Middle East

High-level representatives of the Palestinian Authority and Iran held an official meeting for the first time last week. Senior pa negotiator Saeb Erekat and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met on the sidelines of a meeting of non-aligned nations. An Israeli official quoted by Agence France-Presse denounced the meeting, saying the pa apparently “has no qualms about meeting the most extremist and violent enemies of peace.” Western nations continue to send the Fatah-controlled pa hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and train its security forces because they view the pa as a moderate alternative to the Hamas terrorists. However, Fatah still hasn’t renounced its terrorist ways, nor recognized Israel’s right to exist—and now it is meeting with Iran, the greatest state sponsor of terror. Erekat told pa media that the two discussed internal pa issues, primarily the ongoing tension between Fatah and Hamas. For Iran, a stronger relationship with the pa—not to mention a possible Iranian-sponsored unified front between Hamas and Fatah—would mean a greater ability to gain influence in the West Bank—and Jerusalem.

In the wake of the election unrest in Iran, there are indications Tehran and Moscow may be strengthening ties, says Stratfor. Among them: possible Iranian-Russian collaboration on electoral tactics, and recent “Death to Russia” chants by opponents of Ahmadinejad. The Rafsanjani faction accuses the Russians of helping Ahmadinejad prepare for the unrest and advising him how to handle it. If this is true, America’s dealings with both countries might be about to get a lot more complicated. If Iranian-Russian cooperation is stepped up, both countries’ leverage would increase. It could also lead to increased military support for Iran from Russia. It would become much more difficult for the U.S. to contain both a resurgent Russia and a nuclear-aspiring Iran.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki visited with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday. The meeting came three weeks after U.S. troops pulled out of Iraqi cities and towns. All combat troops are scheduled to leave Iraq by August next year. President Obama said he pressed Maliki to include in his government and security forces all ethnic and religious groups to prevent a resurgence of ethnic violence in Iraq. The reality is, however, that with the U.S. retreating, Maliki’s Shiite-dominated government will likely make more concessions to neighboring Shiite Iran than to the Sunnis and Kurds.

Europe

The German-Russian relationship continues to blossom. The latest developments, announced after meetings between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Munich last week, include a joint energy agency, a trade agreement and greater cooperation in the field of science. For Merkel, the founding of a German-Russian energy agency is one of the most important results of the meeting. In exchange for energy security, Merkel said that Germany would provide credit insurance to promote bilateral trade between Germany and Russia, which has seen trade collapse during the economic crisis. This growing relationship is noteworthy; as the Trumpet has explained, a burgeoning German-Russian relationship has historically been an indicator that either Berlin or Moscow, or both, are preparing for conflict.

Three days of severe riots ripped through France last week, which celebrated Bastille Day on the 14th. Sparked by the worsening economic downturn, the outbreaks were so severe, according to the Brussels Journal, that the French Interior Ministry ordered city officials not to communicate any crime statistics to the media for the nights of July 13 to 15. The French daily Le Monde reported that more than 500 vehicles were fire-bombed on the nights of July 13 and 14, marking the worst Bastille Day protest ever. Much of the rioting appears to have originated with angry Muslims and powerful union elements. With economic hardship expected to worsen across the Continent in coming months, the risk of riots and social unrest remains high in France, and across Europe. Watch Europe’s social turbulence carefully; it is creating ideal conditions for the emergence of more extreme forms of leadership on the Continent.

Four disgruntled dairy farmers from Germany loaded their tractors and began winding their way southward last week. Their goal? To visit the Vatican and “gain a brief audience with Pope Benedict xvi so that they can urge him to help Europe’s dairy farmers,” reported Spiegel Online. Dairy farmers in Germany and across Europe are suffering from a significant drop in milk prices, with many facing bankruptcy and the loss of their livelihood. The farmers, like thousands of their counterparts across Europe, are losing faith in the ability of European politicians—both nationally and in the European Union—to solve their problems and rescue them from the brink of disaster. According to Spiegel, the “convoy of two tractors and a VW bus is traveling under the motto: ‘We have lost our faith in politics, but not in the church.’” Interestingly, two of the farmers are not even Catholic. But that doesn’t mean they don’t recognize Benedict’s authority, and the influence he wields in Europe. “The pope is there for everyone,” said one of the non-Catholic farmers. This picture highlights what will increasingly become a major trend on the Continent: disgruntled Europeans looking to the Vatican for guidance and solutions.

Asia

Japan has for the first time explicitly stated that it recognizes the need to develop space-based systems for military purposes. Japan’s Ministry of Defense, in its annual white paper on defense released July 17, has called for an expansion of the Japanese military’s capabilities, including the development of space for the purposes of national security.

Russia and China began a series of joint military exercises Wednesday. Roughly 3,000 military personnel, 300 units of military hardware and more than 40 planes and helicopters are taking part in Peace Mission-2009, which will finish Monday, reported Russian news outlet Pravda. This is the third set of military exercises between these two nations, the previous taking place in 2005 and 2007. There is a “political motive” to these drills, said Alexander Khramchikhin, director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis in Russia. “We want to show it to the usa that Russia has a strategic partner—China—and that Russia will not be following the usa’s directions.”

Latin America

The U.S. economic crash has accomplished something politicians never could: The flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico has finally slowed to its lowest level in the last decade. Census data shows that 175,000 illegal immigrants came to the U.S. in the 12-month period ending in March, down from a high of 653,000 just four years ago. Even the overall number of illegal immigrants has shrunk to 11.5 million from a high of 12 million.

Anglo-America

Congress did what perhaps no plane in the sky could do: shoot down the F-22. The United States Senate launched a devastating surface-to-air missile at the world’s most expensive fighter program on Tuesday, voting to cut off funding for the F-22 Raptor, a decision championed by President Barack Obama. This move is part of an overall change in military strategy that puts U.S. military dominance at risk. President Obama made ending the $65 billion program a cornerstone of his defense budget, threatening to veto any defense funding request for acquiring any more F-22s beyond the 187 that have already been funded. The Senate took the threat seriously and voted to end funding for any additional fighters.

The United States education system is in critical condition. “Today, America is the only industrialized nation in the world where children are less likely to graduate from high school than their parents,” noted Jim Clifton and Marguerite Kondracke in the Washington Times last Sunday. “A student drops out of high school every 26 seconds, 1.2 million children each year. Three in 10 students fail to graduate with their class, a percentage that doubles for minority, urban and low-income students.” Even among those who do graduate, “many are unprepared for college or a career.” This is a national concern, said the authors: “This country cannot succeed in the global marketplace without an educated workforce. Simply put, the high school dropout and college-readiness crisis is the greatest long-term threat to our economic security and moral authority as a nation.”

British officials announced Thursday that an estimated 100,000 Britons were infected by the H1N1 swine flu virus just last week. According to the chief medical officer, England has 840 hospitalized, 63 of them in critical condition. Children are being the hardest hit. The new National Pandemic Flu Service website was swamped and rendered inaccessible. British officials are saying the disease is approaching an epidemic, which is when the number of reported cases exceeds 200 per 100,000. The figure is now at 155.