“Exorcisms” on the Rise in the Catholic Church

Newsmax reported on April 13:

“A new report says Pope Francis is playing a role in an increased number of exorcisms being performed worldwide. According to The Telegraph, Francis’ repeated references to the devil have spurred a rebirth of the practice that removes demons from people’s souls through intense prayer. The Vatican has also endorsed an exorcism conference taking place in Rome this week, which is hosting about 160 Catholic priests, according to The Telegraph…

“Pope Francis, whose papacy began two years ago, has made a habit of referencing the devil in his remarks. He linked Satan to Mexico’s drug problems over the winter, and has said in the past that the devil is trying to destroy the family… ‘Pope Francis talks about the devil all the time, and that has certainly raised awareness about exorcisms,’… Cesare Truqui, a Mexican priest trained as an exorcist, told The Telegraph. ‘But all Latin Americans have this sensibility — for them, the existence of the devil is part of their faith.’…

“‘Until a few years ago, a significant number of people in the church didn’t believe in the devil, but people are now going back to the Scriptures,’ an unnamed British exorcist priest told The Telegraph… ‘A few years ago, at least half the dioceses in England and Wales did not have an exorcist. Now, pretty much all of them do.’

“Truqui told the British paper that one-third of telephone calls made to the Diocese of Rome are related to exorcisms. Two years ago, after Francis became Pope, he was suspected of performing an exorcism in the middle of St. Peter’s Square after saying Sunday Mass. He placed his hands on a young boy’s head and said a prayer, to which the boy responded by heaving deeply several times and shaking before slumping back into his wheelchair. The Vatican, however, played down the incident, saying Francis simply said a prayer for a boy ‘who was suffering.’”

Satanic activities will drastically increase in the years to come. However, the Catholic practice of “exorcisms” will not really cast out a demon… even though it might appear to be the case. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World.” 

Pope Francis Angers Turkey

AFP wrote on April 12:

“Pope Francis uttered the word ‘genocide’ on Sunday to describe the mass murder of Armenians 100 years ago… In a solemn mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica to mark the centenary of the Ottoman killings of Armenians, Francis said the murders were ‘widely considered “the first genocide of the 20th century”’, quoting a statement signed by Pope John Paul II and the Armenian patriarch in 2001.

“Many historians describe the World War I slaughter as the 20th century’s first genocide, but Turkey hotly denies the accusations. ‘The pope’s statement, which is far from the legal and historical reality, cannot be accepted,’ Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter. ‘Religious authorities are not the places to incite resentment and hatred with baseless allegations,’ he added.

“The foreign ministry summoned the Vatican envoy to Ankara to explain the pope’s comments. It accused the pontiff of engaging in a ‘one-sided narrative’ that ignored the suffering of Muslims and other religious groups at that time… ‘It was a very courageous act to repeat clearly that it was a genocide,’ Vatican expert Marco Tosatti told AFP. ‘By quoting John Paul II, he strengthened the Church’s position, making it clear where it stands on the issue,’ he added…

“The 78-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church had been under pressure to use the term “genocide” publicly to describe the slaughter, despite the risk of alienating an important ally in the fight against radical Islam…

“Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart, and have long sought to win international recognition of the massacres as genocide. But Turkey rejects the claims, arguing that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

“More than 20 nations, including France and Russia, recognise the killings as genocide…

“When Francis visited Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered the pontiff a pact under which he would defend Christians in the Middle East in exchange for the Church tackling Islamophobia in the West…

“Francis said the other two genocides of the 20th century were ‘perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism’, before pointing to more recent mass killings in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia. ‘It seems that humanity is incapable of putting a halt to the shedding of innocent blood,’ he said… He referred once again to the modern day as ‘a time of war, a third world war which is being fought piecemeal’, and evoked the ‘muffled and forgotten cry’ of those ‘decapitated, crucified, burned alive, or forced to leave their homeland.’”

As Jesus Christ foretold, we will experience more and more wars, until a coming nuclear World War will endanger the very survival of mankind. Insofar as Turkey is concerned, the Bible tells us that it will collaborate with Europe against Israel, but there is no reason to think that Turkey – a Muslim country — will ever become a recognized part of a United States of Europe under the leadership of the “beast” and the “false prophet.”

The Iran Deal—Would America Become Indirectly Responsible for Mass Murders?

Newsmax reported on April 10:

“Iran’s top officials, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, are saying economic sanctions must end immediately and that UN inspectors will not be granted unfettered access to military installations and nuclear construction sites.

“But this may be nothing more than Iranian domestic political spin. And as long as there’s a potential deal, a critical point needs to be made: There is no provision for, or even discussion of, putting political restraints on Iran. That is, there is nothing in this deal that would force Iran to change its terrorist ways. Iran will continue to be the number-one state sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East, no matter what the deal.

“How can this be?

“Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Henry Kissinger and George P. Shultz make a crucial point: ‘Absent the linkage between nuclear and political restraint, America’s traditional allies will conclude that the U.S. has traded temporary nuclear cooperation for acquiescence to Iranian hegemony.’…

“Iran will continue to sponsor its terrorist proxies, like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, keep proxy troops in Syria, continue its efforts to take over Iraq, further its designs on Yemen, and confront Sunni Saudi Arabia… Kissinger and Shultz write, ‘Iranian or Iranian client forces are now the pre-eminent military or political element in multiple Arab countries . . . With the recent addition of Yemen as a battlefield, Tehran occupies positions along all of the Middle East’s strategic waterways and encircles archrival Saudi Arabia, an American ally’…

“Make no mistake, the nanosecond sanctions are lifted U.S. and Western investment will pour into Iran. Looser financial sanctions will put an estimated $50 billion into Iran’s economy. And a number of European oil companies will jump to develop the world’s fourth-largest proven oil reserve and second-biggest national-gas reserve. Italy’s Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, France’s Total, Norway’s Statoil, German’s Siemens, and French car companies Peugeot and Citroën are ready to move. It’s reported that Boeing is looking to do business in Iran. HP and Google have been exploring contracts and licenses in Iran. Other major U.S. and European Internet companies have been approached by Iranian officials. And financial-service and credit card companies will move in quickly…

“Iran is our enemy, whether the president believes it or not. And if we cut deals that allow Iran to continue its terrorist and hegemonic activities, the Obama administration will have created an unbelievable Middle East powder keg, setting the stage for a conflict that could possibly dwarf any we’ve seen before. This is the worst U.S. foreign policy of my lifetime. It may be the worst in American history.”

Sadly, it looks this way.

Under the Deal, America Would Become Isolated!

On April 9, the Washington Post published the following article by Charles Krautheimer:

“As Kissinger and Shultz point out, we will be fought every step of the way, leaving the United States, not Iran, isolated. Obama imagines that this deal will bring Iran in from the cold, tempering its territorial ambitions and ideological radicalism. But this defies logic: With sanctions lifted, its economy booming and tens of billions injected into its treasury, why would Iran curb rather than expand its relentless drive for regional dominance?

“An overriding objective of these negotiations, as Obama has said, is to prevent the inevitable proliferation — Egypt, Turkey, the Gulf states — that would occur if Iran went nuclear. Yet the prospective agreement is so clearly a pathway to an Iranian bomb that the Saudis are signaling that the deal itself would impel them to go nuclear.

“You set out to prevent proliferation and you trigger it. You set out to prevent an Iranian nuclear capability and you legitimize it. You set out to constrain the world’s greatest exporter of terror threatening every one of our allies in the Middle East and you’re on the verge of making it the region’s economic and military hegemon.”

Another Sickening Compromise on the Iran “Deal”

Deutsche Welle reported on April 14:

“Senators from both sides of the aisle have compromised over a bill allowing congressional review of any final nuclear deal with Iran. The measure calls for the lifting of sanctions only with legislative approval.

“In a show of bipartisanship over what has been a hotly contested issue in Washington, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a measure Tuesday that struck a compromise between Congress’ wish to be involved in a final nuclear deal with Iran and the White House’s concern that such a deal be completed by June.

“The Senate panel unanimously approved the measure with a vote of 19-0. The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 allows Congress to review the deal before any US sanctions against Iran are lifted, to be followed by a 12-day period for a possible presidential veto and a 10-day window for an attempt to override such a veto.

“President Obama withdrew his objection to the bill after language was removed obligating him to prove that Tehran was not engaging in terrorism. Another controversial amendment was removed by its author Marco Rubio… The amendment would have required Iran to recognize Israel’s right to exist.”

These compromises are sickening… with NO politician willing to stand up for their alleged convictions…

Russia Gives Green Light for Sending Missiles to Iran

Bloomberg News reported on April 13:

“President Vladimir Putin lifted a ban on the delivery of S-300 air-defense missile systems to Iran as Russia pushed for repeal of an arms embargo following an agreement on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program. Putin repealed its 2010 prohibition on S-300 exports to Iran… While the two countries had signed an $800 million contract for the systems in 2007, Russia halted delivery after the United Nations imposed an arms embargo three years later.

“The S-300 is a ‘purely defensive’ weapon and delivering it to Iran won’t ‘threaten the security of any state in the region, including, of course, Israel,’ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday… Russia ‘will promptly carry out the order of the president’ and send the S-300 systems to Iran ‘if a political decision is taken’ to deliver them…”

Russia and Iran are in fact prophesied to collaborate against other nations, including militarily. For more information, please read our free booklets on “Biblical Prophecy… From Now Until Forever,” and “Middle Eastern Nations and African Nations in Prophecy.” 

“Putin Warship and Nuclear Bombers Menace the UK”

The Daily Mail wrote on April 15:

“A Russian warship and two bombers strayed close to UK territory yesterday in yet another apparent attempt to test Britain’s defences. A destroyer equipped with missiles, anti-aircraft guns and torpedoes entered the English Channel along with two other Russian ships. It forced the UK to send a heavily-armed frigate to monitor the vessels.

“Just a few hours later, two Russian long-range Bear bombers, capable of carrying nuclear missiles, hugged British airspace – prompting the RAF to deploy two Typhoon fighter jets. Sources claim both incidents may have been an attempt to ‘snoop’ on a huge Nato war games exercise taking place in Scotland…”

The Shaky “Cease-Fire”-Agreement Between Russia and Ukraine

The Local wrote on April 14:

“The French, German, Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers expressed ‘grave concern’ Tuesday at a meeting in Berlin about violations of a shaky ceasefire in separatist-held east Ukraine… Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier admitted the five-hour-long talks had been ‘very long, very intensive and at times very contentious’ given the tense situation on the ground…

“European OSCE monitors reported ‘renewed intensive fighting’ Sunday around the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.. The results of the talks in Berlin will be discussed at a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in the northern German city of Lübeck on Tuesday and Wednesday. Russia will once again not participate. It has been closed out of the group of the world’s largest economies since the annexation of the Crimea in March last year.

“US Secretary of State John Kerry will arrive on Wednesday after attending a US Congress hearing on the nuclear deal with Iran on Tuesday. The discussions will lay down the groundwork for the main G7 summit to be held on June 7th and 8th at the Elmau Palace in Bavaria. The two meetings take place during Germany’s year-long chairmanship of the group.

“Other themes up for discussion will be the nuclear deal with Iran, the conflict with Isis in Syria and Iraq, and improving defence mechanisms against the Ebola virus…”

The controversy between Europe and Russia over Ukraine is bound to continue. Germany, as the current leader of the G7 countries, will have further opportunity to flex its muscles.

The Gap Widens Between Russia and the EU

Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 14:

“… the Russian president is preparing his country for May 9, which marks the anniversary of the end of the war with Hitler’s Germany. It is ‘our country’s most important and most honest holiday,’ Putin said in Staraya Russa. ‘It is the day of the great victory.’

“The end of the war will be commemorated in Russia for the 70th time this year. Since it was declared an official holiday in 1965, May 9, with its spontaneous gatherings of veterans in the streets, public festivals and gun salutes in the evening, has in fact become Russia’s most moving holiday — and perhaps the only one that has truly united the people…

“May 9, 2015 shows that… the war still hasn’t ended for Russia. It demonstrates that the country’s leadership needs the memory of that war more than ever… The parade in Moscow on the morning of May 9 is intended to set an example. It will be the biggest military parade ever held. Some 15,000 soldiers will march across Red Square, 4,000 more than at the last major anniversary. Two hundred tanks, artillery and missiles will roll past the Kremlin, and 140 fighter jets will crowd the skies over Moscow. Weapons will be displayed that ‘will astonish the entire world,’ wrote the tabloid newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda…

“The Kremlin had invited 68 leaders of foreign countries to the victory celebration, including the most important politicians in the Western world. So far, only 25 have accepted Moscow’s invitation. US President Barack Obama will not be attending, nor will British Prime Minister David Cameron or French President François Hollande. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be there, but only on May 10, the day after the parade. TV images from Moscow will illustrate how isolated Russia has become as a result of its policy on Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea…

“Senior representatives of only three European Union countries — the Czech Republic, Greece and Cyprus — are so far planning to attend the ceremonies… Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras also won praise from Russia during his mid-week visit to Moscow, when he paid tribute to the two countries’ joint struggle against Nazism and promised to return in one month to attend the parade on May 9… Former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, now the president of the European Council and therefore spokesman of the European heads of state and government, had declared weeks ago why we would not attend the Moscow parade on May 9. ‘A presence at the military parade, hand-in-hand with today’s aggressors and a person using weapons against civilians in eastern Ukraine? For me, delicately speaking, it’s too ambiguous,’ Tusk said…

“The controversy over the Moscow victory celebration on May 9 illustrates how far Russia has distanced itself from the Europeans, and just how wide the gap between the two sides has grown…

“Many Russians say that Vladimir Putin has repurposed it into a day that celebrates war itself and, most of all, Russia’s strength. For them, it is no longer a day of tears and commemoration…”

Germany Wants to Supply Lithuania Weapons Against Russia

The Local wrote on April 15:

“Germany said Wednesday it wants to sell howitzer-type mobile artillery vehicles to Lithuania as the Baltic NATO nation boosts its defences amid concerns over neighbouring Russia… German media reported the hardware was used by Berlin in Afghanistan and is now worth €15 million… the Baltic state [is] also mulling whether to buy German Boxer-type armoured fighting vehicles.

“Under Moscow’s thumb until 1991, Lithuania along with fellow Baltic states Estonia and Latvia launched a concerted drive to boost defences since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine last year. NATO members since 2004, the three Baltic states have repeatedly asked allies to step up their presence to deter Russia.

“Berlin will send over 500 troops to Lithuania for military exercises this year. NATO is also reinforcing its defences on Europe’s eastern flank with a rapid reaction force of 5,000 troops and command centres in six formerly communist members of the alliance, including the three Baltic states.”

GOP Slams Obama Over Cuba Decision

Newsmax reported on April 15:

“Republicans slammed President Barack Obama’s decision Tuesday to remove Cuba from the State Department’s list of terrorism sponsors, with Florida Rep. Illeana Ros-Lehtinen accusing the White House of acting ‘only for political reasons and not in accordance with the law.’…

“House Speaker John Boehner said he was ‘disappointed’ by the decision, adding that Obama’s ‘cozying up to the oppressive regime in Cuba is a blow to all who long for liberty and dignity. It’s just one more example of this administration focusing more on befriending our enemies than helping our allies,’ he said…

“The move came three days after Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro met informally during a regional summit in Panama. The talks marked the first official meeting between the leaders of their countries in more than a half-century…

“Removing Cuba from the terror list could pave the way for the opening of a U.S. Embassy in Havana and other steps. The countries still on the list are Iran, Sudan and Syria…

“Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida also slammed Obama’s decision. ‘Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism,’ he said in a video message. ‘They harbor fugitives of American justice. It’s also the country that’s helping North Korea evade sanctions by the United Nations…’

“Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who also is considering a presidential run, said after a speech of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce that ‘we’re not a step closer to freedom in Cuba because of the steps the president is taking’…

“And another possible 2016 contender, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, cited the decision as ‘yet   (another) example of President Obama viewing the world through rose-colored glasses’…”

ISIS in Mexico and the USA?

Newsmax reported on April 14:

“The Islamic State (ISIS) is operating a camp in northern Mexico just a few miles from El Paso, Texas, Judicial Watch said Tuesday, citing sources that include a Mexican Army field grade officer and a Mexican Federal Police inspector. Judicial Watch sources said that ‘coyotes’ working for the notorious Juarez Cartel are involved in helping to ‘move ISIS terrorists through the desert and across the border between Santa Teresa and Sunset Park, New Mexico.’

“Moreover, east of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, cartel-backed coyotes are smuggling members of the jihadi terrorist group ‘through the porous border between Acala and Fort Hancock, Texas,’ Judicial Watch reported…

“The watchdog group’s sources say the precise location where ISIS has established the base is approximately eight miles from the U.S. border in an area known as ‘Anapra,’ located just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

“Another ISIS cell is said to be located in Puerto Palomas, located to the west of Ciudad Juárez. That cell ‘targets the New Mexico towns of Columbus and Deming for easy access to the United States,’ Judicial Watch’s Mexican sources say…

“Judicial Watch — which has been successful in prying loose substantial amounts of information on an array of Obama administration-linked scandals, including the ‘Fast and Furious’ gun-walking case — told Newsmax that four ISIS members had in fact been apprehended after crossing into the United States.”

The media also reported on ISIS’s recent surprise attacks and victories in Iraq.

The UK and the EU

Express wrote on April 15:

“In news that is likely to bolster calls for the UK’s complete withdrawal from the EU, the president of the European Commission (EC), Jean-Claude Juncker, has put the brakes on reforming the relations between member states and Brussels. Mr Cameron has vowed to hold an in/out vote on Britain’s membership of the EU in 2017, but only after a series of talks aimed at reconfiguring the UK’s relationship with Brussels.

“But, now he appears to have been told Brussels chiefs will only negotiate two years AFTER that date – when Mr Juncker steps down from office. An official close to the EU’s top politician told The Times: ‘No treaty change proposals are envisaged until after November 2019’.

“British hopes for amendments are now likely to have to wait until as late as 2025, when EU treaties are scheduled to be overhauled…

“The fact that it is Mr Juncker who is said to be ruling out potential negotiations will be particularly galling as Mr Cameron had sought to block his appointment as EC president last June…”

UK Among the Least Religious Countries in the World

The website of itv.com reported on April 13:

“A new survey has revealed that the UK is among the least religious countries in the world. In a global ranking of 65 countries, the UK came six places from last with 30% of the population calling themselves religious.

“While 53% of people said they were ‘not religious’… 13% said they were a ‘convinced atheist’ and the remainder ‘did not know’. It compares to 94% of people in Thailand who are religious and 93% of people in Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia and Morocco.

“At the bottom of the list was China where only 6% of people say they are religious while 61% say they are convinced atheists. It was followed by Japan, where just 13% of people are religious, Sweden with 19% , Czech Republic with 23%, and the Netherlands and Hong Kong with 26%.

“Jean-Marc Leger, president of Win/Gallup International Association, said globally an average of two-thirds of people still consider themselves religious. ‘Religion continues to dominate our everyday lives and we see that the total number of people who consider themselves to be religious is actually relatively high,’ he said.”

The website of wingia.com added on April 13:

“The research discovered that the most religious regions are Africa and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) where 86% and 82% respectively of the people consider themselves to be religious… Western Europe (51%) and Oceania (49%) are the only regions where approximately half of the population are either not religious or convinced atheist… The Swedish prove to be the least religious in the Western World with 78% saying they are either not religious or convinced atheists.

“In Israel, 65% of those asked said that they are either not religious or convinced atheists compared to just 30% who say that they are religious. Meanwhile in the Palestinian Territories (West Bank and Gaza) the population is considerably more religious with 75% saying that they are religious compared to 18% who say that they are not religious.”

Vaccination – Yes or No?

The website of skynews.com.au reported on April 13:

“Australian parents will lose thousands of dollars of childcare and welfare benefits if they refuse to vaccinate their kids… Thousands of families could lose payments, with the government estimating about 39,000 children under seven have not received immunisation because their parents are vaccine objectors… Children can still be exempted on medical or religious grounds, but… the latter exemption is ‘very narrow’…

“But there are some who strongly oppose measures that mandate immunisation. An online petition against compulsory vaccinations in Australia that states ‘all parents deserve to make an uncoerced choice’ has received more than 3000 signatures in five days. Parents have taken to the change.org webpage to express their concerns about vaccinations and what they view is a potential encroachment on civil rights…”

Reuters reported on April 14:

“A Washington state school district pulled 143 students who lacked documentation proving they had received required immunizations from classrooms on Monday, in a first-in-the-state clamp-down… All U.S. states require certain vaccines for students for diseases such as mumps, rubella, tetanus or polio, but school immunization laws grant exemptions to children for medical reasons, including an inhibited immune system.

“Almost all states also grant religious exemptions against immunizations, with 20 states also allowing philosophical exemptions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Parents who want to opt out of school shots on philosophical, religious or medical grounds in Washington state… must file a state-mandated waiver with the district…”

On March 30, the website of motherjones.com published the following article:

“The Waiting Room at Pediatric Alternatives in Mill Valley, a town in the affluent hippie enclave of Marin County, California, is a far cry from the drab doctors’ offices I remember from childhood… The practice’s five physicians have impeccable credentials, having trained and completed residencies at some of the nation’s top medical schools and institutions. Several are fellows of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“Given all this, it might surprise you to learn that one of Pediatric Alternatives’ policies is extremely unorthodox: It suggests that families delay certain childhood immunizations—in some cases for years past the age recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—and forego others entirely. A little less than 20 percent of the families the practice treats choose not to vaccinate at all. The rest use a modified vaccine schedule…

“Kenet Lansman tells me she would never deny any vaccine to parents who request it for their child. But she does share her personal beliefs with her patients: She fears that vaccines have contributed to the recent uptick in autoimmune disorders and other chronic conditions… She has a policy of giving only one vaccination at a time, and only when a child is completely healthy…

“The main reason for the delay, Kenet Lansman says, is that she still believes there could be a link between vaccines and autism. She acknowledges that the scientific community has rejected this theory, yet she says she has seen children from her own practice who begin to show signs of autism shortly after being vaccinated…”

Breitbart reported on April 14:

“Parents opposed to a California legislative effort to revoke their ability to exempt their children from some vaccinations… promise to yank those kids out of school if the measure passes into law.

“The Democrat-sponsored Senate Bill 277 was proposed in response to a measles outbreak whose spread began at Disneyland last December. If passed, SB 277 would remove parents’ ability to sign a waiver that currently allows them to exempt their children from one or more school required vaccinations… In related news, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine campaign… ran into trouble after he connected autism to the Holocaust.”

Late Günter Grass Warned of World War III

The Guardian wrote on April 14:

“Germany’s Nobel-winning author Günter Grass said he feared humanity was ‘sleepwalking’ into a world war in the last interview he gave before his death on Monday.

“’We have on the one side Ukraine, whose situation is not improving; in Israel and Palestine things are getting worse; the disaster the Americans left in Iraq, the atrocities of Islamic State and the problem of Syria,’ he told the Spanish newspaper El País in the interview published on Tuesday. ‘There is war everywhere; we run the risk of committing the same mistakes as before; so without realising it we can get into a world war as if we were sleepwalking,’ he added.

“Spain’s top-selling newspaper said the interview, carried out at the author’s home in Lübeck in northern Germany on 21 March, was his last before his death aged 87.

“Grass, who achieved worldwide fame with his debut and best-known novel, The Tin Drum, in 1959 was a pacifist, opposing the installation of nuclear missiles on German soil. In his lengthy interview with El País, he also expressed concern over climate change and overpopulation. ‘All of this together makes me realise that things are finite, that we don’t have an indefinite amount of time,’ he said. Grass pressed Germany for decades to face up to its Nazi past, winning the Nobel prize for literature in 1999, when the Swedish academy said his ‘frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history’”.

Other papers, reporting on the death of Grass, tried to discredit him by pointing out that he had first concealed, but subsequently revealed the fact that he had been drafted, as a 17-year-old boy (!), to the German Waffen-SS at the very end of World War II. Such hypocritical reporting in some papers is difficult to understand, and we chose not to quote any of these inflammatory articles. Grass declared that he never used his gun to shoot anyone and that he did not know anything about the Holocaust until after the War. The fact that he strongly opposed Nazism in all its different forms and shapes supports his claim.

Resurrecting Dead Animals?

The Independent wrote on April 13:

“De-extinction, or the idea of bringing extinct species back from the dead, has come a long way over the quarter century since Jurassic Park was first published. It has now matured into a quasi-serious science and has even been the subject of its own TEDx conference… some scientists are proposing to resurrect a range of other, more-recently extinct species such as the passenger pigeon and the gastric-brooding frog, both lost within living memory.

“There are quite a few animals that have become extinct relatively recently that are potential candidates for de-extinction. They include the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, a large marsupial carnivore wiped out by sheep ranchers a century ago, the Pyrenean ibex which was hunted for sport until the last one fell dead in 2000, and the Steller’s sea cow, a gentle giant annihilated by hungry sailors in the 18th century.

“Perhaps the most emblematic of them all is the woolly mammoth. There are few animals that better represent the lost world of the Pleistocene than these huge, shaggy relatives of the modern elephant. Woolly mammoths roamed the vast grassy steppe of Eurasia and North America for hundreds of millennia. The very last individuals were an isolated population of pygmy woolly mammoths that lived on Wrangel Island off northern Russia about 4,500 years ago.

“There is no shortage of woolly mammoth tissue, some of it remarkably well preserved in the permafrost of Siberia and some scientists are confident that they can extract its DNA to bring the species back to life, either as clones or as a kind of mammoth-elephant hybrid.

“Scientists in South Korea and Russia are collaborating on a project to clone a woolly mammoth by extracting a cell nucleus from frozen mammoth tissue and inserting its entire genetic material into the enucleated egg cell of an Asian elephant, which would also act as a surrogate mother. It’s the same basic cloning technique that led to the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep in 1996, except this time two species are involved rather than one – and one of them has been extinct for thousands of years…

“Another de-extinction approach is to cut and paste large fragments of mammoth DNA into the chromosomes of an Asian elephant, thereby creating a genetically-engineered mammoth-elephant ‘hybrid’. Scientists involved in this project prefer to think about it as a way of making a cold-adapted Asian elephant with mammoth-like traits, such as hairy skin and layers of subcutaneous fat for good thermal insulation.

“Scientists have already managed to sequence about half of the mammoth genome from the many small fragments of DNA isolated from frozen remnants of biological material, such as skin, hair, bone, teeth and even dung. They believe it is only a question of time before they achieve their ultimate de-extinction aim: a living hybrid…”

You might want to read our free booklet, “Heavens and Earth… Before and After the First Man,” which addresses many topics related to the gist and substance of this article.

Muscle-Flexing by Iran

AP reported on April 8:

“Iran dispatched a destroyer and another naval ship to waters off Yemen on Wednesday, raising the stakes amid a Saudi-led air campaign targeting Iranian-backed Shiite rebels fighting forces loyal to the country’s embattled president.

“The Iranian maneuver came as the U.S. deepened its support for the Saudi-led coalition, boosting weapons supplies and intelligence-sharing and carrying out the first U.S. aerial refueling mission of coalition fighter jets.

“The Iranian warships were sent to the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait as part of an anti-piracy campaign to ‘safeguard naval routes for vessels in the region,’ Iranian Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari was quoted as saying by the English-language state broadcaster Press TV.

“Securing navigation in the narrow strait was a key reason for the Saudi-led air and maritime blockade that began after Yemen’s internationally recognized president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, fled the country two weeks ago as the rebels closed in on Aden, Yemen’s second-largest city where he was based.”

