Iranian Propaganda Film Claims Jerusalem Is About to Be Conquered

« Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad supports a new Iranian film showing the conquering of Jerusalem, which he has advocated throughout his political career.
(Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)

March 29, 2011 | From theTrumpet.com

 

A feature-length documentary film produced by a top adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims that the current unrest in the Middle East is a signal that the Mahdi—or Islamic messiah—is about to appear. Former Revolutionary Guards officer Reza Kahlili, who defected to the West after spying on behalf of the cia inside Iran for more than a decade, obtained a bootleg copy of this new film and turned it over to Western media sources.

Angela Merkel’s Government Rattled … Again

« German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks at a meeting of the CDU in Berlin on March 28.
(Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images)

March 29, 2011 | From theTrumpet.com

The defeat of the chancellor’s party in Baden-Württemberg is the latest of several blows Germany’s current leadership has sustained.

 

Religious Tension Builds in Germany’s Relationship With Turkey

« Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan waves during a Turkish cultural event on February 27, in Duesseldorf, western Germany.
(Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sparked anger in Germany on February 27 as he suggested that Turks resist assimilation and learn Turkish, not German, as their first language.

Today's Headlines News

• Rebels "down" Libyan aircraft, governments discuss next move
• NZ buildings' quake safety defended, burials start
• Special Report: U.S. cables detail Saudi royal welfare program
• Oman protests spread, road to port blocked
• Ireland's Kenny wants swift deal on coalition
• Egypt bans Mubarak, family from travel: prosecution
• Clashes kill 10 in Sudan's Abyei flashpoint: officials
• Bahraini protesters move to parliament building
• Thousands of Yemenis protest, unrest high in south
• Berlusconi tax trial resumes after immunity lost

Iran Provokes—Germany Reacts

Anders Fogh Rasmussen called an emergency meeting of nato on Friday to consider mounting a military mission in the Mediterranean. Discussions have also been held with all EU defense chiefs. In the meantime, Germany has already reacted on its own initiative.

The European Union—especially its lead nation Germany—regards Africa as its own backyard, and the Mediterranean islands as stepping stones to that resource-rich continent.

China Blocks UN Report on North Korea

« Chinese President Hu Jintao continues to block proposed UN sanctions against North Korea.
(Peter Wynn Thompson/AFP/Getty Images)

Beijing hastens to defend rogue Pyongyang once again.

 

China announced last Wednesday that it will refuse to allow publication of a UN Security Council report that accuses North Korea of violating nuclear sanctions.

German Military Propaganda War

« German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is using the media to get the German public behind the army.
(Getty Images)

The German military moves to get the public on its side. By Ron Fraser

 

When German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg took office, he soon publicized a two-pronged agenda to revolutionize postwar German thinking regarding its military forces.

On the one hand he promised a complete overhaul of Germany’s Bundeswehr, and on the other, the need to mount initiatives to change the public’s attitude toward the military.

In pursuit of the first goal, Guttenberg had within short time used the Kunduz affair as the opportunity to remove some unwanted senior defense and military personnel and then moved on to eliminate conscription as the prime means of maintaining personnel strength.

The Week in Review

Shots heard round the Islamic world, “Martyr’s Day,” Israel’s friend in Europe, another Chinese military breakthrough, and the fastest-growing part of America’s unbalanced budget.

The Spark That Lit Egypt

It is an explosive concoction that may ignite combustible conditions around the world.

Two hundred and nineteen thousand: That is how many more people need to be fed today. Tomorrow, the world will need to find food for another 219,000. Population growth, unsustainable farming methods and natural disasters are all taking their toll. But is there another, more sinister reason food prices are soaring?

When food prices rise in America, many people gripe and complain, but for the most part they make budget adjustments, go on food stamps, or otherwise cope. In much of the rest of the world, people don’t have such pleasant options.

In countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Eritrea, Sudan and Iraq, the masses are already eating as inexpensively as they can.

America’s Self-Righteousness Is Destroying Egypt

Washington’s naive devotion to democracy is doing untold damage.

For many Americans, the violent scenes of anarchy unfolding on the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and other Egyptian cities are a beautiful and inspiring sight.

