The Week in Review
Middle East
According to an EU internal document, “Israel has left Palestinian neighborhoods ever more isolated” and “by legal and practical means, is actively pursuing its annexation by systematically undermining the Palestinian presence in the city.” The report, published by top European Union officials in Israel, was sent to EU Consuls General. The document suggests that EU observers be present during Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem. The diplomats further advise that Brussels should “ensure EU intervention when Palestinians are arrested or intimidated by Israeli authorities for peaceful cultural, social or political activities in East Jerusalem.” Haaretz reports, “The far-ranging sharply worded recommendations in the report … reflect a dramatic, negative change in the international community’s attitude toward Israel in general, and East Jerusalem in particular.” In the months and years ahead, we fully expect Europe to intensify its efforts to establish a presence in Jerusalem—and for Israel to accommodate those intentions. But as this internal document reveals—to say nothing of what’s revealed in Bible prophecy or secular history—it has all the trappings of a Trojan horse.
Israel also continues to lose support from Turkey. A survey conducted by the Metropol Educational Institution has found that 63 percent of Turks believe Turkey’s ties with Israel should be severed. Turkey was once Israel’s strongest ally in the Middle East. Now, according to the poll respondents, Israel is the second-most dangerous threat to Turkey’s sovereignty (the United States is first). Last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman blamed the soured relationship on the Turks and refused to let Israel be a “punching bag.”
A new poll has found that more Palestinians living in East Jerusalem would prefer to be Israeli citizens than citizens of a Palestinian state. The Washington Post writes, “The survey, which was designed and supervised by former State Department Middle East researcher David Pollock, found that only 30 percent said they would prefer to be citizens of Palestine in a two-state solution, while 35 percent said they would choose Israeli citizenship. (The rest said they didn’t know or refused to answer.) Forty percent said they would consider moving to another neighborhood in order to become a citizen of Israel rather than Palestine, and 54 percent said that if their neighborhood were assigned to Israel, they would not move to Palestine.”
Ministers from the Islamic terrorist group Hezbollah and its allies resigned on Wednesday, toppling the Lebanese government. The 11 cabinet members resigned in protest of Lebanon’s involvement in the United Nations tribunal investigating the death of the current prime minister’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. The tribunal is expected to soon indict several Hezbollah members for their involvement in the murder. Stratfor reports that by forcing the collapse of the government, Hezbollah has prevented Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri from dealing with the tribunal as an official representative of the country (January 12). Hezbollah’s move has paralyzed the government and is destabilizing the country. The stalemate within the government had already prevented it from making decisions, and this will just cause further political turmoil and possibly lead to violence. Lebanese leaders agreed Thursday to start talks on Monday on building a new government, but it is generally believed a new cabinet will not be formed until a compromise is agreed on the tribunal issue. This situation once again clearly shows the political power Hezbollah has in Lebanon, in addition to its firepower.
Europe
Portugal survived another week without taking a bailout, but those weeks seem to be numbered. Germany and France are pressuring Portugal to accept an EU bailout package, according to anonymous sources cited by Spiegel, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. Portugal, Germany and France all vehemently deny this. Portugal managed to raise over a billion euros at a bond auction on January 12. However, it had to pay an interest rate of around 6.8 percent—a level many analysts see as unstable. If Portugal falls, the European Union can bail it out. But Spain, Italy and even Belgium are also at risk. Spain’s economy is twice the size of Portugal, Ireland and Greece put together. The EU can’t afford to bail out the bigger countries. According to Germany’s Die Welt, European officials are considering increasing the size of the bailout fund. But even that will probably not be enough to fix Europe’s problems. The current euro system is simply not sustainable. Portugal is poised to be the next domino to fall, and there will be more.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi lost his immunity from prosecution on January 13 as Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled that cabinet members do not have automatic immunity from prosecution. It did say, however, that a presiding judge could agree to delay a trial until the politician concerned is out of office. This means that Berlusconi could be back in court, where he is accused of bribing a British lawyer, David Mills. This adds another complication to Berlusconi’s tenuous hold on Italy’s government.
German politicians are becoming increasingly vocal on behalf of Christians persecuted in the Middle East and Africa. On January 5, governor of the State of Lower Saxony David McAllister told Bishop Anba Damian, head of the Coptic Christian Church in Germany, “Our solidarity is with those who are persecuted because of their faith.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel made similar statements, saying “we are all obligated to stand up for religious freedom,” and called for “the persecution of Christians to be combated wherever it takes place.” The parliamentary floor leader of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union issued a statement, saying: “It is a sad truth that Christians are mainly persecuted in countries where Muslims are in the majority.” Expect Germany to become more vocal, and even more active, in its support for Christians around the world.
Asia
On January 1, a torrent of crude oil began to flow from Russia into China, marking the official start of the Russia-China oil pipeline’s operations. The extensive global media coverage of the pipeline’s opening underscores how revolutionary the development is: It is the first time for crude oil to flow directly from Russia, the largest oil producer on the globe, into China, the world’s number one energy consumer. Although Moscow and Beijing discussed a direct oil pipeline for years, the talks normally bogged down in arguments over when and where to build it, which side would finance construction and maintenance, and other logistics. In light of these years of dithering, the newfound decisiveness that culminated in the Russia-China oil pipeline takes on great significance. The International Business Times said, “It’s thus easy to imagine China, one of the largest buyers of energy, and Russia, a leading exporter of it, becoming natural friends” (January 11). As the two nations take further economic strides toward each other with the opening of this pipeline, the alliance between Russia and China is growing stronger every month.