ISIS Pushes Closer to Damascus

Breitbart reported on April 5:

“Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh) militias have taken control of a southern district in Damascus, Syria, and are just a few kilometers from the military headquarters of the regime of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad. Al-Assad’s army has suffered several recent defeats, especially the major military defeat in Idlib, and so it appears that ISIS may present a real military challenge to the regime in its seat of power. Reports indicate that ISIS is also receiving help from the al-Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra (al-Nusra Front), a group with which it often has battles in other places and times.

“ISIS’s advance into Damascus is through the Yarmouk refugee camp, home to about 18,000 Palestinian refugees. The camp has been under siege from al-Assad’s army since 2011, since al-Assad feared that the Palestinian refugees would join the fight against him. In the last couple of years, the Free Syrian Army and al-Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra (al-Nusra Front) have entered Yarmouk and fought each other, making Yarmouk increasingly dangerous for the civilians living there. Now the invasion of ISIS has turned Yarmouk into a humanitarian disaster. Aid groups are unable to enter Yarmouk, with the result that the civilians have no food and water, no electricity. Anyone who leaves his home risks getting shot and killed by snipers on the rooftops.

“Other reports indicate that al-Assad’s forces are trying to fight ISIS by means of ‘violent shelling by the regime forces using tank shells and ground-to-ground missiles,’ weapons that are more likely to kill civilians than ISIS.”

Obama’s Deal with Iran Weakens the USA

The Editorial Board of the Washington Post wrote on April 6:

“PRESIDENT OBAMA has launched an aggressive lobbying campaign for his preliminary nuclear deal with Iran… Unfortunately… the president’s claims could have a self-fulfilling quality. By loudly insisting there is no alternative to the terms he has agreed to, Mr. Obama helps ensure that the option of maintaining sanctions while insisting that Iran agree to dismantle more of its nuclear infrastructure… is no longer a practical alternative.

“At the same time, the White House stance risks weakening its negotiating position in the crucial bargaining with Iran. Mr. Obama conceded that some vital ‘details’ have not yet been worked out, including how the lifting of sanctions on Iran would be tied to its implementation of steps such as reducing its stockpile of enriched uranium and its base of installed centrifuges. Worryingly, the fact sheets issued by the U.S. and Iranian governments differ sharply… The gulf between those two scenarios is extremely important…

“Similarly crucial differences may be buried in the as-yet-unspecified details of how inspectors will obtain access to new suspected nuclear sites and how they will get answers to outstanding questions about Iran’s previous work on nuclear warhead designs. By insisting that the deal is already the best available, Mr. Obama is making it more difficult for his negotiators to walk away from the follow-up talks if they are unable to obtain satisfactory terms. If Iran continues to insist on the ‘immediate’ lifting of sanctions, will the president give in rather than reverse his rhetoric?…”

America’s foreign policy, including Obama’s controversial and ill-advised “deal” with Iran, is one of utter weakness, inconsistency and failure.

Western Leadership Failing!

AP reported on April 5:

“On a basic level, the framework deal between world powers and Tehran will be judged by whether it prevents an Iranian bomb, but that will take years to figure out.

“A more immediate issue is the projection of Western power. Supporters of the framework deal can argue that the U.S. and world powers extracted significant concessions from Iran, breaking a decade-long impasse and proving that diplomacy backed by tough sanctions can bring about positive change even in the Middle East.

“But if, as critics contend, the agreement ends up projecting U.S. weakness instead, that could embolden rogue states and extremists alike, and make the region’s vast array of challenges — from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Syrian civil war to the fighting in Libya and Yemen — even more impervious to Western intervention.

“The United States wants to rein in Syria’s President Bashar Assad as his ruinous civil war grinds into year five. It would like to encourage more liberal domestic policies in Egypt and push Iraq’s leaders to govern more inclusively. Despite years of setbacks, the U.S. would still like to see a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…

“The implications of a weak United States, meanwhile, are not just regional but global, affecting events from Russia to China and North Korea — as well as the prospects for global accords on climate change or even significant trade deals.”

Obama: “Nuclear Deal Cannot Depend on Iran Recognizing Israel”

Deutsche Welle wrote on April 7:

“Barack Obama has told US radio network NPR that demanding for Iran to recognize Israel would go beyond the scope of the nuclear deal discussed with Tehran… ‘The notion that we would condition Iran not getting nuclear weapons in a verifiable deal on Iran recognizing Israel is really akin to saying that we won’t sign a deal unless the nature of the Iranian regime completely transforms…And that, I think, is a fundamental [mis]judgement,’ Obama said in the interview…

“Meanwhile, Republican leader Mitch McConnell criticized the pact with Iran saying that lawmakers opposed to the deal were planning a formal response…

“On Monday, Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs, Yuval Steinitz, said his country was still considering military action against Iran’s nuclear program. ‘It was on the table. It’s still on the table, it’s going to remain on the table…Israel should be able to defend – for itself, by itself – against any threat,’ Steinitz told reporters in Jerusalem.”

Taking America Down…

The Weekly Standard reported on April 8:

“Vice President Dick Cheney had harsh criticism for President Barack Obama in an interview last night with radio host Hugh Hewitt.

“Hewitt asked the former vice president, ‘Is he naïve, Mr. Vice President? Or does he have a far-reaching vision that only he entertains of a realigned Middle East that somehow it all works out in the end?’

“‘I don’t know, Hugh. I vacillate between the various theories I’ve heard, but you know, if you had somebody as president who wanted to take America down, who wanted to fundamentally weaken our position in the world and reduce our capacity to influence events, turn our back on our allies and encourage our adversaries, it would look exactly like what Barack Obama’s doing. I think his actions are constituted in my mind those of the worst president we’ve ever had.’”

America is going down! However, it is because of our national sins and our refusal to turn in heartfelt repentance to God. President Obama may well be an instrument to this end, as Mr. Cheney suggested.

Police Brutality and Abuse in America

The Local wrote on April 7:

“Three German journalists announced on Thursday they are taking the police in the American town of Ferguson to court after they were arrested while covering race riots there in August 2014.

“The journalists, Ansgar Graw of Die Welt, Lukas Hermsmeier of Bild and Frank Hermann, a freelancer for regional newspapers were arrested and detained for ‘refusal to disperse’… Graw told The Local that the police never gave him any official reason for his arrest but that his mugshot was accompanied by the text ‘refusal to disperse.’

“The correspondent said that the case was not about him but about asking ‘whether a county in the USA can accept that their police violate freedom of the press.’ ‘The American police overstep their rights very clearly and too often,’ he said…

“The journalists are arguing that their incarceration was a violation of the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the American Constitution, which cover freedom of speech, freedom of the press and protection against unlawful arrest. Graw, who has been based in Washington since 2009, also complained that conditions in prison were meant to ‘humiliate’ him. He was not only handcuffed but also chained to a wall… ‘In America the attitude is “We are the law and you have to accept whatever we tell you.”'”

Sadly, this seems to be very true far too often—see the appalling report below:

Shot in the Back!!!

Nytimes.com wrote on April 8:

“A white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder on Tuesday after a video surfaced showing him shooting in the back and killing an apparently unarmed black man while the man ran away.

“The officer, Michael T. Slager, 33, said he had feared for his life because the man had taken his stun gun in a scuffle after a traffic stop on Saturday. A video, however, shows the officer firing eight times as the man, Walter L. Scott, 50, fled. The North Charleston mayor announced the state charges at a news conference Tuesday evening.

“The shooting came on the heels of high-profile instances of police officers’ using lethal force in New York, Cleveland, Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere. The deaths have set off a national debate over whether the police are too quick to use force, particularly in cases involving black men.

“A White House task force has recommended a host of changes to the nation’s police policies, and President Obama sent Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to cities around the country to try to improve police relations with minority neighborhoods.”

Justice has departed from our land!

The Murder of Walter Scott

Deutsche Welle wrote on April 9:

“The man who shocked the world with a video apparently showing a white police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina, shoot unarmed African American Walter Lamer Scott came forward late Wednesday, saying he immediately recognized the significance of the chilling footage he recorded… As a result of the recording, 33-year-old Slager was charged with murder on Tuesday and faces a sentence of life imprisonment or death if convicted. Slager stands accused of killing Scott, 50, after a scuffle that began with a traffic stop for a broken tail light. The video contradicted Slager’s claim that he fired because he felt threatened…

“In an interview with the Associated Press, another North Charleston resident claimed to have lodged a complaint against Slager in 2013 for use of excessive force, but that the officer was allowed to remain on duty following a brief investigation. Mario Givens, now 33, said in the interview that Slager forcibly entered his home and used a stun gun on him despite the fact that Givens had surrendered and put his hands in the air. Givens also claimed that Slager never said what he wanted or who he was looking for…”

One must wonder why persons like Slager are allowed to work as police officers…

California Drought Brings Changes

NYTimes.com reported on April 4:

“For more than a century, California has been the state where people flocked for a better life — 164,000 square miles of mountains, farmland and coastline, shimmering with ambition and dreams, money and beauty. It was the cutting-edge symbol of possibility: Hollywood, Silicon Valley, aerospace, agriculture and vineyards.

“But now a punishing drought — and the unprecedented measures the state announced last week to compel people to reduce water consumption — is forcing a reconsideration of whether the aspiration of untrammeled growth that has for so long been this state’s driving engine has run against the limits of nature.

“The 25 percent cut in water consumption ordered by Gov. Jerry Brown raises fundamental questions about what life in California will be like in the years ahead, and even whether this state faces the prospect of people leaving for wetter climates — assuming, as Mr. Brown and other state leaders do, that this marks a permanent change in the climate, rather than a particularly severe cyclical drought.

“This state has survived many a catastrophe before — and defied the doomsayers who have regularly proclaimed the death of the California dream — as it emerged, often stronger, from the challenges of earthquakes, an energy crisis and, most recently, a budgetary collapse that forced years of devastating cuts in spending. These days, the economy is thriving, the population is growing, the state budget is in surplus, and development is exploding from Silicon Valley to San Diego; the evidence of it can be seen in the construction cranes dotting the skylines of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“But even California’s biggest advocates are wondering if the severity of this drought, now in its fourth year, is going to force a change in the way the state does business.”

European Rapid Reaction Force Ready Within Eight Hours

The Local wrote on April 9:

“Soldiers from Nato’s new rapid reaction force, including hundreds of German troops, were ready to deploy within eight hours of receiving the alert in an exercise simulating an urgent deployment to eastern Europe.

“Around 900 of the 1,500 personnel involved in the 12-nation exercise are based in Germany, where they are supposed to be ready to leave their bases in Saxony, Thuringia and Rhineland-Palatinate with their vehicles and equipment within five days.

“The VJTF was formed in response to growing fears over the threat Russia poses to bordering countries such as Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. By holding forces ready to be deployed at any moment, the alliance hopes to deter Russia from any aggressive moves towards its neighbours in north-eastern Europe…”

California Drought Becoming Critical—Rationing Grows!

Reuters wrote on April 1:

“California Governor Jerry Brown, acting in the face of a devastating multiyear drought, ordered the first statewide mandatory water restrictions on Wednesday, directing cities and communities to reduce usage by 25 percent.

“The cutbacks, to be implemented by state and local water agencies, will affect consumers and businesses throughout the most populous U.S. state, but farmers, who are already making do with less water for irrigation, will be exempt.

“‘We’re standing on dry ground and we should be standing on five feet (1.5 metres) of snow,’ Brown said at a state snow monitoring station in the Sierra Nevada community of Phillips near Lake Tahoe, where dry grass lay limp on the ground.

“‘This is rationing,’ said Brown, a four-term Democrat whose two non-consecutive stints in office have coincided with two of the state’s worst droughts on record. ‘We’re just doing it through the different water districts.’

“The governor said the move, which comes as California reports its lowest snowpack levels on record, would save some 1.5 million acre-feet of water over the next nine months.

“Brown said he was ordering that 50 million square feet (4.6 million square metres) of lawns across the state be replaced with drought-tolerant landscaping and the creation of a consumer rebate program to replace old appliances with newer, more water-efficient models.

“Different parts of the state will have to reduce their water use more than others, because some have already cut way back, Brown said.

“Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the state Water Resources Control Board, said regulators would not hesitate to issue fines of up to $10,000 per day to water districts that do not succeed in implementing the cutbacks.”

These dire circumstances are increasing for not just California but for the entire country. California’s food production is distributed nationwide, and the state’s economy will begin to erode without adequate water supplies. This is the very thing which God warned would happen to our people if we rebelled against Him!

Religious Persecution in Northern Ireland

NewsWithViews.com wrote on March 28:

“Every now and then, an unassuming character of quiet strength and integrity comes into the limelight, and the world once more watches the unjust, and uncalled for battle of good versus evil.

“Daniel McArthur, General Manager of Asher Baking Company, Northern Ireland, which is a small family business operating for 23 years, is one such man, who along with his family have become the latest target of inequality accusations, after the bakery politely turned down the commission of a wedding cake, when it was discovered it was ordered to bear the inscription ‘support gay marriage’.

“Mr McArthur, a committed Christian, has stated that they have declined other requests in the past, where customers wanted bad language or lewd images, decorating their cakes. However, on this occasion, when he declined to promote another contradictory statement to his faith, he promptly received a letter from the Equality Commission, stating they would be seeking compensation from him on the grounds of discrimination against the customer. He was ordered to pay damages within one week.

“He joins a growing number of people in the workplace who have all been hounded and persecuted, not for any attack they have made on another, but for quietly living according to their conscience. Many have lost their jobs.”

As it is so often the case in history, minorities who might have been persecuted in the past are now becoming persecutors.

The Dark Side of Germany’s Co-Pilot Murdering 149 Innocent People

Reuters reported on March 28:

“The co-pilot suspected of deliberately crashing a passenger plane in the French Alps told his girlfriend he was in psychiatric treatment, and that he was planning a spectacular gesture that everyone would remember, the German daily Bild reported on Saturday. The newspaper published an interview with a woman who said she had had a relationship in 2014 with Andreas Lubitz… ‘When I heard about the crash, I remembered a sentence, over and over again, that he said,’ the woman, a 26-year-old flight attendant… told Bild.

“‘“One day I’ll do something that will change the system, and then everyone will know my name and remember it.”… He did it because he realized that, due to his health problems, his big dream of working at Lufthansa, of a having job as a pilot, and as a pilot on long-distance flights, was nearly impossible… He never talked much about his illness, only that he was in psychiatric treatment,’ she told the paper, adding they finally broke up because she was afraid of him. ‘He would suddenly freak out in conversations and yell at me,’ she recalled. ‘At night he would wake up screaming “we are crashing” because he had nightmares. He could be good at hiding what was really going on inside him.’

“German authorities said on Friday they had found torn-up sick notes showing that the co-pilot was suffering from an illness that should have grounded him on the day of the tragedy. Germanwings, the budget airline of the flag carrier Lufthansa, has said he had not submitted any sick note at the time…”

According to Welt Online, Lubitz suffered from a severe psychosomatic illness, and investigators found several medications in his home. In addition, according to the New York Times, Lubitz “sought treatment for vision problems that may have jeopardized his ability to continue working as a pilot.”

Daily Mail added: “The disclosures will raise more questions for Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, as to how he was allowed to fly a passenger jet when he was known to suffer from depression – and to have suffered burnout and mental illness. Unusually, Lubitz’s file with the German Civil Aviation Authority had been ‘flagged’ with the warning that he needed regular psychological assessment before being allowed to continue to fly.”

It is indeed almost incomprehensible to believe that Germanwings and its parent company, Lufthansa, did not know or that they shouldn’t have known about Lubitz’s dangerous state of health.

Hillary Clinton’s Email Nightmare

The Associated Press reported on March 27:

“Hillary Clinton wiped her email server ‘clean,’ permanently deleting all emails from it, the chairman of a House committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, said Friday. Rep. Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican, said the former secretary of state has failed to produce a single new document in recent weeks and has refused to relinquish her server to a third party for an independent review, as Gowdy has requested…

“The Benghazi committee demanded further documents and access to the server after it was revealed that Clinton used a private email account and server during her tenure at State… Here is what the committee’s statement said: ‘… We learned today, from her attorney, Secretary Clinton unilaterally decided to wipe her server clean and permanently delete all emails from her personal server. While it is not clear precisely when Secretary Clinton decided to permanently delete all emails from her server, it appears she made the decision after October 28, 2014, when the Department of State for the first time asked the Secretary to return her public record to the Department.

“‘Not only was the Secretary the sole arbiter of what was a public record, she also summarily decided to delete all emails from her server, ensuring no one could check behind her analysis in the public interest…’”

Hillary Clinton is also in hot water—not only because former President Bill Clinton’s controversial history of having committed adultery and perjury under oath—but also because her son-in-law, Eaglevale’s hedge fund manager Marc Mezvinsky, has now been accused of having engaged in controversial business transactions, according to Bild Online, the New York Times, and the Washington Times, dated March 25.

The Washington Times wrote:

“The latest Clinton saga — this is from the scandal machine that keeps on giving — was revealed this week by The New York Times. Marc Mezvinsky, husband of Chelsea, has apparently used his inside track with his in-laws to attract investments to Eaglevale, the hedge fund he co-founded and manages. Several wealthy Wall Street friends of his mother-in-law, who have contributed to her presidential campaign, have become Mr. Mezvinsky’s investors, too.

“There’s apparently nothing jail-y or even unethical. So far. But it’s curious and maybe a conflict of interest when mother-in-law is running for president. It may be only the reckless gamble of a cocky young man…”

Politics is such a predictably dirty business. And political GOP candidates are known to “change their views,” when it is convenient for them, to gain more votes. Just listing two recent examples, Ted Cruz fought Obamacare, pledging to “kill” it, until now, when he signed up for it. Rand Paul has consistently advocated the decrease in military spending, until now, when he asked for an increase of 190 billion dollars. And so the list of flip-flopping candidates goes on and on…

Russia Threatens Nuclear Response

The Independent wrote on April 2:

“Russia has threatened to use ‘nuclear force’ to defend its annexation of Crimea and warned that the ‘same conditions’ that prompted it to take military action in Ukraine exist in the three Baltic states, all members of Nato.

“According to notes made by an American at a meeting between Russian generals and US officials – and seen by The Times newspaper – Moscow threatened a ‘spectrum of responses from nuclear to non-military’ if Nato moved more forces into Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

“The Russians told the meeting, which took place in Germany last month, that an attempt to return Crimea to Ukraine would be met ‘forcefully including through the use of nuclear force’.”

Russia’s continuing belligerence is receiving a much more attentive ear in Europe than in the U.S., and leaders in the European Union are being forced to respond by turning to their own resources for a much stronger home-grown military capability.

The Danger of Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO’S Nuclear-Armed Members

Hoover.org reported on March 25:

“A US government study recently concluded that a 10-kiloton nuclear bomb detonated by terrorists a few blocks north of the White House would kill 45,000 people and leave 323,000 wounded. That bomb would be less powerful than most tactical nuclear weapons (TNW) now sitting in European storage bunkers. What is even more alarming: TNW are smaller and more portable, making them inviting targets for terrorists.

“TNW were originally deployed by NATO and Russia during the Cold War to reduce risks—in this case, a war on the European continent. There has never been much transparency or regulation associated with these deployments. Neither NATO nor Russia provides information on their number or location throughout Europe. So NATO and Russian publics have little information with which to assess the risks or benefits associated with their continued deployment…

“In April 2010, General James E. Cartwright, who at the time was vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, made clear his view that these weapons do not serve a military function… former senator Sam Nunn wrote in 2011 that… TNW are more of a security risk than an asset to both NATO and Russia…

“While NATO as an international organization does not possess nuclear weapons, its claim to be a nuclear alliance is based on the willingness of its nuclear-armed members to make their own weapons available to NATO for deterrence and defense. All of the United Kingdom’s ­submarine-based nuclear weapons are formally assigned to NATO, except where the UK may decide that its supreme national interests are at stake. France’s nuclear weapons, while not assigned to NATO, ‘contribute to the overall deterrence and security of the Allies.’ (France is not a member of NATO’s nuclear structure.) While there is no formal consensus on the extent to which US nuclear forces are assigned to NATO, America’s TNW are often assumed to be; they have remained deployed in Europe under nuclear sharing arrangements with NATO members for decades…

“Data from various non-governmental sources indicate that the United States currently deploys somewhere between 150 and 240 air-delivered nuclear weapons (B61 gravity bombs) that are deliverable by NATO aircraft (F-15s, F-16s, and Tornados) at six air force bases in five countries…”

Ukraine in an Almost Impossible Situation

Business Insider wrote on March 27:

“Russia will not negotiate delaying repayment over its $3 billion (£2 billion) loan to Ukraine that is due in December… This leaves the Ukrainian government in an almost impossible situation — either try to change Russian minds, convince the IMF to shift the conditions of its already contentious bailout package (it is highly unusual to provide funds to countries undergoing a civil war), or seek to inflict even deeper losses on private bondholders.

“The $3 billion loan was negotiated in 2013 by the previous government under President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled the country following huge anti-government protests on the streets of the Ukrainian capital Kiev. It stipulated that Ukraine had to keep its national debt below 60% of its GDP — a condition that the country has clearly breached as a civil war has hammered state finances and driven the country into a deep recession.

“This has given Moscow the ability to recall the loan whenever it sees fit, acting as a sword of Damocles over the head of the authorities in Kiev.”

Putin Guilty of Hypocrisy, Saudi Arabia Says

Reuters wrote on March 29:

“Saudi Arabia accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of hypocrisy on Sunday, telling an Arab summit that he should not express support for the Middle East while fuelling instability by supporting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. In a rare move, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced that a letter from Putin would be read out to the gathering in Egypt, where Arab leaders discussed an array of regional crises, including conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya…

“Relations between Saudi Arabia and Russia have been cool over Moscow’s support for Assad, whom Riyadh opposes. The civil war between Assad’s forces and rebels has cost more than 200,000 lives in four years… The Saudi rebuke may have been awkward for summit host Egypt, which depends heavily on billions of dollars in support from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab allies, but has also improved ties with Moscow.

“In February, Putin received a grand welcome in Egypt, signaling a rapprochement.”

Arabs Want to Form Joint Military Force

AFP wrote on March 29:

“Arab leaders agreed on Sunday to form a joint military force after a summit dominated by a Saudi-led offensive on Shiite rebels in Yemen and the threat from Islamist extremism. Arab representatives will meet over the next month to study the creation of the force and present their findings to defence ministers within four months, according to the resolution adopted by the leaders…

“The decision was mostly aimed at fighting jihadists who have overrun swathes of Iraq and Syria and secured a foothold in Libya, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said ahead of the summit. On Sunday, Arabi told the meeting the region was threatened by a ‘destructive’ force that threatened ‘ethnic and religious diversity’, in an apparent reference to the Islamic State group.”

The New York Times added on March 29:

“The Arab states said on Sunday that they had agreed to form a combined military force to counter both Iranian influence and Islamist extremism, a gesture many analysts attributed in large part to their drive for more independence from Washington.

“The agreement came as American and other Western diplomats in Lausanne, Switzerland, were racing to beat a self-imposed deadline of Tuesday to reach a deal with Iran that would restrict its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of economic sanctions. In response, Saudi Arabia and other American allies in the region have made clear that they are seeking to bolster independent regional security measures because they see the proposed accord as a betrayal of Washington’s commitment to their security.

“Regardless of Iran’s nuclear program, they complain, the deal would do nothing to stop Iran from seeking to extend its influence around the region by backing favored factions, as it has done in Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen.

“Many of the Arab states, including Egypt, Jordan and most of the Gulf monarchies, have thrown their support behind a Saudi Arabia-led campaign of airstrikes to counter advances by the Iranian-backed Houthi movement in Yemen; Washington is providing only intelligence and logistical support, but Saudi Arabia is leading the bombing while Egypt, with the largest Arab army, has pledged to send ground troops ‘if necessary’…”

Nuclear Agreement With Iran “Worse Than Feared”

Thomson/Reuters wrote on March 29:

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned on Sunday the framework Iranian nuclear agreement being sought by international negotiators, saying it was even worse than his country had feared. Israel has mounted what it terms an ‘uphill battle’ against an agreement that might ease sanctions on the Iranians while leaving them with a nuclear infrastructure with bomb-making potential. Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful.”

AFP added:

“[Netanyahu] said the ‘Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axis’ was ‘dangerous for all of humanity’ and that combined with Tehran’s regional influence, a nuclear deal could allow Iran to ‘conquer’ the Middle East.”

An Arab joint military force (without and in defense against Iran) might prevent any (further) Iranian occupation of the Middle East. At the same time, American foreign policy is almost too incomprehensible and inconsistent as to make any sense. While America tries to strike a deal with Iran, it supports the fight against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen, while supporting the fight against Iranian-opposed Sunni radicals (IS) while supporting both Sunni and Shiite rebels against Syria’s Assad, while antagonizing Israel…

Washington Lacks Sympathy For Its Partners and Friends

Foreign Policy wrote on March 30:

“As a March 31 deadline looms in the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, the United States and France, two strong allies, have found themselves increasingly at odds, at times quite publicly. While the White House has been pushing hard for consensus on the framework for a deal ahead of the deadline, Paris has been pushing back…

“Relations between Paris and Washington have been tainted with suspicion ever since Syria used chemical weapons in August 2013 and Obama failed to enforce his ‘red line.’…

“Paris is in good company, alongside many of Washington’s traditional allies in the region, including the Gulf states, Israel, and Turkey, which have all felt shunted aside in the interest of reconciliation with Iran…

“Behind the Iran nuclear talks hovers the question of the future and shape of American power and leadership. For a decade, European countries have worked on trying to rein in Iran’s nuclear program. France, like the other countries, has taken an economic hit in this effort, thanks to the sanctions regime. Now the view from Paris is of a Washington that seems to lack empathy and trust for its longtime friends and partners — more interested in making nice with Iran than looking out for its old allies.”

April Fool’s Day Deal with Iran?

Reuters wrote on April 1:

“Six world powers and Iran will meet again later on Wednesday in a bid to reach an outline accord reining in Tehran’s nuclear programme, after failing to agree [on] crucial details such as the lifting of U.N. sanctions by a Tuesday deadline.

“The negotiators ended talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne in the early hours of Wednesday and said they would reconvene later in the day, with Iran and Russia expressing optimism that an initial agreement was within reach…

“With Iran asserting its ‘nuclear rights’ and the United States threatening on Tuesday to abandon the negotiations, the talks have been bogged down on the issues of nuclear research, the lifting of U.N. sanctions and their restoration if Iran breaches the agreement.

“Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said negotiators had reached a general accord on ‘all key aspects’, according to Russia’s TASS news agency, while his Iranian counterpart said a draft agreement could be prepared on Wednesday.

“But a diplomat close to the talks denied that such an agreement had been reached…”

Controversial Deal With Iran Reached

The Associated Press reported on April 2:

“After marathon negotiations, the United States, Iran and five other world powers announced an agreement Thursday outlining limits on Iran’s nuclear program to block it from developing atomic weapons and directing negotiators toward a final accord this summer.

“The United States and Iran each hailed the framework, reached by weary but upbeat diplomats after a week of intense diplomacy in Switzerland that capped 18 months of negotiations. Speaking from the White House, President Barack Obama called it a ‘good deal’ that would address concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“Crucially for the Iranians, it also would provide them broad relief over time from international sanctions that have crippled their economy. Still, critics in both nations as well as wary U.S. allies Israel and Saudi Arabia were likely to oppose the ‘plan of action’ because of concessions allowing Iran to maintain significant elements of a program that could be used to produce either energy or nuclear arms…

“Negotiators from the nations involved — including Russia and China — will now start writing the text of a final accord…”

Iran Deal Complete Capitulation of the West

Breitbart wrote on April 3:

“The P5+1 powers have, as expected, reached a ‘framework agreement’ on a nuclear deal with Iran. And, as suspected, the agreement allows Iran to retain its enrichment facility at an underground bunker. It also allows Iran to maintain a small amount of enriched uranium, and will offer the regime sanctions relief as soon as it can show it is keeping its end of the bargain…

“The deal is a near-complete capitulation by President Barack Obama… Obama taunted his critics, saying that a deal was surely better than war, which he suggested was the only alternative.