On Monday, for example, after mingling with protesters in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof giddily reported that the “yearning and hopefulness of these Egyptians taking huge risks is intoxicating” (emphasis mine throughout).

Britain at Odds With Europe Over Ban on Selling Arms to China

« British Prime Minister David Cameron (right) talks with President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy. Britain and the EU are divided over resuming arms sales to China.
(Getty Images)

Britain is clashing with the European Union as Europe edges toward repealing the EU’s ban on selling military technology to China.

 

If European nations can sell weapons to Russia, as France did in December with a €1 billion assault ship deal, then why not to China’s army too? This is the question a growing number of European Union policymakers are asking as Beijing’s influence with EU member states increases.

The issue is significant because the EU banned weapons technology sales to China in 1989, after Beijing’s violent crackdown on dissidents in Tiananmen Square. But with China’s investments helping to prop up several European states, a growing number of continental EU countries want to reconsider the embargo. And on January 27, China urged the EU to lift the ban in order to boost EU-China relations.

Alexander Neill of the Royal United Services Institute said, “EU member states certainly feel pressured by China given the economic contagion which seems to be spreading through the EU at the moment. Many national leaders, I am sure, will think twice about how they engage the Chinese on investment, which is essentially bailing them out of elements of their economic doldrums.”

Last month, an unnamed EU official told reporters that the nations opposed to the embargo had gathered enough momentum to kill the ban by the end of the year.

But Britain, in spite of having accepted some Chinese investments, remains alongside the U.S. in commitment to the restriction, and is isolating itself from Europe to a degree over the issue.

“The UK’s position remains exactly as it has been over the last few years, which is now is not the right time to lift the ban,” Neill said.

Despite Britain’s concerns, in the short term EU-China relations will improve as the two sides work toward counterbalancing American dominance and replacing the current U.S.-dominated global economic framework with a multipolar model.

Islamist Future Looms in the Mideast

By Robert Maginnis

The Mideast presents a chaotic quagmire of unforgiving choices for Obama.  The turmoil in Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, and Tunisia is piled atop wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the civil war with Islamists in Pakistan.  Add to these woes the concerns over Islamist Iran’s emerging atomic threat, the re-emergent neo-Ottoman Turkey, the mischievous Syria, the ever-present Israeli-Palestinian standoff, and the global Islamic terror campaign. 

Will Jordan Fall to Radical Islam?

« Dozens of Islamists and trade unionists stage a noisy protest outside the Egyptian Embassy in Amman on January 29 in support of “the people of Egypt” and against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak.
(KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP/Getty Images)

Will the same forces that are wreaking havoc in Egypt bring down the Jordanian government?

 

Jordanian King Abdullah ii fired his government on February 1 after three weeks of protests. Nearly half of Jordan’s population are of Palestinian origin. Just as in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is a powerful political force.

These what you might have missed while I was away

Youth ‘Booze Culture’ Overwhelms British Hospitals

The alcoholism that’s spreading like a disease through the nation’s youth is a powerful sign of societal breakdown in Britain. Where is it all leading?

Chinese Companies Set to Ramp Up Investment in the U.S.

Another troubling symptom of America’s debt-fueled disease.

» The Egyptian revolt and imperial Islamism American Thinker, Jan. 31, 2011

UPDATE: Russia Boosts Military Cooperation With Ukraine

» Euro crisis: The only way to save the euro is the destruction of its members Telegraph, Jan. 13, 2011

UPDATE: Guess Who Is Smiling on the Protests in Egypt?

Demonstrations against the Mubarak regime benefit this nation more than anyone else. 

More than 200,000 in Cairo demand Mubarak quit
Pakistan court blocks handing over of U.S. "diplomat"
South Korea's conciliatory Lee hints at summit with North
Australia evacuates coastal cities in path of cyclone
In Myanmar's gleaming new capital, uncertain promise
Haiti opens door for return of ex-president Aristide
U.N. says 147 killed in Tunisian uprising
Iraq war casualties rise in January
Irish PM to dissolve parliament, pave way for opposition
U.S. praises Kazakh leader for skipping referendum
 

Hezbollah Chooses Lebanon’s Prime Minister

« Lebanon’s prime minister designate, Najib Mikati, is interviewed at his residence in Beirut, January 25.
(Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images)

Iran shows its power in Lebanon.