On Tuesday, one day after China unveiled its stealth jet fighter, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates advised the Japanese government that Japan should buy stealth fighters of its own to bolster its air force. Although Beijing claims it did not mean the test flights to be a show of force, Gates called on Japan, China’s most capable and militaristically powerful neighbor, to boost its air force power by buying new F-35 jets to take the place of its fleet of outdated F-4 Phantom jets. Gates told Japanese officials that he had a “few suggestions” for how Tokyo might get a better price on the F-35, which normally goes for $95 million per jet, and Japan plans to purchase around 40 units from Washington. Asia’s self-perpetuating military spending boosts are the result of hostilities between Asian nations, but all of the amassing military might will soon be pooled together and turned against a colossal European enemy.
Latin America/Africa
The Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference said that President Hugo Chávez is trying to create a totalitarian state in Venezuela and called on him to give up the power to create laws by decree in a statement published on January 11. At the end of last year, Venezuela’s national assembly granted Chávez special lawmaking powers for 18 months. Watch for the Vatican to play a more active role in moving Latin America closer to Europe—a goal that will involve trying to silence troublemakers.
At least 443 people died in floods in Brazil after a month’s worth of rain fell in 24 hours on January 11. Mudslides swept away homes and buildings, probably causing billions of dollars worth of damage. Expect natural disasters to continue to increase. See our Dec. 29, 2010, article “The Year the Earth Struck Back” for more information.
Eighteen Christians died in central Nigeria on January 10 and 11 as Muslim Fulani tribesmen attacked four non-Muslim villages, burning down a church and destroying at least a dozen houses. “The attackers used weapons including guns, machetes, daggers, bows and arrows to attack their victims who were reportedly taken unawares,” said a Nigerian press report. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini stated: “The dramatic news from Nigeria, where once again innocent lives have been destroyed by attacks targeting the Christian community, shows that the phenomenon of religious intolerance is widespread and of a vast scale.” Watch for the Vatican to respond to this kind of violence against Christians in the Middle East and Africa.
Anglo-America
The big news in the Anglo-sphere this week was the dramatic flooding inundating Australia’s third-largest city of Brisbane. Australian media called it a disaster of “biblical proportions.” Damage estimates set at $5 billion prior to the Brisbane flooding are now soaring much higher. The region affected in the state of Queensland covers a geographical area greater than Germany and France combined, and includes over 40,000 structures that have been inundated in the Brisbane area alone—many of them to their roof tiles. As of Friday, authorities were allowing people back into Brisbane’s central business district. Over 70 towns and cities remain cut off since roads and railways are completely washed out. The state’s important coal industry is largely shuttered, pushing coal prices to two-year highs. Global food prices have already risen and may rise further as the extent of damage becomes more evident. Sixteen people are confirmed dead, with 53 more missing.
While Australia was deluged, the United States got hit with its second major snowstorm of the year on Wednesday. All but one of the 50 states (Florida) reported snow cover. New York’s Central Park received another 9 inches on top of the 20 inches it received less than two weeks earlier. Boston and New England experienced heavy thunder and lightning along with 12 to 14 inches of snow. Massachusetts declared a state of emergency after snow levels neared 30 inches in the western part of the state. Springfield received its heaviest snowfall in over 30 years. This second massive snowstorm added additional chaos for travelers as thousands of flights across the country were grounded again.
On Thursday, both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s credit rating agencies warned that America may soon lose its “AAA” credit rating if it doesn’t start addressing both its deficit and-long term budget issues. The warning largely fell on deaf ears, as investors bought another $13 billion worth of 30-year federal government debt. America continues to benefit from Europe’s debt crisis, says Brian Yelvington, chief fixed-income strategist at Knight Capital. But once Europe resolves its problems, America could be in for skyrocketing interest rates, price inflation, and a falling dollar—as safe haven money flows back out. America is living on borrowed time.
In another sign of the times, Channel 3 News in Memphis reported that 90 girls at Fraser High School are either pregnant or recently gave birth—that is 26 percent of the student population. It is a disturbing trend that goes far beyond one school. Across the city, a shocking one in seven teenagers is pregnant. It is strong evidence of the failure of America’s liberal sex-education policies—which operate under the assumption that youths are going to have sex anyway, so why not provide a safe environment for them to do so. Free condoms and birth control may prevent some pregnancies, but it does nothing to protect the mental and spiritual well-being of fornicating teenagers. It is also evidence of the dramatic breakdown of the traditional American family—which is institutionalizing a culture of multi-generational fatherlessness.
In other news, Realty Trac reported on Thursday that over 1 million homes were foreclosed upon in the U.S. in 2010—setting a new record. Analysts expect 2011 to be even worse as banks have delayed the foreclosure process due to the robo-signing scandal. Banks already have $7 billion worth of foreclosed property on their books, while the federal government owns $24 billion worth of foreclosed homes. Home prices may fall another 20 percent nationally before getting back to the long-term historical average. America’s housing woes are a grim warning to Australia, Canada and New Zealand—three countries with bubble housing markets remarkably similar to America’s prior to the crash.