“But the question at stake is not whether there will be war with Iran. There already is. Iran’s Houthi proxies ousted a government in Yemen that had provided the most important foundation for Obama’s policy of attacking Al Qaeda terrorists who threaten the United States. The Iranians are also propping up Bashar al-Assad in Syria, whom the Obama administration is at least theoretically committed to deposing. And though it is fighting ISIS in Iraq, Iran is taking over what the U.S. once defended.

“The question, simply, is not whether there will be war, but whether Iran will be able to obtain a nuclear weapon. And while President Obama promised Thursday that the framework agreement closes off all paths to a bomb, that is simply not true. Iran maintains a significant amount of control over international inspections. It has been forgiven for its past cheating, and allowed to maintain significant nuclear assets. And it may have other secret nuclear facilities, including military ones yet unknown.

“The negotiations took place as if in a vacuum, separate from the role Iran is playing in the region—as if its ongoing “non-negotiable” pledges to destroy Israel did not matter, as if Iran were not supervising the slaughter of innocents in Syria, or trying to bomb an embassy in Uruguay….

“There is only one way to close off Iran’s path to a bomb, and that is to depose the regime. The region wants them gone. The Iranian people want them gone. And the mullahs nearly were gone, six years ago. But Obama preserved them by refusing to intervene on behalf of the pro-democracy movement. He preserved the Ayatollahs for this moment, for the gesture of a grand bargain….”

“Obama’s Revenge”—“US Declassifies Report Detailing Israel’s Nuke Program”

Newsmax reported on March 26:

The U.S. government has chosen to declassify a top secret document that pulls the lid off Israel’s nuclear weapons program… It is believed to be the first time the U.S. has publicly acknowledged Israel has nuclear arms. The 386-page document provides a detailed breakdown of how Israel developed nuclear weapons in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Israel is ‘developing the kind of codes which will enable them to make hydrogen bombs…’ reads the report… [saying that] Israel was ‘reaching the ability to create bombs considered a thousand times more powerful than atom bombs’ in the 1980s.

“The document also says Israel’s nuclear research laboratories ‘are equivalent to [the United States’] Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge National Laboratories.’ ‘As far as nuclear technology is concerned the Israelis are roughly where the U.S. was in the fission weapon field in about 1955 to 1960,’ reads the document…

“In the section about Israel, the report details the nation’s several weapons programs, complete with charts and pictures that depict weapons systems. The report was written by the Institute for Defense Analysis, an agency working in tandem with the Pentagon.”

Obama a Modern Haman and Chamberlain?

The Jerusalem Post wrote on March 29:

“Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, chief rabbi of Efrat, on Saturday night compared US President Barack Obama to Haman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Mordechai. Speaking at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, the American-born Riskin said that he could not understand what was going through Obama’s mind. ‘The president of the United States is lashing out at Israel just like Haman lashed out at the Jews,’ he said… Just as Mordechai was focused on saving the Jews of Persia from destruction, he said, so Netanyahu is focused on saving Israel and the world from destruction…

“Riskin drew an analogy between the conquest of Babylonia by ancient Persia and the armed conflict between Iran and Iraq. In relation to Iran, he said that the only difference between Iran and the Islamic State was who would be using power to control the world…

“Riskin was not the only prominent rabbi to criticize Obama over the weekend for his diplomatic policies. The World Values Network, founded and run by American rabbi and public figure Shmuley Boteach, took out a full page advertisement in The New York Times on Saturday comparing the deal being drawn up with Iran on its nuclear project to the Munich Agreement signed in 1938 by British prime minister Neville Chamberlain with Adolf Hitler, widely seen as an act of appeasement that emboldened the Nazi leader.

“The Times ad bore a picture of a pensive-looking Obama with an inset picture of Chamberlain holding aloft a copy of the Munich Agreement that he infamously declared to represent ‘peace for our time,’ just 11 months before Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland marking the beginning of the World War II.

“The ad described Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a ‘terror overlord’ and a ‘Hitler-wannabe,’ and said that the deal being discussed with Iran would ‘enable the world’s foremost sponsor of terror to become a nuclear power.’

“It called on Obama to demand that Khamenei personally and publicly repudiate his threats against Israel, that Iran cease support for terrorist groups and for the US president not to approve a deal that ‘allows the potentially catastrophic one-year-weapons-breakout period, which endangers Israel, the Middle East, America and the world.’”

Netanyahu Has His Work Cut out for Him

JTA wrote on March 20:

“When Netanyahu said on Monday that he wouldn’t allow a Palestinian state on his watch, supporters saw it as an honest and sensible assessment of the lessons Israel has drawn from the upheaval that radical Islam has brought to the Arab world… He clarified his position (or backtracked, depending on your view) in an MSNBC interview Thursday, saying he supports ‘a sustainable, peaceful, two-state solution — but for that, circumstances have to change.’

“This view holds currency across the Israeli political spectrum… After what happened with Gaza and Lebanon following Israel’s withdrawals, polls show few Israelis believe it’s possible right now to cede West Bank territory without it becoming a staging ground for attacks.

“… with the ascendance of radical Islamists in the Arab world, rising anti-Semitism in Europe, deep unease about the emerging nuclear deal with Iran and a growing sense of diplomatic isolation in Israel, the right-wing parties — and Likud in particular — were able to capitalize on Israeli fears. Whether Netanyahu’s premiership will be seen as having improved Israel’s security or imperiled it may ultimately depend on how history unfolds… What’s clear is that with Israel facing threats on multiple fronts, including myriad domestic challenges and a crisis in relations with the U.S. president, Netanyahu has his work cut out for him.”

US-Israel Tensions Deepen

The New York Times wrote on March 20:

“The White House is stepping up its antagonism toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite his victory in this week’s elections, signaling that it is in no rush to repair a historic rift between the United States and Israel… In a congratulatory call to Mr. Netanyahu on Thursday that Mr. Obama waited two days to place, the president chided the prime minister for his pre-election declaration that no Palestinian state would be established on his watch.

“Although Mr. Netanyahu has since tried to backtrack on those comments, Mr. Obama said that they had nonetheless forced his administration to reassess certain aspects of its policy toward Israel… The schism has exacerbated tension between the White House and the most powerful American pro-Israel group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, with which sitting presidents have traditionally been in lock step. Aipac, which like Mr. Netanyahu is vehemently opposed to the emerging nuclear agreement with Iran, on Friday said the onus was on the White House to repair the breach.”

The Huffington Post wrote on March 21:

“Obama declined to say whether the United States would continue to block Palestinian efforts to secure statehood through the United Nations…”

Israel United Against US Criticism of Netanyahu

The New York Times wrote on March 24:

“… many… Israelis have been astonished by the unrelenting White House criticism that has helped sink relations between Washington and Jerusalem to a nadir not seen for more than 25 years. Even some who mainly blame Mr. Netanyahu for antagonizing President Obama over the last six years now see the scales flipped… Mr. Obama showed no signs Tuesday of softening his stance on Mr. Netanyahu’s momentary disavowal of the two-state solution that has long been the cornerstone of American policy…

“Israeli analysts are now suggesting that Mr. Obama and his aides might be overplaying their hand, inviting a backlash of sympathy for Mr. Netanyahu, and that they may not have clearly defined what they expected to gain diplomatically by continuing to pressure the Israeli leader. The president’s harsh words have been deemed by some to be patronizing and disrespectful not only to Mr. Netanyahu but also to the voters who rewarded his uncompromising stances with a resounding mandate for a fourth term.

“Several Israeli analysts said the administration’s criticism of Mr. Netanyahu seemed like a pretext for a longstanding plan to change the United States’ policy of protecting Israel in international forums, which the administration has said it will reassess. Others suspect a ploy to undermine Israel’s lobbying efforts against the American negotiations for a nuclear accord with Iran.

“The rift widened further on Tuesday with a Wall Street Journal report in which administration officials accused Israeli officials of spying on the closed-door negotiations with Iran and sharing secret details about them with Congress and journalists. Three top Israeli ministers vehemently denied the report. Several congressional Republicans said they had received no such information, and those in Mr. Netanyahu’s close circle said it seemed like more poisoning of dirty waters…

“In contrast with the White House, leading Israeli voices seem to have accepted Mr. Netanyahu’s post-election clarification that current circumstances make it impossible to imagine meeting his longstanding conditions for supporting a Palestinian state…

“As for Washington, the Obama administration’s rethinking of its policy on protecting Israel in the United Nations and other international forums may not be as simple as it sounds. The White House is likely to want any United Nations Security Council resolution on the two-state solution to include Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, something the Palestinians have roundly refused. And Republicans have already threatened to cut off United Nations funding if President Obama supports such a resolution.

“‘The very tough thing for the administration to explain to itself is, “What is the actual strategy?”’ said Nathan Thrall of the International Crisis Group. ‘O.K., so you’ve passed a Security Council resolution, both sides say they reject it, so what do you do and what have you achieved? It’s going to be a big headache to get it done, you’re going to expend a bunch of diplomatic effort, and for what? The arguments that you hear in favor of doing it is that Obama would leave a legacy.’

“Right now, that legacy includes the lowest point in the alliance that diplomatic sages can recall… ‘Obama and his team had assembled this rage over several months or maybe a few years, and now it’s all coming out,’ added Mr. Rabinovich, no fan of Mr. Netanyahu. ‘I think they are overdoing it. I think they are ignoring the complexity of Israeli politics. I think Netanyahu would like to make amends, but if Obama doesn’t want to make amends, the fight will continue.’”

It seems, whatever the Obama Administration is trying to do is predestined to failure.

Turmoil in Yemen

The Associated Press reported on March 26:

“Saudi Arabia began airstrikes Wednesday against Houthi rebel positions in Yemen, vowing that the Sunni kingdom will do ‘anything necessary’ to restore a deposed government that has been routed by the Iranian-backed group…

“The White House said Wednesday night that President Barack Obama has authorized logistical and intelligence support to the military operations…

“The Saudi strikes were the latest in a series of fast moving developments in Yemen… Driven weeks ago from the capital by the Houthis, U.S.- and Saudi-backed Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi abandoned the country Wednesday.

“… the reality is that the capital and some of the country’s main cities already have fallen to the [rebel] group, and ground troops will be required to take them back.”

Majority of Germans Trust in the Euro

The Local wrote on March 24:

“A survey published on Tuesday shows that German public trust in the single currency has risen sharply over the last two years to hit 57 percent… In Germany, the sharp rise in trust in the Euro made it the fifth most respected public institution… It has now been established in the public mind that the worst fantasies of the media will not come true and the Eurozone will indeed stay together.”

Insane Mass Murder 

Deutsche Welle reported on March 26:

“German authorities have searched two residences of Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz (28). Investigators believe Lubitz deliberately crashed flight 4U9525 into a mountain, killing all 150 people on board… locking himself in the cockpit and adjusting the altitude setting on the plane. This is a conclusion reached through audio recordings from one of the downed plane’s black boxes… The audio appears to show the captain, who left the cabin briefly, presumably to use the restroom, trying to force his way back in.”

The Local added on March 26:

“If this theory is officially confirmed in the days to come it will realise one of the greatest fears of both airlines and passengers alike and raise serious questions about security on board airplanes…

“If Lubitz did deliberately fly the passengers to their deaths, it would not be the first time a pilot has acted in such a devastating way.

“In 2013 a Mozambican airlines flight is believed to have crashed for a similar reason, as did a SilkAir flight in 1997 in Indonesia and an Egyptair plane in 1999, that had 217 people on board, although in this case the pilot suicide theory is disputed…”

Russia Warns Denmark of Nuclear Attack… Baltic States Worried

The Telegraph wrote on March 21:

“Russia has gone on the offensive in the Baltic… ‘I don’t think that Danes fully understand the consequence if Denmark joins the American-led missile defence shield. If they do, then Danish warships will be targets for Russian nuclear missiles,’ said Mikhail Vanin, the Russian ambassador to Denmark, to the Jyllands-Posten newspaper. ‘Denmark would be part of the threat against Russia. It would be less peaceful and relations with Russia will suffer…’

“Denmark’s Foreign minister, Martin Lidegaard, reacted strongly to the comments…  ‘If that is what he has said, then it is unacceptable. Russia knows full well that Nato’s missile defence is defensive and not targeted at (Russia)…

“In follow up statements that will worry the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in particular, Mr Vanin went on to say that from being one of the most peaceful parts of the world a year ago, the Baltic is now ‘one of the most unpredictable in the world’.

“Germany, Poland, Lithuania, the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden and Denmark all border the Baltic Sea. Six of them are Nato states. The three formerly Soviet Baltic states, now all members of Nato and the European Union, have repeatedly expressed their concern at their own situation, not least because as with Ukraine, both Estonia and Latvia in particular have large Russian populations and fear Russian encroachments…”

Doomsday Closer Than We Think?

The Jerusalem Post wrote on March 22:

“With most of the world’s focus on the Iran nuclear negotiations, little attention has been paid to a complete breakdown in the push to limit nuclear weapons proliferation on a scale not seen in years.

“Analysts may be correct that a deal which leaves Iran as a nuclear weapons ‘threshold state’ – or a state which has mastered the skills for making nuclear weapons and need only decide to produce one – may expand a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, involving Saudi Arabia, Egypt and others…

“The next most obvious problem is North Korea, which is estimated to have somewhere between six to 10 nuclear bombs. It is also continuing to produce new ones and is likely, based on its information exchanges and mutual visits with Iran in recent years, to be illegally sharing its technology with other dangerous new countries that may produce nuclear weapons.

“The increasing North Korean threat along with China’s fast-expanding conventional and nuclear forces may cause a new nuclear arms race, with Japan and South Korea finally joining in. Those countries may decide they can no longer rely on US protection alone…

“China’s potential new ability to launch a second or retaliatory nuclear strike against the US from its harder-to-attack mobile weapons sites and submarines mean the US would need to think much harder about intervening to protect its Asian allies from Chinese adventurism.

“Pakistan is another obvious problem, though with its already built nuclear weapons arsenal – estimated at 100 to 120 – it strangely receives far less attention than Iran…

‘But all of these threats may pale in comparison to the return of the Russian nuclear behemoth… As Russia more directly butts heads with the US and Europe, will its nuclear power status allow it to restore its old empire beyond parts of Ukraine? Will the US and Europe need to restore their Cold War military levels of preparedness to fend off a Russian attack? Could these broken-down relations lead Russia to be more aggressive in helping Tehran or even terror groups use smaller tactical nuclear weapons or gain nuclear technology in a new destabilizing fashion?…”

Interestingly, nobody seems to be focusing on a nuclear threat from Europe, even though the Bible clearly states that it will be Europe, under German leadership, which will end up fighting with the USA, the UK and Israel, and that Europe will destroy major American, British and Israeli cities, “laying them waste,” obviously through nuclear weapons (see our Q&A in this Update). From that standpoint, the following article is extremely important as it shows the utter lack of American willpower to defend against an enemy.

As the Bible has said, God will break the pride of America’s power (Leviticus 26:19), and even though America would get “ready” for  battle, God would not even allow them to fight. Ezekiel 7:7, 13-14, 17 speaks to the modern houses of Israel and Judah, warning:

“Doom has come to you, you who dwell in the land: The time has come, A day of trouble is near, And not of rejoicing in the mountains… the vision concerns the whole multitude, And it shall not turn back; No one will strengthen himself Who lives in iniquity. They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready, But no one goes to battle; For My wrath is on all their multitude… Every hand will be feeble, And every knee will be as weak as water…”

America Defenseless Against Nuclear Attack

Forbes wrote on March 20:

“Russia has about 1,600 missile warheads capable of reaching U.S. territory, and if even a small fraction were launched, they could wipe out our electric grid, our financial networks, and quite possibly the whole U.S. economy…

“But this commentary isn’t about Russian military intentions. It is about the utter absence of U.S. active defenses for repulsing the sole man-made threat capable of wiping out American civilization for the foreseeable future.  Imagine every person you know dead, injured, or lacking shelter and sustenance.  Not at some dim point in the future, but by this time tomorrow.  Russia has that power, because America has no defenses against long-range ballistic missiles…

“Russia still has an assured capacity to obliterate America’s society and economy.  That isn’t going to change, because Moscow doesn’t trust Washington and nuclear weapons are its sole remaining claim to superpower status.

“… on the day deterrence fails, America’s highly capable strategic force will be little comfort because it can’t do anything to intercept incoming warheads.  All it can do is lay waste to Russia.

“The minimal defensive system the Obama Administration has sustained… can potentially intercept warheads attacking from any direction, but more than a dozen Russian warheads would overwhelm it.  So here we sit, able to detect a Russian launch almost immediately and retaliate with devastating force, but powerless to defend our homeland and loved ones from nuclear aggression.

“This is the kind of strategic myopia that eventually leads to catastrophe…”

Netanyahu Wins

Breitbart wrote on March 17:

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has… defied the mainstream media and the Obama administration with a stunning, come-from-behind victory in Israel’s elections on Tuesday. Netanyahu’s Likud Party had been projected to lose to Isaac Herzog’s Zionist Union by a margin of 26-22… Netanyahu is now expected to form a new governing coalition.”

JTA wrote on March 18:

“After weeks in which polls consistently showed Zionist Union holding a slight lead over the Likud Party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader effected a dramatic comeback to win a decisive victory in Israeli elections. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Netanyahu’s Likud had won 30 seats  — a quarter of the Knesset and six more than the Zionist Union’s 24.”

The Associated Press added on March 18 that Netanyahu is now “in a position to build with relative ease a coalition government with its nationalist, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies.”

The Netanyahu Miracle–CNN Wrong Again

Breitbart wrote on March 17:

“All day long CNN has been relentlessly beating the drum and practically celebrating the forgone conclusion that sitting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was about to lose today’s elections. Every move Netanyahu made over the past few weeks that outraged Obama and his media allies was framed by CNN today as a blunder — from the speech he made before Congress to  sounding the alarm today about Israeli Leftists busing Arabs to the polls.

“CNN was quite obviously setting up a Narrative to explain and gloat over what polls said was almost certain to be a Netanyahu defeat. A funny thing happened at 4 pm ET when the exit polls from Israel came in. Netanyahu was tied or slightly ahead. An hour later news reports suggested Netanyahu had already cobbled together enough allies from other parties to form a governing coalition. This means he will remain Prime Minister. This is why he took to Twitter to declare victory.

“By 6pm, the biggest story in the world, and one of the biggest electoral upsets in recent memory, was no longer the biggest story on CNN. Despite all the domestic and international ramifications of Netanyahu’s almost certain victory, despite all the backfilling CNN had done all day to ‘explain’ Netanyahu’s defeat, Netanyahu’s upset did not lead CNN’s 6 pm hour with Wolf Blitzer. Netanyahu giving his victory speech  did not lead the 7 pm hour with Erin Burnett.

“At 6 pm and 7pm, CNN decided that the story of the night was … a single Air Force veteran trying to join ISIS. At around 7:10 pm, Burnett finally decided it was time to talk about the Israeli elections, and when she did she read a chyron that read, ‘Is Netanyahu About to Lose?’ Not ‘Too Close to Call.’ Not ‘Bibi Upset Victory?’ Nope. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, CNN stuck to its ‘about to lose’ narrative.

“Things got much worse. An obviously rattled Burnett came back from commercial and then went on to prove she knows absolutely nothing about how the Israeli government works. For some ignorant reason she is under the impression that a tie or something close to it means Netanyahu is weakened and will — this is a direct quote — ‘have to share a significant amount of power with Isaac Herzog.’…

“CNN isn’t alone. But CNN was the news outlet that had gone further out on a limb than any other in gambling big on a Netanyahu loss.

“As far as the rest of our unbiased, objective media, let me put it this way: All the planned and hotly anticipated ‘Did Bibi’s Speech to Congress Backfire?’ narratives and thought pieces will not be replaced with ‘Did Obama’s Meddling In the Israeli Elections Backfire?’ narratives and thought pieces. The media likely lost this one…”

No Palestinian State?

The EUObserver wrote on March 17:

“Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said that if he is re-elected there will be no Palestinian state, putting in doubt the future of EU-Israel relations… his anti-Palestine comments pose fundamental questions for EU relations…

“EU diplomats are waiting for the US to restart talks in the final months of president Barack Obama’s second term in office. But the prevailing mood in Washington is that there’s no point if Netanyahu retains office, meaning the two-state idea would be put on hold for years to come… But without US engagement, neither EU restrictive measures nor diplomatic recognitions would change facts on the ground. The two-state solution, in any case, involves moving, by force, more than 110,000 Israeli settlers from East Jerusalem and the West Bank.”

Iran a Disruptive Player in the Arab World

BBC News reported on March 16:

“A senior member of the Saudi royal family has warned that a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme could prompt other regional states to develop atomic fuel. Prince Turki al-Faisal told the BBC that Saudi Arabia would then seek the same right, as would other nations…

“With a late March deadline for an Iran deal approaching, Saudi Arabia last week signed a nuclear co-operation agreement with South Korea that included a plan to study the feasibility of building two nuclear reactors in the kingdom. Riyadh has also signed nuclear co-operation agreements with China, France and Argentina, and intends to construct 16 nuclear power reactors over the next 20 years.

“The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, flew to Riyadh earlier this month to reassure Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab allies that America would not accept any deal unless it prevented Iran from building a nuclear weapon. He was told that they found Iran’s support for armed Shia Muslim groups in regional conflicts as troubling as the prospect of an atomic bomb. ‘Iran is already a disruptive player in various scenes in the Arab world, whether it’s Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, or Bahrain,’ said Prince Turki.”

The Other Side of Iran—Iranian Dissidents Lashing Out at Obama’s “Diplomacy”

The Washington Free Beacon wrote on March 17:

“A group of Iranian dissidents and political prisoners have lashed out at the Obama administration, lambasting its ongoing diplomacy with Iran, according to two open letters sent to the White House in recent days… In each letter, the dissidents—most of whom are currently political prisoners in Iran—criticize the White House for ignoring the issues of human rights and democracy in Iran as they push to finalize a deal with a regime that the dissidents says     is murderous and untrustworthy.

“Iranian reformers and those seeking a change in the country’s leadership say they do not view the agreement as representing the plurality of Iranians. ‘Any deal in which the real representatives of Iranian people are not present and human rights are ignored, is basically a deal between President Obama and Khamenei’s agents, and Iranian people will not consider it to be legal,’ 21 Iranian political prisoners wrote in an open letter to Obama…

“As the Obama administration negotiates with Iran, the Islamic Republic continues to execute scores of political prisoners and dissidents each day, the letter states. An American pastor, Saeed Abedini, also continues to be imprisoned in Iran. ‘In this chaos, Iranian people, human rights, and basic civil rights are absent without any representation,’ they write. ‘During President Obama’s negotiations for a profitable deal with the non-democratic Regime of Iran, the number of people executed increases every day; freedoms of speech, religion, women, and journalists are restricted more and more, and civil, labor, and political associations are suppressed heavily.’

“On Sunday, another Iranian dissident currently in jail for leading protests against the regime sent his own letter to Obama. Heshmat Tabarzadi says that the Obama administration has been ignoring human rights issues in order to placate the Islamic Republic in talks. ‘When the people of Iran asked you to support them against the tyranny of the Shia clerics over five years ago you, the president of the most powerful country on earth, were secretly writing letters to the dictator of Iran,’ he writes in the letter, which was smuggled out of Iran by human rights activists and provided to the Foundation for Democracy in Iran, an advocacy group.

“Obama’s outreach has only empowered Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, writes Tabarzadi, who says he shares a prison cell with Saeed Abedini. ‘In June 2009, as Khamenei ruthlessly ordered his paramilitary forces to kill people on the streets and on university campuses, imprisoning and torturing journalists, intellectuals, the young and the old mercilessly, your friendly communications with the tyrant of Iran continued in the name of the people of the United States, ignoring the human rights of the people of Iran,’ the letter states. ‘You helped Khamenei to continue his Islamic tyranny in the name of Allah and Islam… The Islamic clerics have taken our nation hostage to their fanatical Islamic tyranny…

“‘In 2009 when the people of Iran loudly and clearly asked for your support for their freedom and sovereignty, you ignored us and empowered the tyrants to imprison, torture, and kill us.’ Nations such as the United States should be supporting ‘the People of Iran, not the tyrants,’ according to Tabarzadi…  ‘You claim that the only choice that you have is either to make a deal with Khamenei—which I believe means surrender—or war,’ he states. ‘I dare say this claim is a form of misinformation and intimidation of the people of America… Please sanction and weaken the illegal regime of Khamenei, and empower the people to overthrow this tyranny… You know that you can support the people in many ways, such as giving us Internet access that the Khamenei regime cannot police. This would allow us to organize and rise up against these godless tyrants.’…

“Saeed Ghassiminejad, an Iranian dissident and expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that the letters reflect growing frustration with the Obama administration among reform-minded Iranians… ‘[Obama] has shown that he does not care at all about human rights and democracy. Whether it is Cuba, Iran, or Syria he and his secretary of state are either neutral or on the side of dictators.’”

ISIS and Boko Haram Join Forces

Newsmax wrote on March 13:

“ISIS has declared its intention to ‘blow up your White House, Big Ben, and the Eiffel Tower,’ its official spokesman said in a new audio message [continuing] that the organization had accepted a pledge of allegiance from the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram… [The] ISIS spokesman… declared that Boko Haram’s move was ‘a new door opened by Allah’ and said jihadists should go to West Africa… [and that] ISIS wanted control of numerous cities across the globe, including Jerusalem, Kabul, Rome, and Paris.

“The ISIS spokesman warned Jews and Christians that they could either ‘convert to Islam or pay the ultimate price when your armies are expelled from Muhammad’s peninsula, from Jerusalem, and all Muslim lands.’”

Lost–$500 Million in US Military Aid Given to Yemen

The Washington Post wrote on March 17:

“The Pentagon is unable to account for more than $500 million in U.S. military aid given to Yemen amid fears that the weaponry, aircraft and equipment is at risk of being seized by Iranian-backed rebels or al-Qaeda, according to U.S. officials. With Yemen in turmoil and its government splintering apart, the Defense Department has lost its ability to monitor the whereabouts of U.S.-donated small arms, ammunition, night-vision goggles, patrol boats, vehicles and other supplies. The situation has grown worse since the United States closed its embassy in Sanaa, the capital, last month and withdrew many of its military advisers.

“In recent weeks, members of Congress have held closed-door meetings with U.S. military officials to press for an accounting of the arms and equipment. Pentagon officials have said they have little information to go on and that there is little they can do at this point to prevent the weapons and gear from falling into the wrong hands…

“Yemen’s government was toppled in January by Shiite Houthi rebels, who receive support from Iran and have strongly opposed U.S. drone strikes in Yemen. The Houthis have taken over many Yemeni military bases in the northern part of the country, including some in Sanaa that were home to U.S.-trained counterterrorism units. Other bases have been overrun by fighters from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula…”

Terror Attack on Tourists in Tunisia

Deutsche Welle reported on March 18:

“At least 19 people have been killed when militants attacked a popular museum in Tunisia’s capital, the prime minister confirmed. The attack was the country’s worst in nine years… Tunisian state television reported that two gunmen had died in the violence, but Prime Minister Essid said some of the terrorists could still be at large.

