilitating Nazism because they said that the Soviet army was an occupying force. Russia is returning to authoritarianism and Soviet-era propaganda techniques. Biblical prophecy clearly describes the inevitable return of Russia as a great power. Under Vladimir Putin, we are witnessing this transformation take place before our eyes.

Latin America/Africa

Brazilian and Chinese officials signed 13 strategic accords during a Brazilian delegation’s visit to Beijing ending May 20. Beijing agreed to loan $10 billion to state oil company Petrobras, which will deliver 200,000 barrels of oil per day to China for the coming decade. The two governments are considering conducting trade in their own currencies instead of U.S. dollars. Latin American countries continue to look for alternatives to a dwindling U.S. economy. While both China and Brazil still rely on the U.S. as a main export market, the time is coming when they will not be able to sell to a country that has no money.

In the last year, at least 700 people have died in Zimbabwe’s Chikurubi prison—over half of its population. United Press International wrote May 19: “About 100 rat-mutilated bodies were stacked up in the prison mortuary waiting to be claimed or buried in pauper’s graves within the prison walls.” Zimbabwe’s Standard reported that the collapse of the economy had resulted in food and medical care being cut off for Chikurubi inmates. Meanwhile, the power-sharing government is still not fully in place, with the posts of central bank governor and attorney general still deadlocked. For a look at how Zimbabwe went from the jewel of Africa to probably its worst basket case, read “Winds of Change.”

Anglo-America

Thousands of Irish youngsters who are now grown are finally seeing their appalling childhood come to light. On Wednesday, the Irish Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse released its findings. The inquiry found that thousands of Irish children, especially boys, were terribly abused by Catholic priests, monks and nuns at the state-run schools where they grew up. The inquiry, which battled government lack of cooperation and took almost 10 years to complete, used a “mountain of testimony” to report “a house of horrors,” the Times Online reported. A marriage of convenience between church and state meant cash grants for the Catholic-run schools. Church leaders sent much of the profits to Rome. Meanwhile, according to an interim report published in 2003, children were “beaten on every part of their body,” exactingly interrogated, caused to go hungry, deprived of clean clothes, denied proper hygienic facilities, and were subjected to pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment, as well as unchecked bullying. Children were also subjected to a terrorizing list of sexual abuses. The report is convicting testimony against a 1-billion-strong organization that claims to represent the pure, kind, holy and loving God.

The number of young people with sexually transmitted infections (stis) has increased dramatically over the past few years in Britain, according to government figures. The number of children under age 16 diagnosed with stis rose 58 percent from 2003 to 2007—from 2,474 to 3,913. Around half of all newly diagnosed stis in the UK are found in people ages 18 to 24. In 2007, the chlamydia screening program found that nearly 1 in 10 sexually active young women had the infection. For men, the figure was 1 in 12. Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said, “The number of youngsters contacting stis is very disturbing. Children must be informed about the risks involved in sexual relationships and taught how to be safe. … The government has slashed public health spending over recent years. This short-sightedness is putting a whole generation at risk of a sexual health crisis.” In truth, throwing more money and licentiousness at the cancer of British immorality will only worsen the problem.