The Week in Review
Middle East
Israeli Mossad chief Meir Dagan told the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense committee on June 1 that strategic ties between Jerusalem and Washington have been slowly changing since the end of the Cold War. “Bit by bit, Israel is becoming less of a strategic asset for America,” Dagan said. This trend has accelerated as America’s focus in the Middle East has shifted to extricating itself from Iraq and Afghanistan. Washington has taken on a less confrontation approach toward Tehran, recognizing the need for Iran’s cooperation to stabilize both conflict zones. This in turn has affected its relationship with Israel, which sees Iran as an existential threat. The Trumpet has repeatedly warned that the U.S.-Israeli collision course is near, based on a prophecy in Zechariah 11:14 and other scriptures.
On Monday, nine “activists” were killed when Israeli Navy commandos boarded the flotilla of Turkish ships bound for the Gaza Strip allegedly to deliver aid. The action drew international condemnation, with countries calling on Israel to lift the sea blockade on Gaza. With details still hazy, the incident quickly turned into a media battle. While world opinion condemned Israel of violence, the less-known facts revealed that activists on board the vessels were armed and waiting to ambush the Israeli commandos when they boarded. American Thinker summarized the incident thus: “… Israeli commandos boarded a flotilla of vessels illegally heading to Gaza for purported ‘humanitarian purposes.’ What followed was quickly labeled by world leaders as a ‘massacre’ as the Israeli soldiers were forced to fire weapons in order to defend themselves from attacks as they boarded the vessel” (June 1). Arab media reported that among the flotilla participants were members of the Muslim Brotherhood from a number of countries, and other “activists” who support armed resistance. It is evident that the flotilla organizers deliberately planned to provoke an Israeli response in order to receive maximum media attention and hurt Israel politically. Israel won control of the ships and diverted them to Ashdod. Though it released the nearly 700 activists, most of them Turkish, and refrained from prosecuting any of those who attacked the commandos, international criticism of Israel continues to grow. Stratfor says that calls for sanctions against Israel will come next. The Turkish parliament has called for a review of its ties to Israel, with the Turkish president labeling Israel’s actions a crime against humanity and saying Israeli-Turkish relations will never be the same, according to cnn Türk. Once again, we see Israel isolated as it simply attempts to defend its sovereignty and protect its people.
Europe
As Europe’s financial crisis persists, Bloomberg reported Friday that the central banks of the G-20 nations are delaying their withdrawal of emergency stimulus. The Continent’s debt crisis has shaken financial markets, and bankers are endeavoring to keep borrowing rates low in an effort not to threaten a European and world economic recovery.
German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said recently that he is debating the hot issue of conscription. In an effort to cut back military expenditures, Guttenberg is planning to suspend the draft, a German defense official said. The defense minister has called for cutting €1 billion from the budget, 100,000 troops, and some major purchases. Although these indicators seem to show that Germany is moving away from a strong military, the Trumpet predicts that Germany will soon shock the world and build the Earth’s most powerful military—and use it.
German President Horst Köhler abruptly and literally left his office on Monday. The role is largely ceremonial, but the resignation has shaken up the government. The coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who helped install him in 2004, was already struggling. Merkel’s coalition recently lost elections in Germany’s most populous state and in its upper house of parliament. Watch closely to see who the next German president will be.
Asia
Russian and European Union leaders held a summit in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Monday and Tuesday, with economic crisis nudging both sides toward greater economic cooperation. The meeting was the first between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and EU President Herman Van Rompuy since the Lisbon Treaty came into force last year. The two parties launched a modernization partnership program designed to streamline and diversify Moscow’s economy, and an agreement giving Moscow easier access to Western knowledge and technology. The summit emphasized trade and economic issues, and discussions of a new Euro-Atlantic security framework. It also yielded some progress toward establishing visa-free travel between Russia and the EU. Medvedev called the warming relationship a “new form of cooperation with united Europe.” Each party has good cause to be exploring new forms of partnership with the other at this time. The crises-hit EU needs Russia, which has almost half its currency reserves in euros, to remain invested in the European currency. Meanwhile, Russia wishes to secure its position as Europe’s primary energy source, which has been threatened by cheaper prices from Middle Eastern suppliers and the EU’s possible development of shale gas. But is there more behind the budding relations? Germany, the kingpin of the EU, and Russia have a steady history of conflict. They have experienced seasons of partnership, like the Treaty of Rapallo of 1922 and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. Each of these seasons was fleeting, and forged in a prologue to global conflict. History is clear in teaching that Germany and Russia are not comrades, and that any appearance of cooperation between these powers is an omen of conflict on the horizon.