“Tourists from Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain were among those who lost their lives in Wednesday’s attack, the prime minister added. Another 22 tourists and two Tunisians were injured… The European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini condemned the attacks, blaming the ‘Islamic State’ (IS) militants, who were, according to her ‘once again targeting the countries and peoples of the Mediterranean region. This strengthens our determination to cooperate more closely with our partners to confront the terrorist threat,’ she said, adding that the EU was willing to ‘mobilize all the tools it has to fully support Tunisia in its fight against terrorism.’

“Gunmen opened fire on tourists as they were getting off buses outside Tunisia’s national museum on Wednesday, officials said. Many tourists remained inside the museum until security forces stormed in and killed the two militants. The attack dealt a huge blow to the small country which is still recovering from the political uprising, also known as the Arab Spring in 2011. Tunisia relies heavily on tourism from Europe and has tried to avoid terror attacks since leader Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted four years ago… Officials estimate that around 3,000 Tunisians have joined the ‘Islamic State’ in Syria and Iraq, raising fears that they may plan terror attacks at home.”

Deutsche Welle reported on March 19 that ISIS claimed responsibility for the abominable and cowardly terrorist attack, and that at least 20 people were killed. In an audio message, ISIS said that this was only the first drop of the rain.

Putin Was Willing to Use Nukes Over Crimea

AFP wrote on March 15:

“Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to put the country’s nuclear forces on alert as he sought to annex Crimea last year after the fall of a Moscow-backed government in Kiev.

“In a nearly three-hour documentary aired on state TV in Russia on Sunday a year after the takeover of the Black Sea Peninsula from Ukraine, Putin showed the lengths he was willing to go to in order to protect Russian-speaking citizens of the province he considered a historic slice of Russia. The documentary, ‘Homeward Bound’, features interviews with Putin and reconstructions in which the Russian leader presents himself as the saviour of Crimea, forced to deploy elite troops to prevent a war with ‘nationalists’ who took power in Kiev… And unsure whether the West would intervene militarily to stop the annexation, he was ready to face ‘the worst possible turn of events.’”

Putin Does It Again

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 18:

“Russia tightened control over South Ossetia on Wednesday, when… Putin and his self-declared counterpart, Leonid Tibilov… signed the 25-year ‘Treaty on Alliance and Integration.’ The tiny mountainous region’s 50,000 inhabitants broke away from Georgia in the 1990s, and Russia effectively gained full control over it and a second secessionist territory, Abkhazia, after a brief war between the government and separatists in 2008, stationing troops there to preserve the peace. ‘This step made against the territorial integrity of a sovereign state further worsens the situation created as a result of the occupation and brings it to the level of an annexation,’ Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said in a statement Wednesday…

“The treaty hands border control to Russia, which would also formally take charge of South Ossetia’s economy and military… ‘A joint defense and security zone will be created between our two countries, our customs agencies will be integrated, and border crossings for our citizens will become open,’ Putin said on Wednesday…

“On Wednesday, the European Union’s diplomacy chief said that the agreement undermined efforts to strengthen security and stability in the region. ‘This ‘treaty’ – which includes references to a transfer of powers in some areas – clearly violates Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,’ EU Foreign Policy coordinator Federica Mogherini said.”

“Putin Has Started a War, and Ten Million Could Die”

Express wrote on March 17:

“Vladimir Putin has started a war with the ‘whole civilised world’ which could leave ‘ten million people dead’. Polish statesman Lech Walesa made the ominous warning as the Russian President made clear he will deploy the nuclear-capable Tupolev bomber to annexed Crimea. The 62-year-old has also signalled his attentions to send Iskander surface-to-surface missile systems close to Poland’s border.
“The man who as a Gdansk trade union leader inspired the end of the Cold War accused the Kremlin leader of playing with fire… ‘He broke agreements, contracts, guarantees. The world cannot just leave it like this. If something like this happens, only force is left… If Russia takes a risk and attacks Poland and other countries… there will be a war… a million will be killed, ten million maybe’…

“World heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko echoed Mr Walesa, saying… ‘What is happening at the moment could set off a third World War… I think that the European community is sleeping. Putin is doing what he wants to… He will continue to march forward.’”

Russia’s Northern Fleet on Full Alert

CNN reported on March 17:

“As the U.S. and several Eastern European NATO countries conduct a series of military exercises near Russia’s border, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his Northern Fleet ‘to full alert in a snap combat readiness exercise’ in the Arctic, state-run media reported Monday.

“… a Kremlin spokesman described the Northern Fleet inspection as routine practice aimed at improving military capabilities… Conversely, a diplomat told Tass that Russia was ‘deeply concerned’ about NATO drills near its border…”

Dangerous Putin and Helpless EU

The EUObserver wrote on March 16:

“Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in a pre-filmed interview, has said he was ready to use nuclear weapons if the West had tried to stop him seizing Crimea… He said he also deployed high-tech coastal defence missiles, which can be seen from space, to deter outside intervention.

“He added that he warned his Western counterparts he is prepared to go to war… Russian propaganda outlets have said it is capable of reducing the US to ‘radioactive ash’. Putin has also claimed he could conquer Kiev, Bucharest, and Warsaw ‘in two days’ by conventional means if he is provoked…

“But speaking to European media at the weekend, EU Council chief Donald Tusk noted how hard it is to maintain EU unity.  ‘A common policy of the 28 member states doesn’t exist. We have 28 different foreign policies’, he said.

“He noted he has little faith in the recent, so-called Minsk 2, ceasefire accord… He added that any EU leader who believes Putin is ready to make peace is guilty of ‘naivete or hypocrisy’.”

“A Pan-European Army with or Without American Help”

NBC News wrote on March 15:

“As conflicts worsen on NATO’s eastern borders, the case is being made for a pan-European army as commanders seek multinational ‘coalitions of force’ — with or without American help… ‘Europe must accept that the world regards the E.U. as more than just an economic union,’ Raimund Kirch, editor in chief of the Nürnberger Zeitung, wrote in an editorial. ‘Therefore, it must develop an independent moral and military power, in order to survive between the bi-polar forces.’…

‘‘This is not about having more influence in NATO,’ former German NATO general Harald Kujat told NBC News. ‘But the idea is that Europe wants to show “we must be more powerful” in light of the Ukraine crisis. NATO’s reaction time is too long because the Europeans have reduced the readiness status of their forces so much that they are, in practice, not available within the necessary time frame… the fact that the Europeans are not in a situation to defend their eastern allies in the Baltics and Poland without American support is shameful,’ said Kujat… ‘Germany spends about 1.3 percent of its GDP on the military. That’s not enough’…

“Stefan Soesanto, of the RAND research institute in Brussels, argues for an ‘enhanced interoperability among European soldiers’ which in the long term could also lead to more independence from American dominance within NATO.”

How Pope Francis Sees It

Breitbart wrote on March 13:

“In an exclusive interview Wednesday, the second anniversary of his election to the papacy, Pope Francis spoke on a wide range of topics, many of which revolved around Mexico. He said that ‘the devil doesn’t forgive Mexico because there [the Virgin Mary] revealed her Son,’ referring to the appearances of the Virgin of Guadalupe…

“‘I think the devil punishes Mexico fiercely.’… ‘Mexico… is privileged in martyrdom, for recognizing and defending its Mother… You will find Catholics, non-Catholics, and atheists in Mexico, but they are all ‘guadalupanos.’ That is, everyone feels like her child. Children of the one who brought the Savior, who destroyed the devil.’”

Reuters reported on March 13:

“Pope Francis said in an interview published on Friday he believes his pontificate will be short and that he would be ready to resign like his predecessor [Pope Benedict] rather than ruling for life… ‘I have the feeling that my pontificate will be brief – four or five years, even two or three. Two have already passed. It’s a somewhat strange sensation,’ he said… ‘I feel that the Lord has placed me here for a short time…”

The Associated Press added on March 13:

“Francis announced a special Jubilee Year starting Dec. 8 [and ending November 26, 2016] to focus the church on forgiveness and mercy. It’s only the 27th time in the history of the Catholic Church that there has been a Holy Year. [The first one was in 1300] The last one was called by St. John Paul II in 2000 to mark the start of the third millennium.

“Holy Years allow the faithful to receive special indulgences, ways to repair the damage of sin beyond the absolution granted by going to confession. The year begins with the symbolic opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.”

These are interesting developments. If Francis steps down soon or if he dies, it would be quite important to see who the next pope would be… and how he would view things. Would he be another more “liberally” minded pope, or a conservative follower of Catholic Church doctrine? In addition, Francis’ comments regarding Mexico show the fascination with the “Virgin Mary”—regardless of the religious convictions of the Mexicans. In fact, it may be the symbol and “appearances” of the “Virgin Mary” which might bring about strong collaboration between the Catholic Church and other religious groups believing in apparitions of Mary… such as Greek and Russian Orthodox believers and many Muslims. The Bible warns against such “visions and dreams”—since they are not Godly in any way. For more information, please read our free booklets, “Do We Have an Immortal Soul?”, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World” and “The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation.”

The Catholicism of Jeb Bush

The New York Times wrote on March 17:

“Twenty years after Mr. Bush converted to Catholicism, the religion of his wife, following a difficult and unsuccessful political campaign that had put strain on his marriage, his faith has become a central element of the way he shapes his life and frames his views on public policy…

“Many of his priorities during his two terms as governor of Florida aligned with those of the Catholic Church — including his extraordinary, and unsuccessful, effort to force a hospital to keep Terri Schiavo on life support, as well as less well known, and also unsuccessful, efforts to appoint a guardian for the fetus of a developmentally disabled rape victim, and to prevent a 13-year-old girl from having an abortion…

“He differed from his church, significantly and openly, over capital punishment; 21 prisoners were executed by the state on his watch, the most under any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. But he has also won praise from Catholic officials for his welcoming tone toward immigrants, and his relatively centrist positions on education — two issues in which he is at odds with the right wing of his party…

“The son and brother of Protestant presidents, Mr. Bush, if elected, would be the nation’s second Catholic president. He carries a rosary in his pocket, fingering its beads at moments of crisis, is a member of the Knights of Columbus and has retweeted Pope Francis. He was part of the American delegation to the installation of Pope Benedict XVI, and during his travels in the United States he sometimes attends Mass in local churches…

“Mr. Bush is not the first Catholic in his family. His great-grandfather George Herbert Walker was a Jesuit-educated Roman Catholic. But Mr. Walker married a Presbyterian and joined her church, a pattern that would be repeated multiple times in Mr. Bush’s family tree. George Bush, the former president, joined the Episcopal Church of his wife, Barbara; George W. Bush joined the United Methodist Church of his wife, Laura…

“Mr. Bush was officially received into the Catholic Church at the Easter vigil of 1995, making a profession of faith and being anointed with oil before receiving Communion for the first time as a Catholic… He has also suggested that concerns about the Episcopal Church, which has moved steadily to the left on social issues and liturgical matters, played a role in his decision…

“Mr. Bush is now courting Protestant leaders as well, presenting himself as a man of faith who understands the concerns of religious voters…”

Is Obama Trying to Stop Clinton?

Newsmax wrote on March 17:

“President Barack Obama definitely knew that Hillary Clinton was using a private email account as secretary of state — and he cautioned her not to, veteran political journalist Edward Klein told Newsmax TV.  ‘According to State Department, White House, and Clinton sources — three separate sources — the president of the United States was … aware she was using a private server, a private email,’ Klein said… ‘And either he or his people told her and warned her not to.’…

“Klein called Clinton’s apparent skipping of a separation agreement, requiring her to return all government documents when she left the State Department, a ‘classic Clinton avoidance.’ ‘She knew what she was doing when she used the server to begin with, which meant that nobody could get it,’ he said. ‘And … when she was asked or knew she was supposed to sign a separation agreement, she didn’t because that separation agreement requires you to then turn over all your emails to the State Department.’

“Last week, Klein said the Obama administration ‘is up to its eyebrows in efforts to stop’ Clinton from running for the White House — including six investigations launched by longtime presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett involving Clinton’s years as Secretary of State. ‘This administration… will do virtually anything to prevent Hillary from becoming president,’ Klein [said]. ‘It’s their view that if she does become president — like her husband, Bill — she will govern from the left of center and not be a true liberal,’ Klein said, ‘and will, therefore, compromise with Republicans like Bill did when he was in office, and will undo a lot of the Obama legacy. They are determined to stop her — and of course, it’s not going to be easy,’ he said.”

Danger Alert–Voting to Become Mandatory in the USA?

The Associated Press reported on March 19:

“President Barack Obama is floating the idea of making it mandatory to vote in the United States… He says the U.S. should be making it easier — not harder — to vote.

“The president is noting that countries like Australia have mandatory voting. He says if everyone voted in the U.S., it would completely change the political map… Obama says it would be ‘transformative’ and would counteract the influence of money in politics more than anything else.”

One of the many problems with (mandatory) voting is that there are NO qualified candidates to vote for.

Religious Confusion of Americans and Jews

Times of Israel wrote on March 18:

“An Idaho state senator’s description of Hinduism as ‘a false faith with false Gods’ drew calls from Jewish clergy for an apology. Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll joined two other Republican senators in refusing to attend the daily invocation on March 3 because a Hindu chaplain, Rajan Zed, led it.

“Nuxoll was quoted by The Associated Press as saying that she refused to attend because she sees the United States as a Christian nation… Her statement led Rabbi Daniel Fink of Boise’s Congregation Ahavatah Beth Israel to recruit a slate of local clergy to sign on to a letter he wrote calling for an apology. ‘Being a public official who is expected to represent all citizens, it is highly inappropriate and insensitive for Ms. Nuxoll to unnecessarily label a major religion as “false,” as there are about 3 million Hindus in U.S.A., including some in Idaho,’ said the March 14 letter, organized through the state’s Interfaith Equality Coalition. It was signed by 28 clergy and a number of other people.

“Also asking for an apology was Rabbi ElizaBeth Beyer of congregations in Reno, Nev. and Tahoe Vista, Calif., who has served with Zed on interfaith panels. ‘If Nuxoll had a clue, she would know that Hinduism is the third largest religion of the world and it offers rich philosophical thought,’ Beyer said in a statement…”

What ridiculous reasoning and utter confusion! Because someone is a public official and because a religion is the third largest in the world, he or she must participate in its religious practices? 

No, It’s Not Russia or China… It’s the USA—the Land of the “Free”!

People Magazine published the following article on its website, people.com, on March 15:

“After being forced by the state of Connecticut to undergo chemotherapy treatments she did not want, the 17-year-old known in court papers as Cassandra C. is now in remission – fighting to get out of the hospital where she has been held since Dec. 9. ‘I have been alone in the hospital for the most part,’ the Windsor Locks, Connecticut, teen tells PEOPLE from the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, where she has been legally required to stay since late last year under the temporary custody of the state Department of Children and Families…

“Even though the chemotherapy she received brought her into remission, she says, ‘I would never get chemo again after this if I ever relapsed. I would explore alternative methods like I originally wanted to. I don’t want to go through this again.’

“Last fall, when Cassandra’s doctors at CCMC suspected she might have Hodgkin’s lymphoma, she began researching chemotherapy, its standard treatment, which medical experts say has about an 85 percent chance of curing it. Without it, her doctors said she could have died. She says she wasn’t that concerned about side effects such as nausea or hair loss. She says she was most worried about other ‘major possible side effects’ she had read about including possible heart damage and secondary cancers…

“Her mother, she says, initially wanted her to have chemotherapy. ‘She told me as a parent that she didn’t want to lose her only daughter and that we would get through the chemo, but that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to try anything else that wasn’t as potentially harmful as chemo. Eventually she chose to not fight with me about it. She chose to stand by me’…

“After doctors confirmed her diagnosis, Cassandra says, CCMC scheduled appointments for Cassandra to begin chemotherapy. Instead, Cassandra and her mother went to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, to get a second opinion, she says. When she missed several appointments at CCMC (Cassandra says her mother told the hospital she would reschedule them), doctors there notified DCF, according to court records…

“DCF took temporary custody of her and placed her in a foster home with a family member, she says. She returned home after she agreed at a Nov. 12 court hearing to undergo the chemotherapy. But on Nov. 18, on her second day of treatment, her oncologist told her that she needed surgery the next morning to insert a chemotherapy port in her chest, which she did not want and thought she would not have to get for another month. ‘I was freaking out.’ She ran away, leaving home after her mother fell asleep…

“On Dec. 9, after she returned home, a Superior Court judge granted DCF temporary custody of Cassandra… ‘ DCF kind of just took me away, so there was really no time to make a decision on what we wanted to do or to research alternative treatments. No one ever sat down and talked to me about the chemotherapy. It was, “You have cancer. You have to get in here so we can start chemo.’”

“Life in the hospital was bleak at first for Cassandra. She wasn’t allowed to have a phone. DCF limited who could come see her, banning visits from her mother after Jan. 8, though she is trying to regain her visitation rights. Someone even stood guard outside her room for the first few weeks to make sure she didn’t try to leave. ‘I feel like a prisoner,’ she says.

“On Dec. 17, she says, her doctor told her that she was scheduled for surgery the following morning to insert the port she feared, so that she could get the chemotherapy she had fought so hard against. On the morning of the surgery, ‘a nurse came in and I told myself just to fight. When she started to put an IV in me, I wouldn’t let her.’

“After spending two hours telling her doctor, DCF and other hospital staff that she didn’t want the surgery, ‘Security had to pick me up, pin me to the bed and strap me down by my wrists and ankles,’ she says. ‘When I woke up, I looked down and there was a port in my chest. I thought, “I cannot believe they did this to me”’…

“The following day, she was forced to resume the chemotherapy. And on Jan. 8, the Connecticut Supreme court ruled that Cassandra had to continue the state-ordered treatments, saying she was not mature enough to make that decision for herself…

“Looking back on everything she has gone through, she says, ‘I can only hope that if there is a kid out there who doesn’t want chemo, they will show my story to a judge and say, “Remember this girl?’””

To read something like this makes one wonder how insensitive governmental officials, doctors, nurses, judges and above all DCF employees can be when it comes to human beings who are being treated like cattle and prisoners to follow medical procedures which are questionable at best. As we have pointed out in our Updates, personal liberties and freedoms ARE being taken away from American citizens on a CONSISTENT BASIS.

The Fear of Nuclear War

The Economist wrote on March 7:

“Every nuclear power is spending lavishly to upgrade its atomic arsenal… Russia’s defence budget has grown by over 50% since 2007, and fully a third of it is devoted to nuclear weapons… China… is adding to its stocks and investing heavily in submarines and mobile missile batteries. Pakistan is amassing dozens of battlefield nukes to make up for its inferiority to India in conventional forces. North Korea is thought to be capable of adding a warhead a year to its stock of around ten, and is working on missiles that can strike the west coast of the United States…

“[Obama] has asked Congress for almost $350 billion to undertake a decade-long programme of modernisation of America’s arsenal… Dmitry Kiselev, one of the Kremlin’s mouthpieces, has declared with relish that Russian nuclear forces could turn America into ‘radioactive ash’… the murder of Boris Nemtsov, an opposition leader, on the Kremlin’s doorstep on February 27th was only the latest sign that Mr Putin’s Russia is heading into the geopolitical badlands… First in Georgia and now in Ukraine, Russia has shown it will escalate to extremes to assert its hold over its neighbours and convince the West that intervention is pointless…”

The Bible does not predict a nuclear confrontation between the USA and Russia or China, but it does prophesy a nuclear war between the USA and continental Europe.

North Korea Threatens With Nuclear War

Newsmax reported on March 4:

“South Korea and the United States rejected an offer from North Korea on Jan. 10 that Pyongyang would temporarily stop its nuclear testing if the U.S. canceled this year’s exercise scheduled for this month… ‘The prevailing situation where a great war for national reunification is at hand requires all the Korean People’s Army units to become guard units fully prepared for war politically and ideologically, in military technique and materially,’ [North Korean leader Kim Jong-un] said, according to the Korean Central News Agency…

“Kim told North Korea’s military that he wanted ‘to tear to pieces the Stars and Stripes’ and threatened that America was vulnerable to a nuclear attack from his country, according to Daily Mail. ‘The U.S. is seriously mistaken if it thinks its mainland is safe,’ said Kim.

“The Daily Mail reported that Kim’s comments come shortly after the U.S. government took another step in imposing new sanctions on North Korea’s banks, blocking their access to hard cash.”

One might want to dismiss these comments as political hyperbole, but Kim is a ruthless murderous leader, and North Korea does possess the bomb.

USA Dependent on Iran?

The New York Times wrote on March 5:

“At a time when President Obama is under political pressure from congressional Republicans over negotiations to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, a startling paradox has emerged: Mr. Obama is becoming increasingly dependent on Iranian fighters as he tries to contain the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria without committing American ground troops…

“‘The only way in which the Obama administration can credibly stick with its strategy is by implicitly assuming that the Iranians will carry most of the weight and win the battles on the ground,’ said Vali R. Nasr, a former special adviser to Mr. Obama who is now dean of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. ‘You can’t have your cake and eat it too — the U.S. strategy in Iraq has been successful so far largely because of Iran.’… the closer the United States appears to get to Iran, the more fretful Sunni Arab allies become.”

America’s “strategy” is predestined to failure, but it is also very dangerous for its own national security.

Iran Letter Causes Stir

Breitbart wrote on March 10:

“Democrats are pushing back against the letter, circulated by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and signed by 47 Senators in all [out of the Senate’s 54 GOP members], that warns the Iranian regime that any deal it signs with President Barack Obama could be voided by the next president if it is not ratified by the Senate under the U.S. Constitution…

“It is certainly unusual to have Senators approach foreign leaders, as Cotton and his colleagues did in tongue-in-cheek fashion, to fight what is a domestic policy dispute. But it is not unheard of for Congress to strike an independent posture on foreign policy–as Democrats did, to their disgrace, in coddling Syria after 2006–and in this case the Senators have no other choice. Obama has refused to listen to Congress on foreign policy–or, in the case of Cuba, even to keep it informed.

“The brilliance of the Cotton letter is that it has forced Obama to admit openly what he had only hinted at indirectly before–that he has no intention of submitting any Iran agreement to Congress for ratification–or even for review. That admission exposes the fact that Obama no longer, in any meaningful sense, represents the United States at the negotiating table… A freshman Senator has beaten the president.”

Newsmax added on March 10:

“[President] Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other Democrats excoriated the letter’s authors Monday, saying Republican leaders were reaching out to a U.S. adversary to try to undermine the president. The front page of the New York Daily News Tuesday put images of Cotton and other Senate Republicans with the headline ‘Traitors.’

“Asked whether the signatories were traitors, Cotton replied negatively and said they were just trying to speak for the American people… ‘This letter, in the guise of a constitutional lesson, ignores two centuries of precedent and threatens to undermine the ability of any future American president, whether Democrat or Republican, to negotiate with other nations on behalf of the United States,’ Biden said in a statement Monday.

“Cotton shot back Tuesday. ‘Joe Biden, as Barack Obama’s own secretary of defense has said, has been wrong about nearly every major foreign policy and national security decision in the last 40 years,’ he said.

“The back-and-forth between Republicans in Congress and the White House comes as the Obama administration faces an end-of- month deadline on a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program. Obama and White House officials have said the likelihood of reaching a deal is no more than 50 percent.”

As the previous article points out, Joe Biden has also been wrong with his “historic” statement. And the left-wing media should be very careful before they libel others by calling them traitors.

Deutsche Welle reported on March 13:

“[German Foreign Minister] Frank-Walter Steinmeier has warned that Republican efforts to undermine an Iran nuclear deal are unhelpful. Senior US Senator John McCain blasted Germany’s visiting foreign minister…

“McCain accused Steinmeier of being in the ‘Neville Chamberlain school of diplomacy; when it came to Ukraine, referring to the former British prime minister considered to have appeased Adolf Hitler in the run-up to the Second World War. ‘The foreign minister of Germany is the same guy that refuses – and his government – to enact any restrictions on the behavior of Vladimir Putin, who is slaughtering Ukrainians as we speak,’ McCain told reporters. ‘He doesn’t have any credibility in any way to me.’”

Israelis Don’t Trust Obama

The Jewish Daily Forward reported on March 8:

“The paradox that Israelis rely on — and expect — American support and yet don’t trust American judgment on Middle Eastern affairs helps explain the recent U.S.-Israel dustup in Washington. On March 3, that clash reached its climax when Netanyahu appeared before a joint meeting of Congress to warn the assembled lawmakers against their own president’s negotiations, together with other countries, with Iran ahead of a possible deal on that country’s nuclear program.

“Israelis were split on the value of Netanyahu’s trip to Washington, which was widely seen as a play to the prime minister’s right-wing base before the March 17 election. But most Israelis were in agreement about their premier’s message. About three-quarters of Israelis ‘don’t trust Obama to be a reliable ally and to deal effectively with the Iranian nuclear threat’ said Eytan Gilboa, a senior researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. That opinion was evident on the Israeli street the day of Netanyahu’s speech to Congress… many Israelis fundamentally disagree with what they take to be the American approach, especially when it comes to the Iranians…”

Dershowitz: “Obama Totally Misled the American People” over Iran

Newsmax wrote on March 4:

“President Barack Obama ‘totally misled the American people’ by saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during his Tuesday address to a joint session of Congress, presented no new ideas about striking a deal with Iran over nuclear weapons, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said Wednesday…

“‘His proposal, and it’s a very sound one, is that the sunset provision doesn’t kick in unless Iran does three things — it has to stop being the world’s greatest exporter of terrorism, it has to stop bullying neighboring countries like Syria and Lebanon, and it has to stop calling for the destruction of Israel. That’s new, Mr. President and you have an obligation to respond to that instead of name-calling and invoking protocol…’”

Hillary Clinton Has Some Explaining to Do Over Email Controversy

Real Clear Politics wrote on March 6, 2015:

“In 2007, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton denounced the Bush administration practice of hiding official correspondence from the public using private email servers… ‘You know our Constitution is being shredded. We know about the secret wiretaps, about the secret military tribunals, we know about the secret White House email accounts.’”

The gatewaypundit added the following on March 5, 2015:

“Two years later, as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton set up a secret email account and secret servers in her basement for all of her official business.”

CBS reported on March 10:

“Hillary Clinton is finally breaking her silence about the email controversy surrounding her. Following a speech at the United Nations Tuesday afternoon, Clinton told reporters she ‘opted for convenience’ for only using her private email address while at the State Department because she wanted to use one device for both her personal and work emails… The former secretary of state said it ‘would’ve been better’ to use an official government email…

“Clinton added that she deleted all of her personal emails from her private account of the more than 60,000 emails in total that were sent and received. About half of them were personal emails, she said. Some of those emails pertained to her daughter Chelsea’s wedding, her mother’s funeral arrangements, and her yoga routine…

“The White House has said that President Barack Obama learned only recently that Clinton was using a privately run server for emailing during her tenure and that she was using private email for all official business. He was aware of the account’s existence before because the two had exchanged emails using it. Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said Clinton should turn the server itself over to an ‘independent arbiter’…

“Clinton is under scrutiny over whether she fully complied with federal laws requiring government officials to preserve written communications involving official business. By using her own email server, traced to an Internet connection registered to her hometown in Chappaqua, New York, she gained more control over her email than she would have had using a government server… Last week, Clinton said in a Twitter message that she wanted her emails released by the State Department as soon as possible — but did not address why she does not put them out herself…”

On March 10, The Washington Post gave Democrats “three Pinocchios” for their “misleading spin” and attempts to defend Hillary Clinton’s conduct, stating: “… this common defense among her supporters is used to deflect the central issue: that Clinton exclusively used a personal account, and did not provide records until she was requested to, after she left office. That is the most relevant point, so the Democrats earn Three Pinocchios.”