 

Hezbollah-backed leader Najib Mikati was designated the new prime minister of Lebanon on January 25. On the same day, Sunnis protested during a “day of rage” against what they called Hezbollah’s “soft coup.”

Hezbollah’s success confirms that the group is “the country’s most powerful military and political force,” writes Farnaz Fassihi in the Wall Street Journal.

The Chinafication of Asia

« China is making its presence known throughout Asia.
(Getty Images)

Beijing is not satisfied with the status quo and is maneuvering to expand its reach, especially in Asia. By Jeremiah Jacques

 

“Anybody who ignores China would have to reexamine his head,” said the Philippines Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile last month. And a growing number of Asian policymakers are demonstrating that they agree with Enrile.

Wielding the twin forces of soft-power diplomacy and intimidating military growth, Beijing is rapidly expanding China’s reach throughout Asia. Viewed individually, the gains China has made don’t appear terribly significant, but, when analyzed together, they paint a sobering picture of a rapidly rising Chinese powerhouse and of a dramatic shift in Asia’s balance of power.

China’s “String of Pearls”

Europe—Germany in the Spotlight

« NATO Chiefs of Defense congregated for a committee meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on January 26.
(John Thys/AFP/Getty Images)

The next two weeks will see the spotlight turned on Germany at three crucial conferences in Europe. By Ron Fraser

 

Three crucial conferences are slated to take place over the next two weeks in Europe. The outcome of each will have important bearing on shaping the nature of Europe’s security and defense and its influence on the global economy. At the center of debates at each of these conferences will be a newly resurgent and increasingly assertive Germany.

Today nato launches its first committee meeting of its Chiefs of Defense since concluding agreement on its new strategic concept in Lisbon last year. At the same time that the nato chiefs will be meeting at nato headquarters in Brussels, a meeting that always gains greater headlines—the annual World Economic Forum—will convene in Davos, Switzerland. Whereas the nato meeting will last two days, the Davos Forum will extend from today till January 30.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Thirsty for Change

« Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood member Saad al-Katatni calls for an end to Egyptian election fraud.
(Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)

In the wake of Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, Egypt’s largest opposition movement is demanding reform. Will revolution come to Egypt?

 

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition movement, demanded on Wednesday that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak dissolve the nation’s freshly formed parliament and hold a new election. The move is widely viewed as an attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood to capitalize on the thirst for change kindled by Tunisia’s recent Jasmine Revolution.

China: U.S. Kowtows to the Enemy

It seems the current U.S. administration will go down in history as the first to bow in obeisance to America’s historic enemies.

Now it seems, with America having suffered continuing and increasing ignominy for failing to vanquish any enemy that has attacked it since obtaining victory in World War ii, the current U.S. administration is intent on taking that ignominy one step further.

Take the case of China.

Guttenberg Comes Out Swinging

« German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg
(Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images)

Germany’s defense minister, under attack by political opponents, rises to the occasion.  

By Ron Fraser

 

In the face of a concerted well-timed attack on his political persona, Germany’s Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg swung into aggressive defensive mode last week.

“Frankish firs do not fall down” was his rejoinder to the concerted effort by a primarily Free Democratic Party (fdp) and Social Democratic Party effort to blacken his name in the run-up to important state elections in Germany (Bild, January 23). The allusion was to the young aristocrat’s long family heritage of unyielding resistance in the face of battle. It is such charismatic confidence that endears Guttenberg to the German public, while at the same time causing his political enemies such frustration in their efforts to blacken his name.

As the German daily Bild commented, Guttenberg’s use of the “Frankish fir” analogy was a message delivered pointedly to both his “critics and competitors in Berlin” in the wake of their latest attempt to bring him down (ibid.).

Bild also quoted Guttenberg as stating, “I have asked the inspector general to undertake a review of all branches of the armed forces, whether there has been in recent years or even now indications of the engagement in rituals which are not in agreement with the principles of the Bundeswehr and I will quickly point out the consequences which must result from such.