On Wednesday, Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama announced his resignation to members of the Democratic Party of Japan (dpj), which he leads, after he came under fire for failure to follow through on the dpj’s campaign promise to remove a U.S. military base from Okinawa. Hatoyama’s ruling coalition was weakened when the Social Democratic Party broke away after his political failure, and his resignation is expected to rejuvenate the dpj ahead of next month’s elections in Japan’s upper legislative house, keeping the party in power. On Friday, former Finance Minister Naoto Kan was named the nation’s fifth prime minister in less than four years. Japan’s democracy has had more than 30 prime ministers over the 63 years since World War ii. Although the nation’s geographical, security, and economic constraints make drastic changes in Tokyo difficult for individual politicians to effect, Kan has said he will make a “big and sustained” effort to reduce Okinawa’s burden in hosting the U.S. base. Kan also said “the course we need to take is to maintain a trusting relationship with the United States and at the same time to consider China as equally important. I think that’s the right course for Japan’s future as well” (emphasis ours). On the surface, Hatoyama’s resignation gives Japan the appearance of swinging back toward its U.S. relationship, but the new leader could be key in reorienting Tokyo’s foreign policy with the emerging power in Beijing.
Latin America
Stratfor reports an alleged meeting between representatives of 12 insurance companies last week and a member of the Gulf cartel. The cartel member proposed a “business agreement” between the companies and the cartel in which they would pay a monthly fee to avoid being targeted. As the still-massive flow of drugs through Mexico has been restricted by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, crime rings have expanded their “business” into other areas, including kidnapping and extortion.
Cuba and Venezuela may have become much closer than previously realized. According to Associated Press, Cuban officers have “sat in high-level meetings, trained snipers, gained detailed knowledge of communications and advised the military on underground bunkers built to store and conceal weapons” in Venezuela. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez himself claims the two countries are so close as to be “one single nation.” Retired general Antonio Rivero warns that Cubans could become part of a guerrilla force if Chavez were to be voted out of office. “They know where our weapons are, they know where our command offices are, they know where our vital areas of communications are,” he said. The two countries, both led by outspoken enemies of the Unites States, are definitely drawing closer to each other—and to Iran. The Globalist warns of weekly flights connecting Caracas and Tehran that “while ostensibly commercial, accept no commercial passengers—and they unload official passengers and cargo without any immigration or customs controls.” Iranian investments in Latin America currently exceed $20 billion.
Anglo-America
The Times Online reported last Friday that Britain has produced “an emasculated generation who can find neither work nor a wife.” The collapse of British manufacturing, combined with the nation’s gigantic welfare system, has produced unemployed, unmarriageable men. One in seven working-age households are dependent on the state for half their income. More than one in two single parents get at least half their income from the state.
A seemingly harmless taxi driver in the rural county of Cumbria has killed 12 friends, co-workers and complete strangers. Derrick Bird, 52, had recently become a grandfather. He had an apparently normal upbringing and was liked by neighbors and friends. But on Wednesday, Bird killed his twin brother and the family lawyer, drove to work and killed friends and colleagues, then drove about, beckoning some victims to his car to shoot them and killing others trimming hedges, carrying shopping bags, passing on bicycles. A dozen died and 25 were wounded. The killing spree that has plunged Britain into mourning ended in the woods where Bird killed himself.
The credit rating for British and American-owned BP fell on Thursday and was downgraded to a negative watch. BP said this week it has spent $1 billion on the disaster, but some estimates say it could cost up to $37 billion.
The White House is under criticism for running machine politics this week. A week ago, it confirmed that it had offered Democrat Joe Sestak a different job if he would stop running for the Senate and clear the way for its preferred candidate. On Thursday, the administration admitted that it had done the same thing in a Colorado Senate race, but claimed it did nothing illegal.
The U.S. Treasury Department reported Wednesday that the federal government debt has now topped more than $13 trillion. The figure on Tuesday was up $60 billion from last Friday.
Less than two weeks after U.S. drones killed one of the highest-ranking terrorists in Afghanistan, the United Nations has issued a blistering report attacking the legal basis for drone operations. The White House has increased the use of drones in the past two years, but the UN criticizes the use of private contractors at the cia to operate the craft in other nations, warning against a “PlayStation” mentality that could spiral out of control if the 40 other countries with drones eventually join in.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported Tuesday that on January 11 as many as 10,000 gps receivers became useless for days when incompatible software was installed in the system’s ground control. The military relies heavily on more than 800,000 of the devices. “Everything that moves uses it,” one expert said, calling it “so central to the American style of war.” “Because gps makes weapons more accurate, the military needs fewer warheads and fewer personnel to take out targets. But a leaner, gps-dependent military becomes dangerously vulnerable if the technology is knocked out,” the AP said. For this reason, other nations are constantly seeking a way to disrupt the system, which was launched in the 1970s.