Ben Carson’s Gay Remarks … and Then “Apologizes” and “Backtracks”

Newsmax reported on March 4:

“Tea party Republican and potential 2016 presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Tuesday that being gay is a choice, an example being straight people who emerge from prison as homosexuals. During a discussion about same-sex marriage rights, Cuomo asked Carson if, as with slavery, gay marriage needed to be corrected in the Constitution as a form of equal protection. Carson replied that there’s no comparison between the two. ‘You can’t just say because it happened that way this time, this is the same situation, it’s not the same situation,’ he said, ‘because people have no control over their race, for instance.’

“Cuomo then asked if Carson believed people had control over their sexuality and if being gay was a choice. ‘Absolutely,’ said Carson…

“In 2013, Carson apologized for comments he made comparing homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia when he said that marriage was ‘a well-established, fundamental pillar of society and no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association), be they people who believe in bestiality — it doesn’t matter what they are, they don’t get to change the definition.’…”

CNN reported on March 5:

“Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson apologized for commenting Wednesday that prisoners’ changes after they leave jail proves being gay is a choice, but said that the science is still murky on the issue. And then, in a radio appearance later Wednesday, he criticized CNN for airing the comments he’d made in an interview and said he won’t be addressing gay rights issues for the duration of his presidential campaign…

“He backtracked in a statement afterward, saying he ‘realized that my choice of language does not reflect fully my heart on gay issues. I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation. I regret that my words to express that concept were hurtful and divisive. For that I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended,’ he added.

“Carson referenced his medical education and his work at Johns Hopkins Hospital and asserted that the verdict is still out on whether people are born either gay or straight. ‘Some of our brightest minds have looked at this debate, and up until this point there have been no definitive studies that people are born into a specific sexuality,’ he said.”

We don’t care about the misled “brightest minds” of doctors and what they say. After all, the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. And the Bible is VERY clear in this issue: People are NOT born being gay. God demands that those who practice homosexuality must change if they want to be in God’s Kingdom. God calls the practice of homosexuality an abomination. In Old Testament Israel, they were killed. That totally excludes the notion that one is “born” that way.

We feel sorry for Ben Carson’s apologetic and cowardly stance. Ben Carson also recently advocated compulsory vaccinations and claimed erroneously that the pharmaceutical industry was not acting because of profit and financial gain.

Britain vs. Israel

The Washington Post wrote on March 4:

“British authorities have banned an Israeli government tourism ad because it appears to suggest that Jerusalem’s Old City, which is technically occupied Palestinian territory, is a part of Israel…

“Jerusalem’s Old City, a protected UNESCO World Heritage site, is home to shrines and temples that are sacred to all three biblical religions. Its status is the source of endless friction… A separate Palestinian state, as imagined in a long-stalled two-state solution, would make East Jerusalem its capital. But the expansion of Israeli settlements and housing blocks in the West Bank and areas of East Jerusalem has made that a distant reality.

“In a speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to Jerusalem as Israel’s ‘eternal, undivided capital’ – a wording that’s consistent with his long-standing rhetoric. European frustration has been mounting with Netanyahu’s government, which many critics accuse of undermining the prospect of a two-state solution.”

In the Millennium, Jerusalem WILL BE the undivided capital not just of Israel, but of the entire world, when Jesus Christ sits on the throne of David in Jerusalem.

Insane ISIS on a Rampage

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 6:

“‘Islamic State’ fighters have looted and bulldozed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Northern Iraq. UNESCO condemned this act of destruction as a war crime… The extremist fighters ‘assaulted the ancient city of Nimrud and bulldozed it with heavy machinery, appropriating the archeological attractions dating back 13 centuries BC,’ Iraq’s tourism and antiquities ministry said…

“The destruction of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, about 20 miles (30 km) south of Mosul, is the latest assault on some of the world’s greatest archaeological treasures committed by the terrorist group.”

Russia’s “Investigation” of Its Murders

The Associated Press reported on March 7:

“Two suspects have been detained in the killing a week ago of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, the head of Russia’s federal security service said Saturday, an announcement received with both skepticism and reserved satisfaction by some of Nemtsov’s comrades… Suspicion in the opposition is high that the killing was ordered by the Kremlin in retaliation for Nemtsov’s adamant criticism of President Vladimir Putin. The 55-year-old was working on a report about Russian military involvement in the eastern Ukraine conflict… Many believe that Nemtsov’s death in a tightly secured area near the Kremlin wouldn’t have been possible without official involvement, and could be an attempt to scare other government foes…

“In some previous killings of Kremlin critics, especially the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006, there has been wide criticism that those who ordered the killing have not been identified or prosecuted…”

Bild Online reported on March 7 that Boris Nemtsov stated in an interview in March 2012 that Putin would be behind any killings of any opposition leaders, stating that Putin admitted to him that that was his plan. He said that if a high-ranking KGB man says something like this–and if one was in the KGB, one is always in the KGB –then this means that he was planning such murders. Bild also stated that world-renown Russian violist Gidon Kremer wrote to “Bayrischen Rundfunk” (a German TV news agency) that the death of an opposition leader is never “accidental” or a “provocation.” It was also emphasized that leads to the Kremlin are not even considered in the “investigation.” Experts doubt that an independent investigation is even possible under the influence of the Kremlin. Bild concluded that Nemtsov’s murder would not be the first murder of Kremlin opponents which will not be solved.

On March 6, Die Zeit published a revealing interview with Putin opponent Yuri Felshtinsky who expressed his conviction that Putin, whom he compared with Hitler, ordered Nemtsov’s execution. To learn more about the basis for his comments, watch Norbert Link’s recent video-taped message, “Russia and Iran in Prophecy.”

Nemtsov’s Murderers Caught?—Utter Nonsense!

Reuters wrote on March 9:

“Suggestions that Russian politician Boris Nemtsov was killed by Chechen Islamists are nonsense designed to deflect suspicion from President Vladimir Putin, associates of the slain opposition figure said on Monday. Investigators have charged two men, including a former Chechen police official, over the shooting of Nemtsov within sight of the Kremlin walls on Feb. 27. Three more men have been arrested, and another blew himself up late on Saturday as police in Chechnya tried to detain him, Russian media said.

“Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov [a fierce loyalist of Putin and one of his puppets who received a state award from Putin on Monday, March 9, which is bestowed for achievements in public service] said the charged ex-policeman, Zaur Dadayev, was a pious Muslim who had been angered by publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Nemtsov had condemned an attack on Charlie Hebdo in which Islamist militants killed 12 people in January. But friends reject this as a motive, saying they do not believe Islamist gunmen acting alone could have shot him dead in one of the most closely guarded areas of central Moscow unless they had powerful and well-connected backers.

“These associates believe it was Putin who stood to gain from his killing, though Russian officials have denied involvement and the president has called it a shameful tragedy. [Putin’s Russia also denied initially that they were involved in annexing Crimea, and they are still denying that they are supporting the rebels in Eastern Ukraine.]…

“Dadayev and four other suspects, all ethnic Chechens, appeared in a Moscow court on Sunday… Dadayev’s mother told Reuters her son could not have killed Nemtsov, and was being set up…”

This theory by the Kremlin makes no sense, and one would have thought that even Putin and his supporters would have come up with a better theory. Dadayev had served for many years as a policeman in Chechnya. As the Washington Post reported, “Kadyrov, a Moscow ally who has led the Chechen Republic since 2007, has been widely criticized for a crackdown on dissent. But he has been lauded by Putin for his support in battling Islamist separatists in the region.” The Associated Press reported on March 9 that Putin granted the medal to Kadyrov for “services to the motherland,” giving it to “a man British police say poisoned former security services agent Alexander Litvinenko.”

Anti-Americanism in Russia

Newsmax reported on March 9:

“Russia’s anti-American sentiment is at levels not seen at any time since the Stalin era… and a new study reveals that more than 80 percent of Russians hold a negative view of the United States. The country’s indignation has been growing for some time… and was further stoked after rumors started concerning the assassination of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov. Conspiracy theorists have been saying that he was killed through the CIA in a plot to discredit Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin….

“Already, efforts are being made in Russia to move away from Western brands of clothing, soft drinks and more. And news of sanctions and rumors of conspiracies that blame Washington for unrest in Ukraine and Russia is further stoking Russians’ anger… U.S.-led sanctions have helped push the Russian economy toward recession, further souring relations, and the anger could grow if Obama decides to send weapons to the Ukrainian military… And with Russia’s national television channels, where 90 percent of the country’s residents get their news, spreading more anti-Washington reports, anti-American sentiment is continuing to grow even stronger…

“Evidence of the dislike ranges from Crimean coffee shops that are not serving Americans to an instance where activists projected racially insulting images of Obama eating a banana onto the side wall of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow… Western diplomats are saying that they are being blocked from speaking engagements, and Russians who work for Western-based companies say their friends and neighbors are questioning their patriotism.

“McDonald’s, once popular for its connections to the West, saw some of its most prominent restaurants closed in the fall for health violations… When they reopened, the company launched an advertising campaign emphasizing its 25-year history in Russia, including a billboard in Moscow that proclaims McDonald’s products are ‘made in Russia, for Russians.’”

No German Trust in Russia

The Local wrote on March 6:

“A new poll showed on Friday that only 15 percent of Germans think Russia is a trustworthy partner in international affairs. Meanwhile, 81 percent told pollsters… that Russia was ‘not to be trusted’… Asked specifically about the Minsk ceasefire agreement for Ukraine, hammered out with President Vladimir Putin of Russia by Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of France and Ukraine, only 13 percent of people thought it would lead to peace.

“Reuters reported on Thursday that Russia will conduct large-scale military exercises expected to last over a month in disputed border territories, including the Crimean peninsula – a part of Ukraine annexed by Moscow last year.”

The German mood against Russia is interesting in light of the German government’s idle attempts to strike deals with Russia.

A European Army

The Guardian wrote on March 8:

“Jean-Claude Juncker, the former prime minister of Luxembourg, told a German newspaper that having an army would solve the problem of the EU’s foreign policy not being taken seriously. The European Union needs its own army to help address the problem that it is not ‘taken entirely seriously’ as an international force, the president of the European commission has said. Jean-Claude Juncker said such a move would help the EU to persuade Russia that it was serious about defending its values in the face of the threat posed by Moscow.

“However, his proposal was immediately rejected by the British government, which said that there was ‘no prospect’ of the UK agreeing to the creation of an EU army… In the past David Cameron, the British prime minister, has blocked moves to create EU-controlled military forces…

“But in Germany, Ursula von der Leyen, the defence minister, said in a statement that ‘our future as Europeans will one day be a European army’, although she added ‘not in the short term’. She said such a move would ‘strengthen Europe’s security’… Norbert Röttgen, head of the German parliament’s foreign policy committee, said having an EU army was ‘a European vision whose time has come’…”

The Financial Times added on March 8:

“Large member states are split over the idea of an EU army, with the proposals being cautiously welcomed by many senior German politicians but repeatedly dismissed outright by a succession of British governments… Mr Juncker… has long argued for the establishment of an EU force, making it part of his foreign policy plan during the selection process for the presidency of the commission in 2014…

“Mr Cameron has repeatedly reassured eurosceptic MPs in his own party that Britain would ‘never support’ any form of EU army…

“Mr Juncker said an EU army would ‘help us to develop a common foreign and security policy, and to fulfil Europe’s responsibilities in the world’. Nato was not a sufficient protection for the EU as not all EU members are part of the alliance, according to Mr Juncker.”

Zerohedge.com added on March 8:

“Having specifically aimed his call for a unified European Army at ‘reacting credibly to show Russia that Europe is serious about defending its values,’ it is no surprise that Russia has responded to Jean-Claude Juncker’s statements. As TASS reports, first deputy chairman of the United Russia faction in the State Duma, Frants Klintsevich, told the media on Sunday that ‘in the nuclear age extra armies do not provide any additional security. But they surely can play a provocative role,’ adding it was regrettable that such ideas had already met with some support…

“The Germans are all for it…”

German news magazines also reported that Angela Merkel (CDU) and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), as well as the opposition party of The Greens, supported the idea of a European army. All said that it will not happen soon and that there is still a long way to go. It may happen sooner than many anticipate, but Britain won’t be a part of it.

German Hysteria against Measles “Outbreak”

Deutsche Welle wrote on March 6:

“A measles outbreak in Berlin… has provoked new calls for vaccination against measles and other preventable diseases to be made compulsory in Germany. According to a survey commissioned this week by public service broadcaster ARD, 72 percent of Germans are in favor of compulsory vaccination. The official German pediatric association, the BVKJ, on Friday reiterated its demand for parents to be required by law to have their children vaccinated… He pointed out that vaccination was not only there to protect the person being inoculated, but also children who could not be vaccinated for medical reasons, such as young babies and children with congenital or acquired immune deficiencies.”

This shows how an ill-informed media can influence the opinion of others and lead to unfounded or even dangerous and life-threatening decisions. Note the next article.

Americans Beware—Violent Persecution in Pakistan over Dangerous Polio Vaccines

On March 7, vaccineimpact.com reported the following eye-opening piece on its website, showing where hysteria and irresponsible propaganda can lead:

“The Guardian is reporting that health officials in Pakistan are arresting and throwing into jail hundreds of parents who refuse to allow their children to receive the oral polio vaccine. These health officials are forcing children to receive the vaccine at gunpoint…

“Last year (2014) polio made headline news because the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it was now an ‘epidemic’ in certain parts of the world, and Pakistan was claimed to be an area especially hard hit. As usual, ‘anti-vaccine parents’ were blamed for this world-wide ‘epidemic.’

“So how bad was this polio ‘epidemic’ that WHO declared in 2014? In May of 2014, when they made the announcement which was carried as headline news in most U.S. mainstream media outlets, there had been 74 cases – in the ENTIRE WORLD. 59 of those cases were in Pakistan at the time. Today, as of Feb. 25, 2015, there have been 10 cases so far worldwide, but 9 of those are in Pakistan…

“One must ask: Who is actually profiting from this?

“UNICEF, which partners with WHO for global vaccine purchases and distribution, is one of the largest purchasers of vaccines for worldwide distribution. In 2013, for example, they purchased 1.7 billion doses of the live oral polio vaccine to administer to children under the age of 5. The oral polio vaccine is so dangerous that it is no longer used in developed countries like the U.S. But, it is mandated, purchased, and distributed in poor countries.

“The real tragedy with the live oral polio vaccines is that they can cause the very thing they are supposed to be preventing: polio. Both ‘vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis’ and ‘non-polio acute flaccid paralysis’ are known side effects of the live oral polio vaccine. It sheds the virus from the vaccine through feces and into sewers and sanitation systems. India recently achieved its ‘polio-free’ status, but at the cost of tens of thousands of non-polio acute flaccid paralysis cases each year.

“Doctors and researchers who understand the dangers and risks of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) have been calling for an end to this terrible vaccine for years now… Outbreaks of polio in China, Egypt, Haiti, Madagascar, and the Philippines caused by circulating, neurovirulent vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPVs) demonstrate that these revertent strains are fully transmissible and pose significant population risks…

“The pro-pharma western media in places like the U.S. like to paint vaccine-dissenters in places like Pakistan as ignorant, poor people who need to be forced into a vaccination program against their will for the ‘greater good’ of society. However, is this actually true? Just as is the case in the U.S., researchers and health professionals are not unified in their views on vaccination policies…

“Could we see armed health officials roaming the streets of cities in the U.S. forcing children to be vaccinated against the wishes of their parents at gunpoint? The rationale and the legal framework for such actions is actually already in place to do just that… the Department of Homeland Security is quietly stockpiling billions of dollars worth of experimental vaccines to presumably use in the case of a ‘national emergency.’ The U.S. government has broad powers granted to them to force people to receive these vaccines by declaring an ‘epidemic’ or ‘national emergency.’

“All across the U.S. local state legislators and health officials are moving to take away the right to informed consent regarding vaccines for children. If Americans don’t wake up soon, whether you are pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine, and stop this rush to take away individual rights and liberties, it may not be long before [what occurs in Pakistan these days] represents what is happening in the streets of America, with thousands of parents being arrested and thrown into jail for refusing to comply with mass vaccination programs…”

This conclusion might appear far-fetched, but given the systematic attempts of the US government to deprive its citizens of liberty and freedom, we must say that stranger things have happened. Has this world and much of the medical profession and the entire pharmaceutical industry gone mad? Yes, indeed, mad and greedy and oblivious to or ignorant of the causes for human suffering, while being largely responsible, directly or indirectly, for more and more suffering and death. But this should surprise no one who knows the truth, because it is SATAN who is the god of this world, who pretends to be an angel of light, and who has deceived the whole world.

Lawlessness and Terrorism Pervades Putin’s Russia

Reuters reported on February 28:

“Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s involvement in the war in Ukraine, was shot dead steps from the Kremlin in central Moscow late on Friday. Nemtsov, 55, was shot four times in the back by assailants in a white car as he walked across a bridge over the Moskva River with a Ukrainian woman who was unhurt…

“Nemtsov was by far the most prominent opposition figure killed in Russia under Putin’s 15-year-rule and the Kremlin swiftly sought to deflect any blame for the murder. Putin condemned the ‘brutal’ slaying and took the investigation under presidential control, saying it could have been a contract killing and a ‘provocation’ on the eve of a big opposition protest [against the war in east Ukraine] Nemtsov had been due to lead on Sunday.

“But the killing focused attention on the tough treatment of Kremlin opponents in Putin’s third term, during which several leading critics have been jailed or fled the country following mass rallies against the former KGB spy three years ago. ‘That a leader of the opposition could be shot beside the walls of the Kremlin is beyond imagination. There can be only one version: that he was shot for telling the truth,’ Mikhail Kasyanov, an opposition leader and a former prime minister under Putin, said at the scene…

“Ed Joyce, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said ‘lawlessness now pervades Putin’s Russia… Regardless of who killed Boris Nemtsov, this shocking murder is the latest assault on those who dare to oppose the Putin regime,’ he said…

“Nemtsov briefly served as a deputy prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin in the late 1990s, when he gained a reputation as a leading liberal economic reformer… Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist and Putin critic, was shot dead outside her Moscow apartment in 2006. Paul Klebnikov, an investigative U.S. journalist, was shot dead in 2004.”

Putin’s Murderous Dictatorship

CNN added on February 27:

“Critics like [Opposition leader Ilya] Yashin and [World chess champion-turned opposition activist Garry] Kasparov pointed fingers in the direction of Putin or a supporter of the Russian President. ‘It’s clearly a political murder. It’s definitely a contract one,’ Yashin said. ‘I don’t know who killed Boris, but I know that it’s the government and personally Putin who are responsible for it. They’ve been constantly promoting a hatred towards everyone who doesn’t support their course and thinks different.’…

“Kasparov said the Russian President is to blame even if not directly involved. ‘If Putin gave order to murder Boris Nemtsov is not the point. It is Putin’s dictatorship. His 24/7 propaganda about enemies of the state,’ Kasparov tweeted. ‘In Putin’s atmosphere of hatred & violence, abroad & in Russia, bloodshed is the prerequisite to show loyalty, that you are on the team,’ he added.

“Critics of Putin have in the past suffered miserable circumstances and demises. Oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky accused Putin of corruption and wound up spending 10 years in prison and labor camps. Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko accused state security services of organizing a coup to put Putin in power. He was poisoned by a lethal dose of radioactive polonium and died in London in 2006. No killer has been caught.

“Viktor Yushchenko, the former Ukrainian president, was poisoned, disfigured and nearly killed by a toxic dose of dioxin in 2004…”

Did Putin Set It Up?

The Washington Post wrote on February 27:

“The killing was a dramatic and bloody turn for Russia’s oppressed opposition movement, which has struggled to find its footing during a wave of nationalistic fervor unleashed by the annexation of Ukraine’s semi­autonomous Crimean region last year. Many leaders have been marginalized with prison terms or other forms of harassment, and public rhetoric has grown extremely aggressive toward those who deviate from the majority line…

“Politically motivated slayings are not unknown in Russia, but not once in the 24 years since the breakup of the Soviet Union has such a high-profile figure been the victim…

“Just hours before his death, Nemtsov told Ekho Moskvy radio that Putin had pushed Russia into an economic crisis through his ‘mad, aggressive and deadly policy of war against Ukraine’… Nemtsov had been working on a report that he said would prove that Russian soldiers were fighting alongside pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, where a bloody 11-month-conflict has claimed nearly 5,800 lives. The Kremlin has hotly denied any direct involvement, which Russian opinion polls suggest would be deeply unpopular…

“Russian opposition leaders said Saturday that they were fearful that Nemtsov’s slaying was only the first in a new era of political repression…

“In 2012, Putin warned publicly that his opponents were prepared to murder one of their own so they could blame him for the death. ‘They are looking for a so-called sacrificial victim among some prominent figures,’ Putin, a former KGB agent, told a gathering of the All-Russia Popular Front, a group organized to support him, ahead of Russia’s 2012 presidential election. ‘They will knock him off, I beg your pardon, and then blame the authorities for that.’”

This sounds like Putin might have been toying with the idea as early as 2012, if not even earlier. US Secretary of State John Kerry has claimed that Putin blatantly lied to him and the West when denying Russia’s militaristic support of pro-Russian rebels in East Ukraine.

All Signs Point at Putin

The Telegraph wrote on February 27:

“The leading liberal politician who organised street demonstrations against the authorities was shot four times by unidentified attackers yards from the Kremlin walls… His uncovered body lay for about an hour at the spot where he was killed…

“Only two weeks ago Mr Nemtsov said he feared for his life and that President Putin might order his killing. Speaking to Russia’s Sobesednik news website, he said: ‘I’m afraid Putin will kill me. I believe that he was the one who unleashed the war in the Ukraine. I couldn’t dislike him more.’”

The Guardian added on February 27:

“His murder took place in the heart of Moscow, within touching distance of the Kremlin and the fantastical bulbous domes of St Basil’s cathedral. It is an area infested with police, who typically break up opposition manifestations within seconds. And yet Nemtsov’s killer was seemingly able to escape, having shot his target four times in the chest from a white car…

“In the end, Nemtsov fell victim to old-fashioned mafia methods. His shooting is the first assassination of a major political figure in Moscow for a decade. It robs Russia of a brave, authentic and distinctive voice at a time when the country is locked in a dark spiral of war and propaganda.”

Developments in Russia begin to mirror events in Nazi Germany after Hitler came to power.

How Putin Supresses the Truth

Deutsche Welle reported on March 2:

“The murder of staunch Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on Friday and the march in his memory through downtown Moscow on Sunday were the main media topics over the weekend, and Russian media were no exception. This politically motivated attack is, without doubt, a tragic and significant event in recent Russian history. It was also interesting to observe how the Kremlin and Russia’s state-controlled media began churning out the usual disinformation in an attempt to obscure the facts.

“Normally, Russia’s state-controlled media remain silent about events involving criticism of President Vladimir Putin. That most likely would have been the case for the opposition march that was actually planned to take place on Sunday. But there was no way to avoid reporting about the murder of a leading opposition politician on a bridge in full view of the Kremlin. Nemtsov was an internationally known figure from his years serving as deputy prime minister in the 1990s. But it would be wrong to speak of any independent reporting – quite the opposite. Instead, the reporting highlighted the skill with which the Kremlin manipulates the media, and in turn, the Russian people.

“Shortly after Nemtsov was killed, the Russian president issued guidelines to the media. He explained that the murder of his critic was a “provocation” aimed at destabilizing the country. Putin made it clear that he himself was actually the target and the victim of the attack – not Nemtsov. It followed that the state prosecution and the Russian media pointed the finger of blame at those who oppose Putin: ‘the Americans,’ ‘the Ukrainians,’ ‘the Islamists,’ and any other groups seen as a threat to Russia’s national security.

“In reporting on the possibility of an Islamist background to the attack, the Russian media seized the opportunity to emphasize that Nemtsov was Jewish. Given the widespread anti-Semitism in Russia, the effect of such information in relation to the murder was evident: to wipe out any sympathy for the 55-year-old victim who, in addition, was in the company of his Ukrainian (!) girlfriend. For all those comrades who remain skeptical of the usual conspiracy theories circulating in Russia, the media made sure to mention Nemtsov’s alleged involvement in dodgy real estate dealings.

“The extensive reporting by the Russian media was not aimed at finding truth, but rather obfuscation. The responsibility of the Russian government, which has for years used the media to slander its opponents, was not a topic up for discussion. Nor was the question of why, right at the time of the murder, all the surveillance cameras around the Kremlin were either switched off, broken, or being repaired.

“With all the talk in the media concerning Nemtsov’s murder, the truth is being drowned out. Boris Nemtsov himself would hardly have been surprised.”

Only the willfully blind cannot see what is happening in Russia, under Putin’s totalitarian dictatorship.

China in Support of Russia

The Independent reported on February 27:

“China has voiced its support for Russia’s handling of the Ukraine crisis…  the Chinese ambassador to Belgium said the West should take ‘the real security concerns of Russia into consideration’… [and that the] ‘nature and root cause’ of the crisis was the ‘game’ between Russia and western powers the United States and EU, and that a change of approach is required to resolve it. After nearly a year of relative silence on the subject, China’s intervention is striking, not least because it comes just as harsher sanctions against Moscow are being discussed…

“This week Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western powers of trying to dominate and impose their ideology on the rest of world. Meanwhile US and European delegations have slammed Moscow for its continued supported of the rebels in eastern Ukraine.”

No surprise that two totalitarian regimes would support each other…

Russia Heavily Militarizes Crimea

The Business Insider reported on March 2:

“Russia is heavily militarizing Crimea as a way to project power deep in to the Black Sea, USNI News reports citing supreme commander of NATO Gen. Philip Breedlove… Breedlove said that Russia had moved anti-air and anti-surface missile systems into the peninsula. These weapons could be used to hit targets in the Black Sea…

“The Kyiv Post reports that Russia has moved Iskander mobile ballistic missile systems into the peninsula. These missile systems can be redirected in flight to hit moving targets. In addition, Russia is developing a ‘rocket-artillery regiment equipped with Khrizantema, Msta, and Tornado-G missile defense systems’ in Crimea, according to the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM)…

“PISM notes that Russia is also making use of the shipbuilding facilities in Crimea to reconstitute its ageing Black Sea Fleet into a more viable force through the introduction of new ships and equipment. Russia elevated Crimea into one of its three main geopolitical priorities in a new military doctrine announced at the end of 2014. Alongside the Arctic and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Moscow has designated the militarization of Crimea as a key national priority in order to exert influence beyond the country’s borders.”

Germany’s Armed Forces

Deutsche Welle reported on February 27:

“Germany plans to activate a tank battalion that exists only on paper as it seeks to increase the country’s military capability. The defense minister spoke of a “changed security situation” amid the conflict in Ukraine….

“Among other things, von der Leyen called into question the ceilings for heavy weapons systems established by her predecessor, current Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere…

“Germany’s plans to increase the flexibility and capability of its armed forces come amid growing demands from NATO for member states to boost their reaction speed. In response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, the military alliance called in September for the founding of a new rapid response force based in eastern Europe, in which the German Bundeswehr plays an important role…”

Anti-Semitism on the Rise in Europe

Reuters reported on February 26:

“Germany’s Jewish community leader has advised Jews not to wear skullcaps in areas with a large Muslim population, a warning that underscores fears about growing anti-Semitism in Europe… Seventy years after the Holocaust, anti-Semitism remains a particularly sensitive issue in Germany, and other European countries, including France and Britain, are also worried by a growth in hostility towards Jews.

“Last week, Berlin’s Jewish community decided to send its monthly newspaper out in a neutral envelope to protect recipients. The number of reported anti-Semitic crimes rose by more than one third last year to 1,076…

“Some German politicians and German Jews blame the rise in anti-Semitism on feelings about Middle East violence. A survey by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation last November highlighted a blurring of the lines in Germany between anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel, with 27 percent of those asked equating the Jewish state’s treatment of Palestinians to the Nazis’ persecution of Jews in World War Two…”

Cooperation between Israel and Jordan

JTA reported on February 26:

“Israel and Jordan signed a bilateral agreement to exchange water and to work together to save the Dead Sea. Government officials from the two countries signed the Seas Canal agreement at a ceremony Thursday on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. Dignitaries from both sides, as well as representatives from the World Bank and the U.S. embassies in Israel and Jordan, were on hand…

“The agreement implements the first stage of the Seas Canal project, including the construction of a desalination plant north of Aqaba to supply water to the Arava region in Israel and to Aqaba in Jordan. Residual saline brines will be piped to the Dead Sea through an approximately 125-mile pipeline from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea in order to stabilize and save the Dead Sea.

“Also in the framework of the agreement, water from northern Israel will be piped to Amman… ‘This is the most important and significant agreement since the peace treaty with Jordan,’ said Silvan Shalom, Israel’s regional cooperation minister, who signed the agreement on behalf of his country. ‘This is the peak of fruitful and very good cooperation between Israel and Jordan and will assist in rehabilitating the Dead Sea and in resolving water issues in Jordan and the Arava.’”

“Iran Continues to Make Its Presence Felt…”

The Jerusalem Post wrote on February 27:

“A senior Iranian cleric with close ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed on Friday that ‘we will raise the flag of Islam over the White House’ in response to the killing of Hezbollah and Revolutionary Guards operatives on the Golan Heights last month… Israeli attack helicopters killed six Hezbollah terrorists along with six Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) operatives, including a high-ranking general…

“The cleric added that Iran continues to make its presence felt in a number of areas throughout the region, including Yemen, where a sect affiliated with Shi’ite Islam has overthrown a ruling government and taken power. ‘The Islamic Republic directly supports the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq,’ he said.”

Netanyahu Warns Obama Against Iran

Thomson/Reuters reported on March 3:

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday against accepting a nuclear deal with Iran that would be a ‘countdown to a potential nuclear nightmare’ by a country that ‘will always be an enemy of America’. ‘If the deal now being negotiated is accepted by Iran, that deal will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons – it will all but guarantee that Iran will get those nuclear weapons, lots of them,’ the Israeli leader said in a 39-minute speech to the U.S. Congress that offered a point-by-point critique of Obama’s Iran diplomacy.

“In an appearance that strained U.S.-Israeli relations and was boycotted by dozens of Obama’s fellow Democrats, Netanyahu said Iran’s leadership was ‘as radical as ever,’ could not be trusted and the deal being worked out with world powers would not block Iran’s way to a bomb ‘but paves its way to a bomb.’ ‘This deal won’t be a farewell to arms, it will be a farewell to arms control … a countdown to a potential nuclear nightmare,’ Netanyahu told lawmakers and visitors in the House of Representatives. His speech drew 26 standing ovations…

“Obama refused to meet Netanyahu, saying that doing so just ahead of Israel’s March 17 general election would be seen as interference. Aides to Obama said he would not be watching the speech, broadcast live on U.S. television [but he did announce that he had read Netanyahu’s transcript of the speech]. Underscoring the partisan divide over Netanyahu’s address, House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said afterwards that as a friend of Israel, she was near tears during his speech, calling it ‘an insult to the intelligence of the United States.’ She said she was ‘saddened by the condescension toward our knowledge of the threat posed by Iran.’…

“Netanyahu, who has hinted at the prospect of unilateral strikes as a last resort on Iranian nuclear sites, told lawmakers Israel would stand alone if needed…

Even though the New York Times Editorial Board and many other left-liberal commentators, including President Obama himself, criticized the speech as unconvincing and lacking true alternatives, we feel that his speech was very persuasive and convincing. The alternative to a deal with Iran was very obvious and clearly spelled out: No deal! Why should there be a deal with Iran, if it does not guarantee peace and safety in the Middle East for all parties? Netanyahu also stated that America’s desire to fight with Iran against ISIS was ill-conceived, because “the enemy of your enemy is your enemy.” He said:

“Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam… Both want to impose a militant Islamic empire, first on the region, then on the entire world. They just disagree who will be the ruler of this empire. In this deadly game of thrones, there is no place for America or Israel…When it comes to Iran and ISIS, the enemy of your enemy is your enemy.”

To counter Nancy Pelosi’s comments, it truly appears that the Obama Administration and many lawmakers, as well as a majority of Americans who favor a deal with Iran, are indeed oblivious to the danger of a nuclear Iran.

Will Israel Stand Alone?

Breitbart wrote on March 3:

“Netanyahu got to the heart of his message: absolutely devastating Obama’s reported Iranian peace deal. In the shadow of the Jewish holiday of Purim, when a Jewish woman pled for the survival of her people from the genocidal intentions of a Persian anti-Semite, Netanyahu echoed Queen Esther’s language: ‘I feel profound obligation to speak to you about a threat to the survival of my country and the survival of my people, Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons. In nearly 4,000 years of history, many have tried repeatedly to destroy the Jewish people.’”

Netanyahu added:

“Today the Jewish people face another attempt by yet another Persian potentate to destroy us. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei spews the oldest hatred, the oldest hatred of anti-Semitism with the newest technology. He tweets that Israel must be annihilated — he tweets. You know, in Iran, there isn’t exactly free Internet. But he tweets in English that Israel must be destroyed. For those who believe that Iran threatens the Jewish state, but not the Jewish people, listen to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, Iran’s chief terrorist proxy. He said: If all the Jews gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of chasing them down around the world.”

The article in Breitbart continued:

“Netanyahu concluded by citing the Bible, in Hebrew. He quoted the parting words of Moses as the Jews were about to enter the land of Israel, from Deuteronomy 31:6: ‘Moses gave us a message that has steeled our resolve for thousands of years…Be strong and resolute, neither fear nor dread them. My friends, may Israel and America always stand together, strong and resolute, may we neither fear nor dread the challenges ahead, may we face the future with confidence, strength and hope. May God bless the state of Israel, and may God bless the United States of America.’

“The controversy over the politics of the speech is over. Now the world must answer Netanyahu’s question: will Israel have to stand alone?”

It might very well have to.

The Deadly Dangers of Smoking

Newsmax wrote on March 1:

“When beloved actor Leonard Nimoy was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment eight days before his death, it signified his final struggle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition he had battled for years. Although the ‘Star Trek’ star had quit smoking 30 years earlier, Nimoy said that the damage from the habit didn’t surface until later. And when it did, the results were tragically lethal. The 83 year old, best known for his portrayal as Mr. Spock, died in his Bel-Air home on Friday…

“There are three degrees of COPD – mild, moderate, and severe. When COPD becomes severe, it causes flare-ups, which are called ‘exacerbations.’ With each exacerbation, COPD patients lose more lung tissue, further eroding their breathing capacity. Nimoy was apparently suffering a flare-up when he was rushed to the hospital on Feb. 19 complaining of chest pain…

“In the last year of his life, Nimoy made it his mission to warn others about COPD, often taking to social media to warn against smoking, which is the primary cause of the illness. Although he was able to make public appearances during his fight with the ailment, he used an oxygenator, a portable device that helps people with COPD breathe. COPD is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. behind heart disease and cancer.

“Before he quit in the 1980s, Nimoy was a three-pack-a-day smoker. He said he was shocked to be diagnosed with COPD decades after quitting… Last year he took to Twitter in an effort to help others avoid his fate: ‘Smokers, please understand. If you quit after you’re diagnosed with lung damage it’s too late… learn my lesson. Quit now. LLAP (Live long and prosper).’”

Smoking is a deadly killer… but far too many, following their own carnal desires, do not want to see this, until it is too late.

British Flower Supermarket Giant Prohibits the Use of the Word “Christ’ in Gift Messages

The Daily Mail wrote on March 1:

“The words ‘Christ’ and ‘Jesus Christ’ have been placed on a list of banned words by Marks & Spencer and cannot be used in gift messages. Customers buying a bunch of flowers who try to add a free message containing them are prevented from completing their order. An on-screen notification, which pops up if any blocked words are entered, reads: ‘Sorry, there’s something in your message we can’t write.’… ‘Christ’ and ‘Jesus Christ’ join other banned words including ‘f***’ and ‘gay’ – but some terms including jihad, Buddha and Allah are accepted. ‘Terrorist’ and ‘d**k’ can also be included in messages. The policy emerged earlier today after one customer was stopped from buying a £35 bouquet for a funeral because she said in the gift message that it was from a family in ‘Christ Church Teddington’…

“When Gerardine Stockford, 53, phoned customer services an employee told her that it must be a blocked word. Lord Carey, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, was shocked. He said: ‘If Christ becomes an offensive word in a Christian land then all of us should be alarmed.’ Despite the supermarket giant being made aware of the issue yesterday, it still has not changed the facility. A spokesman for Marks & Spencer said: ‘An automatic phrase checker is in place to prevent the use and misuse of certain words and it includes hundreds of words of varying nature. ‘The words Jesus and Christ are included to prevent their misuse.’”

This is SO ridiculous and offensive at the same time!

“War Is a Solution to Nothing”

The Huffington Post wrote on February 22:

“As President Barack Obama presented his proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to Congress, he declared, ‘I do not believe America’s interests are served by endless war, or by remaining on a perpetual war footing.’ Yet Obama’s proposal asks Congress to rubber-stamp his endless war against anyone he wants, wherever he wants. Obama has launched 2,300 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since August 8, 2014.

“In his six years as president, he has killed more people than died on 9/11 with drones and other forms of targeted killing in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia — countries with which the United States is not at war. Obama’s proposed AUMF contains some purported limitations, but their vagueness amounts to a blank check to use U.S. military force in perpetuity… [It] contains no geographical limitation. It would authorize the use of military force anywhere in the world…

“But even if Congress were to authorize Obama’s wars in Iraq and Syria, those wars would still violate the UN Charter. The charter requires all states to settle their disputes peacefully, and to refrain from the use of armed force except when acting in self-defense or with the blessing of the Security Council. The Syrian government has not consented to Obama’s bombing in Syria.

“And although the Iraqi government has blessed Obama’s bombing campaign, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ‘is a puppet government that Obama installed and therefore has no authority under international law to consent to U.S. military operations in Iraq,’ according to law professor Francis Boyle… Indeed, ISIS is a direct outgrowth of the U.S. invasion and installation of former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim who viciously killed, disappeared and tortured Sunni Muslims after most U.S. troops pulled out…

“We need to stop using military force as a solution to everything — indeed, it is a solution to nothing… We cannot rely on Congress or the president to reverse the course of rampant U.S. militarism…”

For more information, please read our free booklet, “Should You Fight in War?” 

The Founding Fathers and Islam

Breitbart wrote on February 20:

“‘Here in America,’ Obama stated, ‘Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding.’… [He] stated in 2006, ‘Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation – at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.’… [He] said in April 2009, ‘Although, as I mentioned, we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values…’

“That does not mean that there were no Muslims in America at the founding — many African slaves were originally Muslim, and were forcibly converted from that faith. But to say that Islam as a religion has been ‘woven into the fabric of our country since our founding’ is simply false. The first wave of Muslim immigrants to the United States did not begin until well after the Civil War. The first mosque in the United States was not built until 1915, by most reports.

“Islam had zero impact on the founders or their philosophy – less than zero, given that the founders despised the religion, or what they knew of it. President Obama fictionalized this history at an Iftar dinner in 2012: ‘… Thomas Jefferson once held a sunset dinner here with an envoy from Tunisia — perhaps the first Iftar at the White House, more than 200 years ago. And some of you, as you arrived tonight, may have seen our special display, courtesy of our friends at the Library of Congress — the Koran that belonged to Thomas Jefferson. And that’s a reminder, along with the generations of patriotic Muslims in America, that Islam — like so many faiths — is part of our national story.’

“Well, not so much. That magical ‘first Iftar’ was a meeting between Sidi Solima Mellimelli, an emissary of the brutal Barbary pirates, and the president. Jefferson had over Mellimelli in an attempt to bribe him into submission after the USS Constitution captured ships from the [bay] of Tunis. Mellimelli requested food, lodgings, and concubines. Jefferson already knew of Islam, having been educated in 1786 after Barbary pirates attempted to blackmail America into monetary tribute. At that time, the Barbary emissary justified piracy with reference to the Koran, according to a report from Jefferson: ‘The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners.’

“John Quincy Adams, writing of these negotiations, stated: ‘The precept of the Koran is perpetual war against all who deny that Mahomet is the prophet of God. The vanquished may purchase their lives, by the payment of tribute; the victorious may be appeased by a false and delusive promise of peace; and the faithful follower of the prophet may submit to the imperious necessities of defeat: but the command to propagate the Moslem creed by the sword is always obligatory, when it can be made effective. The commands of the prophet may be performed alike, by fraud, or by force.’

“Quincy Adams would later lament, ‘Such is the spirit, which governs the hearts of men, to whom treachery and violence are taught as principles of religion.’… philosophers upon whom the founders relied had similarly negative views of Islam. Montesquieu wrote that the Turks were despotic. William Blackstone wrote that religion could be used for despotism, as shown by ‘terrible ravages committed by the Saracens in the east, to propagate the religion of Mahomet.’…

“The historical record demonstrates that Islam had virtually no role in the foundation of the early Republic outside of being used as a negative comparison point for freedom and self-government. President Obama is obviously rewriting history…”

The idea that Islam had a determining role or positive influence on America’s founding fathers is laughable and plain ridiculous. The question must be asked as to why President Obama keeps bringing up Islam in a positive way, while refusing to attack and strongly condemn radical Islam and to identify the ISIS hordes as “Islamic terrorists” (see the next articles).

“The Wave of Muslim Immigration Is Not Going to Stop”

The website of investors.com reported on February 19:

“France, Belgium and now even liberal Denmark regret letting in so many immigrants from Muslim countries. Their swelling Islamic communities have become breeding grounds for terrorists. So why is the U.S. opening the floodgates to foreign Muslims?… Vice President Joe Biden assured Muslim groups… that the ‘wave’ of Muslim immigration is ‘not going to stop.’…

“Between 2010 and 2013, the Obama administration imported almost 300,000 new immigrants from Muslim nations — more immigrants than the U.S. let in from Central America and Mexico combined over that period… Many of the recent Muslim immigrants are from terrorist hot spots like Iraq, where the Islamic State operates. From 2010-2013, Obama ushered in 41,094 Iraqi nationals from there. Now the State Department says it will quadruple the number of refugees brought here from Syria, where IS is headquartered…

“Top U.S. counterterror officials say terrorists could easily slip into the country from Iraq and Syria, in spite of promised screening procedures for such refugees… House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul called the new policy ‘a federally sanctioned welcome party to potential terrorists.’…

“The British press is reporting that IS has threatened to release a huge wave of migrants from Libya across the Mediterranean disguised as refugees to cause chaos in Europe. Who’s to say they aren’t setting a similar immigration bomb for America? Authorities can’t even get a handle on homegrown IS jihadists who are already in America… The FBI director says he’s got open cases against IS suspects in every state but Alaska. More than 100 American Muslims have hooked up with the vicious terror group in Syria or Iraq, and at least a dozen fighters already have returned to America and may be forming sleeper cells to attack the homeland…

“After an influx of Syrian and other Muslim immigrants, a recent poll found that 40% of Germans say they don’t feel at home in their own country thanks to ‘Islamization.’”

Austria Passes Dangerous “Law on Islam”

Reuters reported on February 25:

“Austria’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday that seeks to regulate how Islam is administered, singling out its large Muslim minority for treatment not applied to any other religious group. The ‘Law on Islam’ bans foreign funding for Islamic organizations and requires any group claiming to represent Austrian Muslims to submit and use a standardized German translation of the Koran.

“The law met with little opposition from the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic population, was backed by Austria’s Catholic bishops, and was grudgingly accepted by the main Muslim organization. But it upset Turkey’s state religious establishment. ‘We want an Islam of the Austrian kind, and not one that is dominated by other countries,’ said Sebastian Kurz, the 28-year-old conservative foreign minister – formally the minister for foreign affairs and integration – who is easily Austria’s most popular politician.

“Austria’s half a million Muslims make up about 6 percent of the population and are overwhelmingly the families of Turkish migrant workers. Many of their imams are sent and financed by Turkey’s state religious affairs directorate, the Diyanet. Mehmet Gormez, head of the Diyanet, said before the law was passed that ‘with this draft legislation, religious freedoms in Austria will have fallen back a hundred years’.

“Austria’s biggest Islamic organization, IGGiO, accepted the law, but its youth arm opposed it, as did the Turkish-financed Turkish-Islamic Union in Austria (ATIB), which runs many mosques and has vowed to challenge the bill in the Constitutional Court…”

Deutsche Welle added on February 25:

“Austria’s parliament has banned funding of some Muslim clergy by countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Two years in the works, a law passed Wednesday requires Austria’s 450 Muslim groups to demonstrate a ‘positive approach toward society and the state’ to continue receiving official licensing…

“‘I say that Islam does not belong to Austria, neither culturally nor historically,’ FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache said in parliament on Wednesday. [He and his party voted “No” to the new law.] He had wanted the law to require imams to preach in German and to ban burqas and minarets…’”

These are indeed VERY dangerous developments. With all of this faulty and flawed reasoning, other religious minorities can be easily targeted as well.

“Obama Is on a Rampage”

The New York Post wrote on February 22:

“He can’t bring himself to call Islamic terrorists what they are, but President Obama finally said something with which we can all agree. Speaking of his remaining time in office, he said: ‘Two years is a long time.’… ‘Two years is also the time in which we’re going to be setting the stage for the next presidential election and the next 10 years of American policy,’ he told wealthy ­donors in San Francisco. ‘So I intend to run through the tape and work really hard, and squeeze every last little bit of change.’

“That makes the next two years extremely dangerous. Not just for Americans, but also for people around the world who count on us for their security and well-being. It is party time for the bad guys. Imagine you are the head of Islamic State or al Qaeda. Or you are Vladimir Putin, the head of China or the ayatollah of Iran. You know Obama has spent six years shrinking America’s footprint and abandoning allies, leaving behind the vacuums you are filling. It’s already a bonanza, and his vow to double down over the next two years means you will never get a better opportunity to make more hay…

“To cite one example, what if Putin isn’t content with the parts of Ukraine he’s taking and wants a piece of the Baltic states? Unlike battered Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania belong to NATO, and its treaty obliges all members to ­respond if one is attacked. Given Obama’s fondness for ‘leading from behind,’ Putin probably assumes America would do nothing if he gobbled up the ­Baltics. If Putin does that and gets away with it, NATO would be kaput. It protected Europe from the Soviet Union and Russia since World War II, but it would die a quick death if peripheral members were carved up with impunity. Not incidentally, such a move would consign millions of people to life ­under Russia’s boot.

“The domestic implications of a rogue Obama rampage are less dramatic, but not less radical. From the economy to regulations on business and the Internet, he could do so much damage that would take years to correct, if correction were possible. Consider immigration. The ruling by a Texas federal judge to temporarily halt the president’s executive order on mass amnesty is leading open-border advocates to vow they won’t be stopped. Threats of violence hang in the air…”

America is in trouble, domestically and internationally. This is all in fulfillment of biblical prophecy. For more information, view our recent StandingWatch program, “Why America’s and Europe’s Betrayal of Ukraine?”.  Note also the next article on Ukraine.

Ukraine at the Brink of Bankruptcy Amidst Ongoing Fighting

The Washington Post wrote on February 23:

“Ukraine’s currency touched record lows Monday as continued violence in the rebel-held east fueled pessimism about the country’s economic future. The currency slump came as the Ukrainian military said it will not pull back its heavy arms from the front lines until attacks by pro-Russian rebels cease altogether… A pullback of heavy weaponry is a key step in a cease-fire deal reached this month, but both sides have said that fighting is continuing, casting doubt on efforts to quell the 10-month-old conflict…

“Ukraine’s currency has dropped 42 percent this month and is down 69 percent in the year since President Viktor Yanukovych fled office after months of pro-European street protests. The Ukrainian central bank on Monday announced new measures to stem the losses, imposing limits on the ability of Ukrainian businesses to purchase foreign currency…

“The plunge calls into question Ukraine’s ability to repay money borrowed from global creditors. The central bank’s reserves of foreign currency are depleted, raising the prospect that the nation could soon go bankrupt… Germany, the primary Western driver of the cease-fire deal, said Monday that it was losing hope about the peace plan’s prospects… The currency plunge came a day after a bombing at a pro-Ukrainian rally in the government-controlled city of Kharkiv that killed two people. A third victim, a 15-year-old boy, died Monday of wounds suffered at the rally, city authorities said. A spate of attacks in Ukrainian-held cities has sparked fears even in areas far away from the harshest fighting in the east.”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 25:

“Secretary of State John… Kerry told lawmakers in Washington during congressional hearings that Russia and pro-Moscow separatists were not respecting the Minsk ceasefire plan… Kerry had said a day earlier that Moscow was telling ‘lies … to my face’ about its activities in eastern Ukraine…”

Now Compulsory Military Service in Lithuania because of Fear of Russia

The Times wrote on February 24:

“Lithuania today announced the return of military conscription to counter the immediate threat to its security posed by mounting Russian aggression in the region. The move is the latest indication of rising tension in the Baltic States which, like Ukraine, border Russia and contain significant Russian minority populations. Michael Fallon, the British Defence Secretary, said last week that President Putin poses a ‘real and present danger’ to the three former Soviet nations, all of them now members of Nato and the European Union.”

The Guardian added on February 24:

“Lithuania, like its Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia, was occupied for five decades by the Soviet Union before regaining independence in 1991. It abolished conscription in 2008, four years after joining Nato…

“The three Baltic nations have watched with increasing trepidation as Moscow has flexed its muscles, with a recent increase of reported airspace violations in the region where part of Lithuania’s border runs along the Russian Kaliningrad enclave with important military bases.

“Last month, the defense ministry published a booklet advising citizens how to react in case of war, prompted by what the defense minister, Juozas Olekas, called ‘Russia’s aggression against its neighbors, presently in Ukraine.’”

We can expect that other European countries will re-introduce compulsory military service when they feel threatened by a real or imagined enemy. The same could be true for the USA. It is therefore important that young Christian men and women who claim to be conscientious objectors are thoroughly familiar with the biblical teaching on war and military service and that they have a personal sincere conviction, based on Scripture, preventing them to join the military or to fight in war. In our Statement of Beliefs, we point out the following under “Relationship with God”:

“We believe that a Christian’s duty to God is of a superior and higher nature than our duty arising from any human relationship (Acts 4:18-20; 5:27-29). We therefore, following Biblical commands and principles, do not participate in voting for national elections or jury duty, and we do not join the military. On the other hand, we do not object to participation in civil service. If compelled by governments to enlist, we refuse to serve in any capacity that would violate the spirit of the sixth commandment against murder (Exodus 20:13; Matthew 5:43-48; Romans 12:17-21).”

Obama or Netanyahu— “Now We Know Who to Believe on Iran”

The Times of Israel’s David Horovitz wrote on February 23:

“In an op-ed on February 9, I suggested that Israel’s opposition leader, Isaac Herzog, should stand alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before Congress on March 3, to underline ‘their common conviction that the regime in Tehran cannot be appeased and must be faced down.’ On Monday evening, as details of the looming US-led deal with Iran emerged from Geneva, Israel’s most respected Middle East affairs analyst, Channel 2 commentator Ehud Ya’ari, made precisely the same suggestion. So problematic are the reported terms of the deal, Ya’ari indicated, that Israel’s two leading contenders in the March 17 elections, Netanyahu and Herzog, need to put aside their differences and make plain to US legislators that the need to thwart such an accord crosses party lines in Israel and stands as a consensual imperative.

“After anonymous sources in Jerusalem leaked to Israeli reporters in recent weeks the ostensible terms of the deal being hammered out, various spokespeople for the Obama administration contended that the Netanyahu government was misrepresenting the specifics for narrow political ends. They sneered that Israel didn’t actually know what the terms were. And they made the acknowledgement — the astounding acknowledgement for a United States whose key regional ally is directly and relentlessly threatened with destruction by Iran — that the Obama administration is consequently no longer sharing with Jerusalem all sensitive details of the Iran talks.

“And yet among the terms of the deal being reported by the Associated Press from Geneva on Monday are precisely those that were asserted in recent weeks by the Israeli sources, precisely those that were scoffed at by the Administration. Centrally, Iran is to be allowed to keep 6,500 centrifuges spinning, and there will be a sunset clause providing for an end to intrusive inspections in some 10-15 years. If anything, indeed, some of the terms reported by the AP are even more worrying than those that were leaked in Jerusalem: ‘The idea would be to reward Iran for good behavior over the last years of any agreement,’ the AP said, ‘gradually lifting constraints on its uranium enrichment program and slowly easing economic sanctions.’ There is also no indication of restrictions on Iran’s missile development — its potential delivery systems.

“In his TV commentary on Monday night, Ya’ari highlighted that the deal could further embolden Iran as it expands its influence throughout this region, and he noted that the isolation of Iran even by Israel’s key allies was already cracking, with the firmly pro-Israel foreign minister of Australia, Julie Bishop, announcing an imminent visit to Tehran — the first Australian foreign minister to make such a trip in a decade.

“Ya’ari also noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency has made clear that it lacks the tools to effectively monitor the kind of nuclear program that Iran will be allowed to maintain under the emerging deal — incapable, that is, of ensuring that Iran does not fool the West as it has done in the past.

“The devil of such deals is generally in the detail. But the devil, here, is in the principle as well — the principle that the P5+1 is about to legitimize Iran as a nuclear threshold state. From there, it will be capable of rapidly breaking out to the bomb, well aware that the international community lacks the will to stop it.

“The Obama administration would evidently like to believe that 10-15 years from now, the ayatollahs will be gone, Iran will have a different leadership, and the threat of what Netanyahu has repeatedly called ‘the most dangerous regime in the world attaining the most dangerous weapon in the world’ will have passed. But if the deal now taking shape is indeed finalized, the chances of the regime being ousted from within, or effectively confronted from without, will drastically recede. This deal, indeed, will help cement the ayatollahs in power, with dire consequences for Israel, relatively moderate Arab states, and the free world.

“It goes without saying that this weekend’s developments in Geneva have only bolstered Netanyahu’s determination to sound the alarm before Congress next Tuesday. It’s also still clearer today why the Obama administration has been so anxious to query his motives and seek to discredit his concerns. I headlined my February 9 op-ed ‘Who to believe on Iran: Obama or Netanyahu?’ I think we know now.”

Tensions Between White House and Netanyahu Intensify

The Washington Post wrote on February 25:

“Tensions between the White House and Benjamin Netanyahu intensified Wednesday as top administration officials condemned the Israeli prime minister’s plan to address Congress next week, while Netanyahu accused six world powers, including the United States, of ‘giving up on their commitment’ in negotiations to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“The unusually public spat marked one of the lowest points in a relationship that has long bonded the two countries. Although the new round of recriminations reflected the frosty personal relations between President Obama and Netanyahu, it came at a critical juncture in multilateral talks…

“The latest volley of high-level criticism began when national security adviser Susan E. Rice… condemned Netanyahu’s decision to accept the invitation of House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to appear at a joint session of Congress shortly before the Israeli elections… Netanyahu fired back. ‘I respect the White House and the president of the United States, but on such a critical topic that could determine whether we exist or not, it is my duty to do everything to prevent this great danger to the state of Israel,’ Netanyahu said…

“No love has been lost between Obama and Netanyahu. ‘This is clearly the most dysfunctional relationship between an American and Israeli leader,’ said Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the Wilson Center and a former U.S. negotiator and adviser to both Republican and Democratic administrations. Moreover, he said, ‘the durability is troubling.’ He said that earlier tensions preceded incremental peace accords but that Obama and Netanyahu remain far apart on basic issues and that Kerry’s efforts to bring Israel and Palestinians together failed…

“Meanwhile, leaked details about Iran nuclear negotiations have made many lawmakers more interested in what Netanyahu has to say…”

Republicans: Gay Marriages Not Worth Fighting Against…

The Huffington Post reported on February 22:

“A divide over gay marriage is emerging in the potential Republican presidential primary field, with candidates falling into one of two camps: those who want to admit defeat on a key social cause and move on, and those who want to keep fighting… A narrow majority of Republican voters polled in early caucus and primary states… said it was unacceptable for candidates to oppose gay marriage… Some GOP analysts worry that a noisy gay marriage debate could pose a threat to the party’s eventual nominee, if it means that Republicans are unable to attract young voters…

“Thirty-six states, including the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, have legalized gay marriage since Massachusetts became the first to do so more than a decade ago. Nearly 72 percent of the US population now lives in a state where gay marriage is legal. The Supreme Court is expected to decide this summer whether gay marriage should be permitted nationwide…

“To be sure, none of the potential Republican candidates have come out in support of same-sex unions. But several, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, have softened their rhetoric, seeking to turn the focus to other issues and avoid alienating voters over a lost cause…

“Others planning to run are not ready to yield. They insist their socially conservative principles are more important than political pragmatism or public opinion, and they plan to make gay marriage a central topic in the 2016 debate. ‘It’s like asking someone who’s Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli,’ former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee… recently told CNN…

“Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is pushing for a constitutional amendment that would leave it up to states to define marriage, and would prevent the federal government from getting involved. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former US senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, and former Texas governor Rick Perry have also been among the most vociferous opponents of gay marriage…

“In a new NBC News and Marist College poll, about half of Republican voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina say candidates who oppose gay marriage are ‘mostly’ or ‘totally’ unacceptable…

“Governor Chris Christie, who supports civil unions but not gay marriage, said last year that the issue had been ‘settled’ in New Jersey. Although Democrat Hillary Clinton supports gay marriage, she has also said that it should be left up to the states to decide. For her the issue is complicated by the fact that her husband, President Clinton, signed into law several pieces of legislation that gay-rights groups oppose, including the Defense of Marriage Act, which barred same-sex couples from receiving federal marriage benefits. The Supreme Court ruled DOMA unconstitutional in 2013.”

In light of this cowardice and hypocrisy, the question ought to be asked as to why true Christians would even want to vote in governmental presidential elections.

“German Chancellor Merkel Meets with Pope Francis”

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 21:

“Pope Francis has received German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a private audience at the Vatican. The talks focused on the fight against poverty and international crises, including the conflict in eastern Ukraine… Angela Merkel described the talks as ‘enriching’ and wide-ranging, covering the alleviation of poverty, the role of women in developing countries, equality, and Germany’s agenda for the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) summit in the southern German state of Bavaria in June.

“Germany currently chairs the G7 group of major industrialized states, consisting of Germany, the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Italy and Britain. Russia had been a part of what was formerly known as the G8, before it was excluded over Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region…

“Following her audience with the pope – the second since he was appointed – Merkel met Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and German ambassador to the Holy See, Annette Schavan. Schavan, a former German education minister, was considered one of Merkel’s close confidantes before she resigned from her post amid a plagiarism scandal in 2013.”

This relationship between Germany and the Vatican is quite interesting, in the light of biblical prophecy. For further information, please read our free booklet, “The Ten European Revivals of the Ancient Roman Empire.”

A European Army?

News.at wrote on February 25 that German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday in a speech that she hopes for a European army. She added that she does not believe that it will be accomplished soon. The Austrian website also mentioned that SPÖ-EU-deputy Josef Weidenholzer advocated recently the creation of a European army.

Der Spiegel Online had published an interview with Ursula von der Leyen on January 28, stating that “Germany has been heavily criticized in recent years for not doing its share in hotspots around the world. [von der Leyen] says that it is time for Berlin to take more responsibility. She also dreams of a European army.”

Quite to the surprise of many observers, the creation of a European army is in no way that far off.

“Greek Bailout Extension Receives Mixed Reactions Across Europe”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 21:

“Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ government agreed on Friday to receiving a four-month extension of their bailout, but no money to tide Greece over in the meantime…

“Liberal Danish newspaper Politiken wrote on Saturday that Europe had ‘avoided an unpredictable period with a weak economy by means of a temporary solution.’ The paper also criticized the eurozone members and governments for ‘giving Greece cheap loans to enable them to continue, in the belief that no eurozone country could ever face real problems.’ Although Denmark is a member of the European Union, it is not part of the 19-member euro common currency zone and continues to use Danish krones.

“Conservative Austrian paper Die Presse also warned on Saturday that ‘the compromise in Brussels was only half the battle,’ adding that the decision as to whether Greece leaves the eurozone will take off again in just a few months…

“German economist Hans-Werner Sinn, the head of the Munich-based Ifo economic institute, went as far as saying Greece should leave the eurozone…”

BBC News reported on February 24:

“Eurozone finance ministers have approved reform proposals submitted by Greece in order to obtain a four-month extension of its bailout. The Eurogroup said it had agreed to begin national procedures – parliamentary votes in several states to give the deal final approval. The measures offered by Greece include combating tax evasion and reforming the public sector…

“However, International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Christine Lagarde expressed reservations about the reform proposals…

“This is, in reality, a short-term fix for an economy in which public debt is unsustainable and growth negligible. And in four months’ time, Greece will be back at the top of the agenda as the eurozone attempts to work out a long-term strategy for its most debt-stricken member.”

The Destruction of Pforzheim—“the Dresden Nobody Knows About”

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 23:

“At the 70th anniversary of the Allied bombing of Dresden [which caused the death of about 25,000 people—not 600,000, as some falsely claim], even the German president showed up. In Pforzheim, a site of comparable destruction, no high-rankers were present – just people out to promote peace… Thousands of people gathered here on the Platz des 23. Februar (February 23 Square) to remember the day their city was obliterated in 1945…

“The 22 minutes [of hellfire] was figurative for inconceivable suffering and destruction. Between 19:50 and 21:12 local time on February 23, 1945, RAF aircraft dropped 1575 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs on Pforzheim, setting off a firestorm that is widely seen as one of the most devastating in military history. According to official statistics, 17,600 people died, and tens of thousands of others were injured. The market square and old town area were destroyed and completely depopulated. In the entire city, over 80 percent of the architecture that existed in 1945 was defaced, making Pforzheim, proportionally speaking, the worst instance of destruction at the end of WWII.

“The allied destruction in Dresden and Hamburg has been well documented and remains in the public consciousness today, both in Germany and abroad. But Pforzheim doesn’t…

“The city of 80,000 did not possess any major munitions factories or heavy industry at all, although a tube-rolling plant owned by Metalindustrie Richter was in operation in Pforzheim at the time of the bombing. However, there were a host of technical manufacturing plants and factories that produced, among other things, periscope optics and radio and radar components for German submarines. The city was also a major road and rail communications center within the Baden area.

“Does this justify its almost complete annihilation?…

“A year after the end of WWII, author Alred Döblin, one of Germany’s most important modernists, wrote of Pforzheim: ‘Utterly vanished from the surface of the earth, razed completely to the ground, smashed to bits and pieces. No soul left here. Pforzheim – you have been wiped from the world’s atlas.’”

War is so useless and wrong… and it affects so many totally innocent people. Those who advocate war and “glory” in the fighting “for their country” should realize that their glorying is not good (1 Corinthians 5:6). Rather, war is a curse, leading to destruction (Romans 3:15-16). In doing so, they do not know the way to peace, nor is there any fear of God before their eyes (verses 17-18).

Holocaust Deniers Imprisoned in Germany

The Local reported on February 25:

“Sylvia Stolz, 51, was sentenced [by a Munich, Germany, court] to 20 months’ imprisonment for telling an anti-censorship congress in Switzerland in 2012 that the ‘so-called Holocaust’ under Adolf Hitler’s National-Socialist (Nazi) Party had never been legally defined or proven…. In an almost 100-minute address, video footage of which was used as evidence in her trial, Stolz stated before a crowd of 2,000 people there was no hard evidence of either Nazi plans or orders ‘to partially or wholly destroy Jewry’.

“Therefore it was in itself a breach of the law that people like her who defended others put on trial for Holocaust denial should be prosecuted, she argued. Denial of the Holocaust is illegal in Germany and several other EU countries. Stolz, whose husband is a jailed Holocaust denier, was sentenced on the same charge in 2008 and served three years and three months in a Bavarian jail before she was released in 2011. The following year she accepted an invitation to speak at a conference organized in Switzerland by the ‘Anti-Censorship Coalition’ (AZK).

“Three months after the event, a Swiss lawyer filed a criminal complaint, accusing her of transgressing Swiss race law by stating that the Holocaust was unproven in court and that findings on its location and time, perpetrators, methods and numbers killed were lacking. At Wednesday’s final hearing of the case at the Munich District Court, Judge Martin Rieder rejected the defendant’s claim that she was protected by her rights to freedom of speech. Hardly any other event in world history had been so well researched and documented as the extermination of Jews in Europe by the National Socialists, Rieder told the court…

“As well as a count of ‘incitement of the people’, Stolz’s sentence included time for unauthorized use of an official title. Documentation was produced which carried her name and a lawyer’s stamp, despite the fact that she was barred from practising after her earlier conviction. Stolz was previously jailed for statements she made while defending Ernst Zündel, a German publisher known for his Holocaust denials. Zündel was jailed in 2007 for the offence.

“Six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust by the Nazi regime and its allies. Hundreds of thousands of members of other minorities, including Sinti and Roma, disabled and homosexuals also died in Nazi death camps.”

One might indeed question the constitutionality, wisdom and necessity of a law prohibiting the denial of the Holocaust and imprisoning those who do. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the Holocaust did take place, and that millions upon millions of Jews and others, including ethnic and religious minorities, were brutally murdered by demonic Nazis. If true Christians were to deny those facts, they would be guilty of lying. The Bible tells us that true Christians will be persecuted for their belief and for righteousness sakes, but they are not to be found as evildoers—and lying is a terrible sin which is abhorred by God.

Majority of British Voters want to Leave the EU

Daily Mail wrote on February 22:

“More than half of [British] voters want to leave the European Union, a surprise new opinion poll shows. Some 51 per cent of people want to sever ties with Brussels, while 49 per cent want to remain in the EU… It comes as Norway warned Britain not to copy its own situation outside the EU, which leaves it unable to influence key economic rules it must abide by to trade with the 28-nation bloc.”

UK Plagued by Super Rats as Big as Cats

Mail On Line reported on February 22:

“… pest controllers revealed the shocking epidemic of mutant rats – some as big as cats – across the UK. The rodents, which have been seen across the country over the past year, are twice as large as normal species and cannot be killed with traditional substances… Last week, experts warned of a plague of super rats after it was revealed that pest control budgets have been slashed by a quarter by local authorities…

“The species has developed a genetic mutation which means substances approved by the EU to control rat populations has no effect on them… So-called ‘super rats’ are expected to outnumber humans two to one by next year. Genetic testing… has revealed that some rodents have developed a mutation that allows them to survive conventional poisons. In counties including Berkshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Kent, all the rats tested were found to have immunity to poison… In Southampton, 75 per cent of the rodents were found to have the genetic mutation.”

Historic Snowstorms in Boston

CBS reported on February 25:

“Boston eclipsed 100 inches of snow in a season for just the second time in recorded history Wednesday morning. Overnight snow showers brought the season total to 101.8 inches. That’s less than 6 inches shy of the all-time record of 107.6 inches set in the winter of 1995-96.

“Boston has smashed several snowfall records, including snowiest February and snowiest all-time month, as one snowstorm after another pummeled New England. It’s also been one of the coldest months ever, breaking the record in Boston for most sub-freezing days ever seen in February.

“The never-ending snow and cold has crippled the region’s public transportation system, collapsed roofs and has schools scrambling to make up all the snow days.”

As we pointed out in Update #673, Boston is one of America’s least Bible-minded cities.

Beware of Yoga

The Huffington Post wrote on February 25:

“Pat Robertson has some words of caution for anyone considering taking up yoga. Responding to a viewer’s question posed during Tuesday’s episode of ‘The 700 Club,’ Robertson claimed that the ancient mindfulness practice tricks people into ‘praying to a Hindu deity.’ During yoga lessons, he said, participants unknowingly repeat mantras ‘in Hindu’… ‘You don’t know what the Hindu says, but actually it’s a prayer to a Hindu deity…’ Robertson argued. ‘So you’re saying ‘kali, kali, kali,’ but you’re praying to a Hindu deity.’

“Yoga has a long and ancient connection to Hindu spirituality, but modern practice is often divorced from these religious roots… Swami Narayanda, director of the Sivananda Yoga Vendanta Center, told The Huffington Post in December: ‘The goal is to achieve better physical, mental and spiritual health and to achieve happiness through achieving peace of mind.’”

There is no question that Yoga is extremely dangerous when it involves repeating mantras, which are indeed the names of Hindu deities. The same is true for other Indian meditation methods, including Transcendental Meditation (TM). But even if the saying of Hindu words is not involved, the declared goal of achieving “spiritual health” through Yoga sounds very problematic.

70 Years after the Bombing of Dresden

The Associated Press reported on February 14:

“The Allied decision to firebomb Dresden… has long been a source of controversy. At the time, the Allies hoped the attack on a city deep in the German heartland would hit hard at civilian morale and help force the Nazis to capitulate. Some historians, however, said the destruction was a tragic waste of human life and cultural patrimony — with little to no effect on the outcome of the war.

“Speaking at a memorial event in the rebuilt center of the city Friday, German President Joachim Gauck assured dignitaries from Britain and other former Allied nations: ‘You should know that we bear no lasting grudge.’

“The raids that began on February 13, 1945, left the city littered with corpses, and tens of thousands of Dresden’s buildings had been turned to rubble, including its famous opera house and museums in the historic old city. The baroque Church of Our Lady appeared initially to have survived, but, weakened by the intense heat, it collapsed two days after the bombing under its own weight…

“It was not just the bombs dropped by the waves of British and US bombers that wreaked devastation. The fire made superheated air rise rapidly, creating a vacuum at ground level that produced winds strong enough to uproot trees and suck people into the flames. Many Dresden residents died of collapsed lungs… [About] 25,000 people were killed in the attack.”

Deutsche Welle added on February 14:

“Seventy years ago, [on February 13, 1945,] Allied bombers attacked Dresden… As the bombs rained down on the city, its churches and palaces were turned to rubble. Up to 25,000 people – many of them refugees fleeing the advancing Soviet Red Army – died in the inferno that raged in the city for days…

“The bombings were intended to break the German population’s morale – a decision that to many was incomprehensible, given that the war had long been decided and Dresden’s economic and strategic importance was relatively minimal…”

The Local wrote on February 14:

“German President Joachim Gauck warned Friday against a cult of victimhood over the World War II destruction of the city of Dresden 70 years ago. ‘We know who started the murderous war,’ the head of state said in a remembrance church service. ‘And that’s why we will never forget the victims of German aggression, even as we remember the German victims today… A country that perpetrated the monstrosity of genocide could not expect to emerge with impunity and undamaged from the war that it had started.’”

Archbishop of Canterbury “Apologizes” for Dresden… and Is Strongly Criticized

The Daily Mail reported on February 13:

“The Archbishop of Canterbury last night issued an extraordinary apology for the British bombing of Dresden during the Second World War. In what was immediately criticised as an insult to the young men who gave their lives to defeat the Nazis,… Justin Welby told the German people of his ‘profound feeling of regret and deep sorrow’ over the attack. His comments at a ceremony in Dresden to mark the 70th anniversary of the bombings came amid a growing row about BBC coverage of the commemoration in which Britain was described as ‘worse than the Nazis’ over the raids that killed thousands at the end of the war.

“Former defence minister Sir Gerald Howarth criticised the Archbishop, saying: ‘I do not hear Angela Merkel apologising for the Blitz.’…

“Archbishop Welby said the bombing of Dresden, which killed an estimated 25,000, ‘diminished all our humanity’. But he made no reference to the 55,573 British aircrew killed in the struggle to overthrow Hitler, nor to the German bombing of London and Coventry.

“Tory MP Philip Davies said: ‘These remarks do sound to me like an apology. For the Archbishop to make an apology for our defeat of Hitler is bizarre. I would have thought the last thing we should be doing is apologising. We should be praised for defeating Hitler. These words are an insult to the young men who gave their lives in the defeat of Germany.’

“The Archbishop – whose great uncle Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal was one of the main architects of Britain’s campaign of bombing German cities – told the congregation he thought it was ‘miraculous’ that they were welcoming him given the ‘brutal and devastating’ nature of the attack. ‘Over three days in February allied bombers brought death and destruction on a scale and with a ferocity it is impossible to imagine,’ he said.  ‘Much debate surrounds this most controversial raid of the allied bombing campaign. Whatever the arguments, events here 70 years ago left a deep wound and diminished all our humanity. So as a follower of Jesus I stand here among you with a profound feeling of regret and deep sorrow.’

“The references to profound regret and deep sorrow sparked furore among veterans and Conservative politicians already angered by BBC news reports on the anniversary dominated by graphic accounts of the deaths of German victims. An interview with a British prisoner of war – who called the bombing of Dresden a ‘war crime’ – was repeated several times.

“Sir Gerald, a Tory MP, said: ‘Our wartime military commanders, Winston Churchill, and the men of Bomber Command should not be held to blame for the deaths of civilians such as those in Dresden. That was the fault of the German people who failed to remove Hitler and his evil regime. It is very unfortunate that the Archbishop felt unable to pay tribute to the heroism of the young men of Bomber Command, half of whom gave their lives so that the German people could ultimately be liberated from Hitler’s tyranny.’

“Of the BBC coverage, military top brass, RAF veterans, politicians and historians said it ignored the atrocities committed by Hitler and the military justifications for the attack…”

Can Merkel Save Europe?

On February 14, Der Spiegel Online published a lengthy article on Angela Merkel’s role in Europe and the future of Ukraine. We are bringing you the following insightful and revealing excerpts:

“With intense focus during dozens of hours of telephone conversations and negotiations across the globe, the German chancellor helped wrest a cease-fire from the belligerents. It is a fragile deal full of question marks, one which can only succeed if all parties dedicate themselves to adhering to it. Whether that will be the case is doubtful. The Minsk deal is brief respite. Nothing more. But it is a success nonetheless…

“Above all were questions of international diplomacy: … What is the correct path: American weapons deliveries or European diplomacy? And, perhaps most crucial of all, the focus was on European emancipation: Is Europe able to solve its own conflicts without help from the United States?

“The exertions of Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier make it clear that Germany has recognized its responsibility in Europe and in the world. One year ago, German President Joachim Gauck demanded that German foreign policy become more assertive in addressing international conflicts. It is a plea that Merkel and Steinmeier have answered in recent weeks.

“The Ukraine crisis has changed German politics and it has changed Merkel as well. The German leader… is making moves she would have avoided in the past… The Ukraine crisis has changed Merkel’s view of reality…

“Should both sides adhere to the cease-fire, time will be won. That isn’t much, but it is a far cry from nothing… The Minsk deal also bought valuable time for US President Barack Obama. He recently stood up to the hawks in Washington and rejected the idea of delivering weapons to Ukraine. But during Merkel’s visit to the American capital on Monday, he told her that were the Minsk talks to fail, he would no longer be able to contain the weapons delivery discussion. It came across almost as an ultimatum.

“Internally, Vice President Joe Biden had previously thrown his support behind supplying Ukraine with weapons, as had Secretary of State John Kerry… The American NATO General Philip Breedlove believes that missile defense systems are absolutely essential to defend against Russian artillery and also believes Ukraine should be provided with drones.

“But the Ukrainians are currently unable to operate such high-tech equipment. They would have to receive extensive training from American advisers. That, though, would essentially make the US a party to the conflict, as Obama well knows. Which is why he was hesitant following his talks with Merkel, saying only that which American presidents always say in such moments: ‘What I’ve asked my team to do is to look at all options.’…

“American weapons deliveries, on the other hand, don’t impress Putin one bit. On the contrary: Were US weapons and military trainers to turn up in Ukraine, the Russian people, 85 percent of whom already support Putin, would unanimously stand behind their president, one Kremlin insider, who does not belong to the hawkish camp, says. ‘Plus, we would be happy to see American weapons quickly fall into the hands of the separatists as captured loot.’…

“The Ukrainian army was unprepared for the war in the east. Whereas Russia completely modernized its military recently, Ukraine scrapped or sold off much of the equipment it had inherited when the Soviet Union collapsed and radically reduced the size of its military, dismissing two-thirds of its soldiers. The weapons now being used by Ukrainian troops fighting in the east are far inferior to those possessed by the separatists.

“At the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian army had some 130,000 troops according to the most optimistic estimates, with half of them fulfilling their compulsory military service. Now, many young men are doing their best to avoid conscription altogether by heading overseas… the Ukrainian army is slowly disintegrating, demoralized by the separatist advances and short on personnel…

“Russia has likely already achieved its minimum goal, that of preventing Ukraine from joining NATO or the European Union…

“[Merkel] is now drawing parallels between Ukraine and the construction of the Berlin Wall… East Germany is serving as an illustration that there are situations where nothing can or should be done. Even the Americans weren’t prepared to use military means to protect the people of East Germany in 1961, Merkel said in Munich. ‘I don’t blame them,’ she added. It was simply realistic…

“Some see Merkel as being weak. US Senators in particular have voiced criticism of her approach, even uttering the unflattering word ‘appeasement,’ a reference to the Munich Agreement of 1938, which handed part of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler’s Nazis…

“She is afraid of a proxy war over Ukraine between the nuclear powers of US and Russia… Obama wasn’t of a mind to reject her approach… [He] told Merkel that he is happy about every problem that doesn’t land on his desk. Indeed, he is a president who gives Merkel room, and a chance, to make her own foreign policy, a European foreign policy… she resisted American calls for arming the Ukrainian army… It was also a Merkel who did exactly what Germans expect from her: Fight for peace, search for compromise with the Russians and resist the Americans. All of that conforms nicely to the present mood in Germany. Along the way, she also patched up relations with France, restoring the German-French axis by including Hollande. That is good for Europe…

“But the price of the chancellor’s realpolitik is a high one, and Ukraine is paying it. Merkel already told the Ukrainian president weeks ago that the West wasn’t prepared to go to war for the country. Now, though, it has become clear that the West is willing to accept Ukraine’s partition. Ukraine hasn’t just lost the Crimean Peninsula, it has now also lost territories in the east.

“Officially, Merkel has continued repeating two mantras: The first is that there is no military solution. The second is that Ukraine’s territorial integrity will not be sacrificed. They are both lovely sentences, but they are unfortunately not reconcilable. If the West doesn’t intend to protect Ukraine’s territorial integrity with military means, then that integrity exists only on paper… The West will accept that Moscow will define at least part of Ukraine as being within its sphere of influence.

“It is always good when the weapons go quiet, but Merkel has achieved little beyond that. Separatist leaders along with a determined Putin, who knows that the West is not prepared to spill the blood of its soldiers to defend Ukraine’s integrity, have shown her the limits of her influence…”

Angela Merkel Meets Pope Francis

Zenit reported on February 13:

“Steffen Seibert, the Berlin government spokesman, announced that German Chancellor Angela Merkel would be meeting Pope Francis on February 21^st… [The Pope] and Chancellor Merkel are expected to discuss several issues including interreligious dialogue, globalization, international crisis and the role of Europe in the world. Chancellor Merkel last visited Pope Francis in May 2013, two months after [his] election to the papacy.

“Chancellor Merkel  is scheduled to meet with French President Francois Hollande prior to her meeting with the [Pope] to discuss her country’s presidency of the G7 as well as developments in Ukraine.”

Fighting Ongoing in Ukraine

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 14:

“Pro-Russian rebels are pushing on with an offensive in eastern Ukraine despite an imminent planned ceasefire, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday. It reported 120 separate attacks by the rebels in the past 24 hours, and said fierce fighting was continuing around the strategic railway hub of Debaltseve, which has formed a focus of the separatists’ offensive in recent weeks.

“Separately, officials in the port city of Mariupol said a number of artillery attacks hit areas nearby in the morning. Ukrainian authorities fear that separatists may want to capture the city in a bid to establish a corridor between mainland Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed 11 months ago.

“The violence comes as a truce is due to come into effect at midnight on Sunday… Fears are growing that the truce will have no chance to take hold as separatists try to gain as much territory as possible before it goes into effect. A previous ceasefire called in September failed to bring any significant let-up in violence. Reports… of heavy weaponry entering eastern Ukraine from Russia over the past few days have also fueled doubts as to whether the creation of a heavy weapons-free zone as envisaged by the latest agreement will go ahead.”

Deutsche Welle added on February 16:

“Fighting continues to rage around the eastern Ukrainian town of Debaltseve – in spite of a European-brokered peace deal. Western leaders have appealed for both sides to respect the ceasefire… Both pro-Russia separatists and the Ukrainian government continue to insist that they are committed to the truce negotiated last week. Chancellor Merkel, the driving force behind the deal reached early Thursday after all-night negotiations in the Belarusian capital Minsk, described the situation on Monday as ‘fragile.’ She appealed for the ceasefire to be respected.”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 18:

“Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine attacked the city of Debaltseve forcing Ukrainian troops to pull out of the city. The move has led some to call the ceasefire in Ukraine into question… US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Secretary of State John Kerry had urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a phone call earlier on Wednesday to stop Russian and separatist attacks on Ukrainian forces in Debaltseve…

“‘We want to shape this European peace order together with Russia, not against Russia,’ German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her first comments since pro-Russian separatists captured the railway hub of Debaltseve… Merkel added, however, that she couldn’t ignore Moscow’s violations of international law. ‘We cannot wave our principles – and the annexation of Crimea for example is a violation of international law,’ the chancellor said…

“Ukraine’s general armed forces has reported at least 22 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and more than 150 wounded in fighting with pro-Russian separatists in Debaltseve over the past three days… ‘The ceasefire has not been respected,’ said [NATO Secretary General Jens] Stoltenberg, who added that the refusal of the separatists to respect the ceasefire is a threat to the Minsk agreement.”

When they will say, Peace, peace!, then there will be no peace!

US Senators Accuse Germany of Weakness

The Local wrote on February 18:

“The German government said on Wednesday that pro-Russian rebels’ advance into the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve was a serious breach of ceasefire terms agreed last week in Minsk…

“The news came as American senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham accused Chancellor Angela Merkel of giving in to Russian President Vladimir Putin too easily. They said that it was ‘inexcusable to stick to a failed ceasefire agreement’ that Russia and its ‘proxies’ continued to ignore. ‘In the absence of greater Western support for Ukrainian forces, a Russian-imposed military solution is exactly what will continue to unfold,’ the senators said.

“There had been continued fighting between pro-government troops and surrounding rebel forces over the vital railway junction in recent days, despite the ceasefire having officially come into effect at midnight on Sunday… In a phone call with US Vice-President Joe Biden, Poroshenko also renewed his appeal for American weapons to arm his men for the fight against the rebels.”

Putin’s Victory in Ukraine Against a Weak West

The Editorial Board of the Washington Post wrote the following on February 18:

“VLADIMIR PUTIN’S latest victory in Ukraine is turning into a rout. Having already induced Western leaders to endorse a peace plan that virtually guarantees continued Russian control over parts of two provinces, the Russian ruler ordered a large Ukrainian force holding Debaltseve, a key crossroads in the region, to surrender. His forces, including regular Russian army troops, then assaulted the city in brazen violation of a cease-fire. On Wednesday morning, Ukrainian forces withdrew from Debaltseve under fire, suffering a devastating defeat that will further destabilize the shaky Kiev government of Petro Poroshenko.

“Mr. Putin was so pleased that he indulged in some taunting of the Ukrainians. ‘Of course, it’s always bad to lose,’ he said at a news conference Tuesday. ‘It’s always a hardship when you lose to yesterday’s miners or yesterday’s tractor drivers.’ That was another lie, of course — the forces who seized Debaltseve were not former Ukrainian workers but Russian regulars; one Western reporter encountered soldiers who had been dispatched from Siberia.

“What about Western leaders, who just last week solemnly declared they would hold Russia accountable if the new deal were violated? All agreed there had been, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman put it, ‘a massive violation’ of the cease-fire agreement. But there was little visible movement toward imposing meaningful consequences. Instead, officials in Brussels echoed a White House statement that said ‘the costs to Russia will rise’ if it ‘continues to violate’ the agreement. That suggested only that additional aggression by Mr. Putin would get a response, maybe.

“Given the West’s weakness, more aggression seems likely… The takeover of Debaltseve will go a long way to consolidate the breakaway puppet state he is building in eastern Ukraine…

“Meanwhile, Mr. Poroshenko will be rocked politically by the latest costly blow to a Ukrainian army that lacks the weapons to stop Russian tanks. He will find it even harder to explain to Ukrainians why they must accept the harsh economic austerity measures his government recently agreed to in exchange for desperately needed international financing. Yet he still has scant hope of obtaining significant new aid or arms supplies from the United States; the White House seized on the supposed peace accord as one more reason to postpone meaningful action.

“Mr. Obama has frequently boasted of leading a collective U.S.-European response. But he stood back last week as Ms. Merkel and French President François Hollande negotiated the giveaway of eastern Ukraine to Mr. Putin. When the European Union announced a small round of new sanctions against Russian officials Monday, before Debaltseve fell, the Obama administration did not join in. Rather than lead, the president appears to have ceded the Ukraine crisis to Germany, with predictably poor results.

“European leaders will not stop Russian aggression without a determined U.S. president. Ukrainians must be wondering how much more of their country must fall to Russian troops for Mr. Obama to set aside his ‘strategic patience.’”

Ukraine will fall into Russian hands, and neither America nor Europe will prevent it…nor do they seem to even have the will power trying to do so.

US-Iran Deal in the Making?

Reuters reported on February 14:

“Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has responded to overtures from U.S. President Barack Obama amid nuclear talks by sending him a secret letter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday… Obama’s letter suggested the possibility of U.S.-Iranian cooperation in fighting Islamic State if a nuclear deal was secured, the paper said, quoting the diplomat… Khamenei said this week he could accept a compromise in the nuclear talks and gave his strongest defense yet of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s decision to negotiate with the West, a policy opposed by powerful hardliners at home…

“The nuclear talks with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are aimed at clinching an accord that would ease Western concerns that Tehran could pursue a covert nuclear weapons program, in return for the lifting of sanctions that have ravaged the Iranian economy. Negotiators have set a June 30 final deadline for an accord, and Western officials have said they aim to agree on the substance of such a deal by March.

“Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to address the U.S. Congress on Iran on March 3 – to the annoyance of the Obama administration – has vowed ‘to foil this bad and dangerous agreement.’”

“European Jews – Move to Israel!”

JTA wrote on February 15:

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Jews in Europe to move to Israel in the wake of an attack on a synagogue in Copenhagen. ‘Extremist Islamic terrorism has struck Europe again, this time in Denmark. We send our condolences to the Danish people and to the Jewish community in Denmark,’ Netanyahu said Sunday at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.

“‘Jews have been murdered again on European soil only because they were Jews and this wave of terrorist attacks – including murderous anti-Semitic attacks – is expected to continue. Of course, Jews deserve protection in every country but we say to Jews, to our brothers and sisters: Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe. I would like to tell all European Jews and all Jews wherever they are: Israel is the home of every Jew.’

“Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Liberman, in a statement released Sunday said that the terror attacks in Copenhagen ‘demonstrate what we have said for years: Israel and the Jewish people have been victims of this terror primarily because they are at the forefront of the terror war being waged against the west and the entire free world.’…

“The suspected gunman was killed Sunday in a shootout with police…”

AFP added on February 15:

“[Netanyahu] had made a similar call after three days of bloodshed in Paris that started with the January 7 attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo where 12 people were gunned down, followed the next day by the shooting death of a policewoman just outside the city. On January 9, the gunman who killed the policewoman took hostages at a kosher supermarket in Paris and four Jews were killed during a police commando raid.”

European Leaders Upset, but Are They in Denial?

Daily Mail wrote on February 16:

“Zvika Klein, a reporter for Jewish news outlet NRG, silently walked in the city [of Paris] for ten hours wearing a kippah – also known as a yarmulke – on his head and a tzitzit (ritual tassels) and filmed the public’s reaction using a hidden camera. The shocking clip shows antisemitism is rife in the French capital as he is seen being harassed and intimidated.

“As he wanders around neighbourhoods wearing the garments associated with the Jewish faith, he is spat at, threatened and even called a ‘dog’. It comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the mass emigration of Jews from Europe to escape the rising tide of antisemitic terror attacks.

“His comments sparked fury from Jewish groups and were promptly refuted by the leaders of France, Germany and Denmark. But Mr Klein’s video shows, in Paris, Jews ‘are barred from entering certain areas’. ‘Jews prefer to stay inside in the evening,’ he says. ‘It is safer at home.’”

USA Defends Greece; Warns Europe and Germany; Bailout Talks Collapse

The Telegraph wrote on February 14:

“The Obama administration has leapt to the defence of Greece, warning Germany and Europe’s creditor powers that they must meet Athens half-way to avert a potentially dangerous rupture and a euro break-up… each [side] is in a different cognitive universe on the core dispute over austerity and debt relief…

“The chief critique by US officials and the International Monetary Fund is that Germany is pursuing a balanced budget at a time when the eurozone is still struggling to recover from a six-year slump that is proving more intractable than the equivalent years in the Great Depression… the White House’s confidence in the macro-economic judgement of the [European] policy elites is near exhaustion.”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 16:

“Talks aimed at extending Greece’s bailout package – and preventing a Greek exit from the eurozone – came to a halt less than four hours after negotiations got underway on Monday in Brussels. ‘Everyone’s disappointed,’ a dispirited Austrian Finance Minister Hans Jörg Schelling said after the inconclusive Eurogroup meeting…

“A new opinion poll showed that nearly 70 percent of Greeks want a ‘fair’ compromise with international lenders, while 30 percent said that Athens should stand tough even if it means reverting to the drachma currency. The poll, however, also found that 81 percent want to stay in the eurozone. This comes as investment bank JP Morgan reported that deposit outflows in Greece have picked up, with some 2 billion euros fleeing Greek banks every week.”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 18:

“Athens is to submit a formal request for a loan extension on Thursday, according to Greek officials. The application is also expected to ask for tough austerity conditions to be removed. Greece’s current 240-billion-euro ($273-billion) bailout program will expire on February 28. The country says an extension is the only way to avoid a possible default, and eurozone exit… The nation has received two major bailouts since 2010…

“Germany, who has been a vocal critic of increasing aid to Greece, said it was not open to making changes. ‘Simply saying, “we need more money again and we’re not going to do anything anymore,” and then insulting people, that absolutely won’t work,’ Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on German television on Tuesday…

“Any changes to the current bailout program would have to first be approved by various European parliaments, including Germany…

“Without an extension Greece’s cash reserves are expected to begin running dry on February 24. At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, EU finance ministers set conditions for its continued financial support of Athens, including Greece leaving reforms in place. Greece has signaled its desire to overturn many of these measures, including raising the minimum wage.

“But Germany’s Schäuble said doing this would ruin any chance of Greece getting its requested delay granted. ‘It can’t and won’t be the case that you go for an extension without the agreed reforms,’ he said on Tuesday.”

ISIS at Doorsteps of Europe

The Independent reported on February 16:

“The beheading of 21 Coptic Christians on a beach in Libya has brought Isis to the doorstep of Europe. The mass murder… realised long-held fears of militants reaching the Mediterranean coast. Isis started in Iraq and now controls swathes of adjoining Syria, including along the Turkish border, as part of its so-called Islamic State. Its ideology has spread much further, with pledges of allegiance from terrorist groups in Egypt, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen and now Libya.

“Days before Isis released its gory video depicting the Egyptians’ beheadings, Libya’s former Prime Minister warned that the group would soon reach the Mediterranean and even Europe if order was not restored in the country. Ali Zeidan said Libya’s fractured government and easy access to weapons seized during the fall of Colonel Gaddafi made it more susceptible to the activities of jihadists… ‘(Isis) are growing. They are everywhere,’ he added… ‘It will be a big war in the country [of Libya] and it will be here in Europe as well.’”

According to Breitbart, dated February 16, a masked ISIS leader said the following on a video before his demonically-possessed fanatical Islamist fellow terrorists brutally murdered the Egyptian captives:

“Oh people, recently you have seen us on the hills of Al-Sham and Dabiq’s plain, chopping off the heads that have been carrying the cross for a long time, and today, we are on the south of Rome, on the land of Islam, Libya, sending another message…  The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood… And we will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission, the promise of our Prophet…”

These brain-washed Isalmist terrorists—followers of radical Islam–are clearly under the total control of Satan the devil.

Egypt Responds

The Associated Press reported on February 16:

“Egypt bombed Islamic State militants in neighboring Libya on Monday and called on the United States and Europe to join an international military intervention in the chaotic North African state after extremists beheaded a group of Egyptian Christians. The airstrikes bring Egypt overtly into Libya’s turmoil, a reflection of Cairo’s increasing alarm. Egypt now faces threats on two fronts — a growing stronghold of radicals on its western border and a militant insurgency of Islamic State allies on its eastern flank in the Sinai Peninsula — as well as its own internal challenges.

“Islamic State group weapons caches and training camps were targeted ‘to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers,’ a military statement said. ‘Let those far and near know that Egyptians have a shield to protect and safeguard the security of the country and a sword that cuts off terrorism.’ The announcement on state radio represents Egypt’s first public acknowledgement of military action in post-Moammar Gadhafi Libya, where there has been almost no government control.

“Libya is where the Islamic State group has built up its strongest presence outside Syria and Iraq…”

As Jordan did before when a Jordanian hostage was brutally burned alive by cowardly masked Isalmist terrorists, so Egypt took up the fight as well—while America and Europe watch from the outset and participate, if at all, with providing dangerous Kurdish rebels with weapons (while refusing to provide the Ukrainian army with weapons), and conducting unsuccessful air strikes which are extremely expensive and accomplish next to nothing.

Further Horrendous Atrocities by Murderous ISIS

Newsmax reported on February 17:

“Reports Tuesday that the Islamic State burned to death 45 people in Iraq just days after posting a video showing the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians proves that ‘we’re witnessing atrocities that were reserved for the Dark Ages,’ Los Angeles author Johnnie Moore told Newsmax. ‘Just as soon as you think it can’t get worse, it gets worse,’ said Moore…  ‘My concern is that it’s going to get worse and worse and worse,’ he said.

“Pete Hoekstra, the former Michigan congressman who once chaired the House Intelligence Committee, said the deaths clearly reflect an emboldened Islamic State. ‘What the radical jihadists are learning is that for much of the West, the response is temporary, and it is restrained,’ he told Newsmax. ‘It’s one thing to go after these folks with limited airstrikes — but if you really want to stop these folks, everyone agrees that you’ve got to get boots on the ground, you’ve got to find these folks, and you’ve got to either capture them or kill them. It’s not a complex formula, but that doesn’t happen,’ Hoekstra said.”

On the other hand, note this article by Newsmax, dated February 17:

“Iraq, Syria and Yemen could become part of a ‘new Iranian empire’ if the U.S.-led coalition is successful in defeating the Islamic State (ISIS), former New York City Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani [said]…  ‘If you allow Iran to help you defeat ISIS, which we seem to be doing … one [enemy] gone, and (allow) a new Iranian empire, which is what the Iranians are trying to do and have been trying to do from the beginning — nobody’s looking at that, and they should,’ Giuliani said Tuesday.”

Mega-Droughts for the USA?

The Independent wrote on February 13:

“Since the turn of this century, the US south-west has spent more than a decade in drought. Last year was the warmest on record in California, which is in the middle of its driest spell for more than 400 years. But according to a new scientific study, that’s nothing compared to what comes next.

“In the paper, published by the journal Science Advances, researchers from Nasa and Columbia and Cornell universities warn that a vast swathe of the US, including the south-west states and the central plains, should prepare for ‘unprecedented drought conditions’ unlike anything in the past 1,000 years… The long-term dry conditions could devastate the region’s agricultural capability, decimating both crops and cattle herds, and sending some food prices sky-rocketing. It would directly affect more than 60 million people from San Diego to San Antonio and from Oakland to Omaha, who depend on increasingly scant water resources and on infrastructure designed during an abnormally moist 20th century…

“The scientists said the effects of a mega-drought, which would be especially pronounced in desert cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix, should be considered a slow-motion natural disaster, of a piece with earthquakes or hurricanes. Data discovered in tree rings shows that between the ninth and the 14th centuries, the region also endured lengthy periods of intense drought…

“A mega-drought would lead to major water shortages, which would cause vegetation to dry up, bringing about regular, massive wildfires in Arizona and California. But while the drought in California and its neighbouring states has grabbed recent headlines, the study suggests a far larger area would be hit, encompassing all, or parts, of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana…

“According to the study, there is a greater than 80 per cent chance of a mega-drought of 35 years or longer occurring in the US this century, unless swift and aggressive action is taken to alleviate the speed and impact of climate change, which would lower the risk. The authors said their research differed from other recent reports in its level of certainty about future droughts because they had taken into account the rise in carbon emissions.”

One has to be careful with the conclusions of this study, as they rely heavily on the assumption that “made-made” global warming or climate change will continue to raise the temperatures. Nevertheless, the Bible predicts that within a few years, vast areas in the USA will be plagued by unparalleled hunger and famine, due to droughts.

Congressional Chaos Over Obama’s War Authorization

Bloomberg wrote on February 12:

“Congress is flummoxed about how to deal with President Barack Obama’s proposed authorization for war against the Islamic State… All week, Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate have been meeting behind closed doors to strategize on the White House’s proposal, which places vague limits on the use of ground troops, allows the president to expand the war to any country, and sunsets in three years. Many Republicans want to give Obama (and his successor) more flexibility; many Democrats want to tighten restrictions.

“Both parties acknowledge the need for some bipartisan support for their ideas. But neither leadership has figured out how to craft a coalition that can muster 60 votes in the Senate and 218 in the House…

“For months, the Obama administration and Congress have had an unspoken agreement; both sides publicly called for a new war authorization while neither side actually pushed the issue out of a mutual comfort with the status quo. Now that the White House has made its move, Congress is forced to respond, but infighting among lawmakers could result in a failure to exert the oversight power they claim to wield.

“For the White House, it’s actually a win-win. If Congress manages to pass something, it will be seen as a bipartisan endorsement of the president’s war, despite widespread discontent with how he is actually prosecuting it. If Congress balks, the president retains even more flexibility to fight the war than he is asking for, and Congress will have ensured its own irrelevance in the debate.”

Hypocrisy in the Medical Field over Measles Vaccinations

Medical Kidnap wrote on February 16:

“The New York Times has published an opinion piece from a pro-vaccine doctor who earns millions of dollars in royalties from the sale of childhood vaccines. The title of the article is: ‘What Would Jesus Do About Measles?’ According to this medical doctor [Dr. Paul Offit who is practicing in Philadelphia], Jesus would force everyone to vaccinate their children for the sake of the ‘greater good.’ This pharmaceutical industry insider is calling on all states in the U.S. to remove the religious exemptions for vaccines that currently exist in 48 states.

“Could the day come in the United States of America where parents who refuse to vaccinate their children will have their children removed from their home by force and injected with vaccines they do not approve of against their desire? Yes. Not only could it happen, it already has happened.

“In 1991, Philadelphia had a measles outbreak that reportedly infected 1400 people. Nine children reportedly died during this time, and seven of them reportedly were from two ‘fundamentalist Christian churches’ where most members did not vaccinate their children. So during the media frenzy surrounding the measles and the MMR combo vaccine that includes measles, much like we are seeing today over the Disney outbreak in California, public health officials stepped in and convinced a court to allow them to take the children from their parents and force them to be vaccinated… [even though] a religious exemption to vaccination had been on the books in Pennsylvania for about a decade…

“As is the case today, not everyone who came down with the measles in 1991 was unvaccinated. Some of the cases occurred among those fully vaccinated as well. The vaccine is not a 100% guarantee that it will prevent the measles, and there are documented cases showing that the measles vaccine itself can ‘shed’ and cause measles among those fully vaccinated…

“This is not the first time Dr. Offit has used a highly publicized health outbreak to try to further his agenda of removing all vaccine exemptions. Dr. Paul Offit holds a patent on a vaccine he developed with Merck [the company under attack for allegedly falsifying test results and purportedly committing other illegal acts, as we reported in Update #674], and has earned millions of dollars in royalties. When Sharyl Attkisson still worked for CBS, she ran a story with then anchor Katie Couric about his massive conflict of interest: Dr. Offit has gone on record stating that he believes a baby can handle as many as 10,000 vaccines during infancy.

“In addition to his repeated calls to end all vaccine exemptions, he has gone on record to state that all information on the risks and dangers of vaccines should be censored from the media, and that journalists who question vaccines should go to ‘journalism jail.’ Is this man really qualified to answer the question ‘What would Jesus do about measles?’”

If all of this is correct, then Dr. Offit would be a disgrace for the medical profession—and so would be that infamous judge for the legal profession who issued a totally unconstitutional order in 1991 in Philadelphia. For a thorough look on this misunderstood topic, please view our recent StandingWatch program, “‘Measles Outbreak’—Blaming the Unvaccinated.” 

This video program is also available in German, as an AufPostenStehen broadcast, titled, “Sind Impfgegner Schuld am Masernausbruch?” 

Another Outrageous Decision by a “Family” Judge

ABC Eyewitness News reported on February 17:

“A woman who was brutally beaten by her ex-fiance has been ordered to write letters to the man. Natalie Allman, 29, was left with her throat slashed and bruises on her face. But in her town in England, a judge ruled that she must stay in contact with her ex and send him letters and pictures of their children. If she doesn’t, she could go to jail for contempt of court.

“Allman was ordered to send her ex three letters a year, updating him on their twin sons, even though the brutal attack happened in front of the children. She’s also been ordered to save the letters he’s writing to the boys.”

First Openly Bisexual Governor in American History

The Washington Post wrote on February 13:

“Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown (D) will become the first openly bisexual governor in U.S. history when Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) resigns Wednesday. An open LGBT governor has never been elected, although New Jersey did have an openly gay governor briefly in 2004, after Gov. Jim McGreevey (D) came out as gay and admitted an affair with a man he had appointed to a key job. He resigned three months later.

“Brown is married to husband Dan Little; she has publicly discussed her bisexuality in past campaigns. She is already arguably the highest-ranking bisexual elected official in America; Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) became the first bisexual member of Congress in 2013. There are about 525 openly LGBT public officials in office at all levels of government, according to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. Most of them are Democrats… and only about 20 are Republicans.

“This will also be the second time in Brown’s career she has taken office because of a resignation. Her start in politics came in 1991 when she was appointed to the state House following the resignation of Rep. Judy Bauman (D), who left office because she was appointed to an executive position. Brown served in the House until 1997, when she won a seat in the Oregon state Senate. In 2008, she was the first woman to serve as Oregon Senate majority leader, and later that year she was elected secretary of state…

“But Brown isn’t without her own controversy. Even as Kitzhaber’s personal troubles were mounting late last month, she was facing questions about having written to the FCC endorsing Comcast’s merger with Time Warner Cable after having received campaign contributions from Comcast — a letter that was reportedly written in large part by a Comcast lobbyist. Comcast has given Brown $9,500 since 2009, according the National Institute of Money in State Politics.”

The Associated Press added on February 13:

“Kate Brown, who is widely considered to be to the left of the departing Democratic governor… will not assume office until Wednesday, when Kitzhaber’s resignation takes effect. He is stepping down amid suspicions that his fiancée used their relationship to land contracts for her green-energy consulting business.”

It seems, there is a lot of corruption going on in the state of Oregon.

Reincarnation and Its Appalling Teachings

Breitbart wrote on February 13:

“Veteran actress Shirley MacLaine drew the ire of Jewish groups Thursday after passages from her recently published book suggest that the six million Jews and others who died in the Holocaust were ‘balancing their karma’ by paying for sins in a previous life. MacLaine, 80, also compared Stephen Hawking to Jesus, writing that just as Jesus chose martyrdom, Hawking ‘chose to live’ with a debilitating disease…

“Of Holocaust victims, MacLaine writes: ‘What if most Holocaust victims were balancing their karma from ages before, when they were Roman soldiers putting Christians to death, the Crusaders who murdered millions in the name of Christianity, soldiers with Hannibal, or those who stormed across the Near East with Alexander? The energy of killing is endless and will be experienced by the killer and the killee.’

“Later, MacLaine claims that her ‘friend’ Stephen Hawking [an atheist who teaches that the universe created itself] chose to give himself amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) so that he could devote all of his energy to scientific pursuit.

“Jewish groups and disability charities were quick to condemn the comments made by MacLaine [who] is notorious for her opinions on reincarnation; according to the Telegraph, MacLaine has claimed to be a Japanese geisha in a previous life, and that she seduced Charlemagne in yet another. She also reportedly believes her dog Terry is a reincarnation of Anubis, the Egyptian god of the afterlife.”

One may shake his head over such nonsense, but what kind of “religion” is such an unbiblical belief in reincarnation, which allows for these kinds of horrific and appalling conclusions?

A World at War

The Huffington Post wrote on February 9:

“The true State of the Union, and the state of the world, in 2015 can be described in one word: precarious. Despite our wealth, our technological knowhow, our global social media, we are a world at war…

“The real world is different from the imagined one of the mass media, and the happy talk of too many politicians… Though we are just 5 percent of the world’s population, we are directly involved in most of its wars… It is because the US can’t stop itself from sticking its nose into other people’s business.

“How in the world did the US get engaged in a non-stop thirty-year war in Afghanistan? How in the world did the US end up funding Muslim fundamentalists in that country and end up creating Al-Qaeda? How did the US get caught in a 25-year non-stop war with Iraq, leading to the deaths of half a million Iraqi Civilians? What in the world is the US doing trying to topple the Syrian Government through covert CIA operations, thereby stoking a civil war that has destroyed Syria’s irreplaceable antiquities of the world’s earliest civilizations, taken the lives of more than 200,000 Syrians, and opened the path to ISIS?…

“War is spreading, and the US is the key country that is spreading it…”

Putin a 20^th Century Tyrant?

The Independent wrote on February 8:

“The West must stand up to Russia over Ukraine or Europe could descend into a major war for the first time since 1945, diplomats warned today… [John Herbst,] former US ambassador to Ukraine predicted that Estonia and the other Baltic states – all members of Nato – could be Vladimir Putin’s next targets if he is allowed to hold on to territory won by force…

“The Estonian President, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, compared Western inaction against Russia with the appeasement of Adolf Hitler in 1938, when Nazi Germany was allowed to seize parts of the former Czechoslovakia… ‘We know from history that appeasement will never satisfy those that are being appeased,’ he said. ‘Munich ’38 I think should be a lesson to all of us even today.’

“British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond accused Mr Putin of ‘acting like some mid-20th century tyrant’…

“US Senator John McCain said ‘defensive arms’ should be sent to the Kiev government as a matter of urgency. ‘The Ukrainians are being slaughtered and we’re sending them blankets and meals. Blankets don’t do well against Russian tanks,’ he said.

“Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported today that German intelligence estimated up to 50,000 soldiers and civilians had been killed during the conflict, nearly 10 times higher than Kiev’s estimate…”

Heated Exchange between Germany and USA –Fragile Transatlantic “Consensus”

Reuters reported on February 7:

“Germany’s Angela Merkel warned on Saturday that sending arms to help Ukraine fight pro-Russian separatists would not solve the crisis there, drawing a sharp rebuke from a leading U.S. senator who accused Berlin of turning its back on an ally in distress. The heated exchange at a security conference in Munich pointed to the fragility of the transatlantic consensus on how to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over a deepening conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 5,000…

“The German leader… flatly rejected the idea that sending weapons to Kiev… would help resolve the conflict. Speaking after Merkel, U.S. Senator Lyndsey Graham, a Republican hawk… said it was time for [Merkel] to wake up to the reality of what he called Moscow’s aggressions. ‘At the end of the day, to our European friends, this is not working. You can go to Moscow until you turn blue in the face. Stand up to what is clearly a lie and a danger,’ Graham said. He accused Merkel of turning her back on a struggling democracy by rejecting down Kiev’s request for arms…”

Bild Online reported on February 7 that US Senator John McCain said on German TV and in German newspapers that Merkel should apologize to the Ukrainian families of 5,000 dead soldiers for not helping them and for being responsible for Russian murders and atrocities by refusing to send defensive weapons to Ukraine. He also said that “one could get the impression that Merkel is without a clue or that it does not matter to her that people are being slaughtered in Ukraine.”

According to the paper, “his final attack culminated in the allegation of Merkel’s appeasement policy. The senator compared Merkel’s refusal to send weapons to Ukrainians with the fatal international behavior towards Hitler’s Germany in the thirties before the Second World War. Historians believe that strong reactions in due time would have stopped Hitler’s morbid ambitions.”

Die Welt Online wrote on February 7 about the “German-American Dissension on Open Stage,” continuing: “The Americans do not understand why Germany refuses to give weapons to a people that are defending their freedom against aggressors (but) Merkel remains firm.”

US Weapons for Ukraine?

The New York Times wrote on February 9:

“President Obama said he was weighing providing lethal weapons to Ukraine to help Kiev defend against Russia’s aggression if diplomatic efforts fail to defuse the tensions there… ‘The prospect for a military solution to this problem has always been low,’ Mr. Obama said, given the extraordinarily powerful military that is at the disposal of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, and the length of Russia’s border with Ukraine.

“Nevertheless, at a joint news conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the White House Monday, the president said it was clear a set of steep sanctions against Russia ‘has not yet dissuaded Mr. Putin from following the course that he is on.’ He said that had prompted him to ask his team to ‘look at all options,’ including providing an array of defensive weapons to bolster Ukraine’s forces. ‘I have not made a decision about that yet,’ Mr. Obama said.

“Most European countries, including Germany and France, oppose sending arms, arguing that doing so would only make the conflict worse… The issue has threatened to cleave what has until now been a united front among the United States and its European allies over how to respond to the Ukrainian conflict, which has been stoked by a steady supply of weapons and soldiers from Russia…”

In spite of the typical political façade allegedly portraying unity between the USA and Germany, the reality is quite different, as the previous articles have shown. Also note the next article.

The New Minsk “Agreement” – Not Worth the Paper It Is Written On?

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 12:

“Leaders from France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine agreed on a ceasefire deal to end 10 months of fighting in eastern Ukraine. The deal is set to go into effect on Sunday. There were, however, concerns after Kyiv’s army reported seeing [50] tanks and [40]  missile launching systems crossing into its territory from Russia even while the peace talks were taking place…”

The Washington Post wrote on February 12:

“[Ukraine’s] Poroshenko is likely to face opposition to offer pardons for those involved in the fighting since many government supporters see the rebels as responsible for sparking the violence. Pushing through a new constitution — including offering greater self-rule to rebel regions — also will require broad support from lawmakers in Kiev… On the separatist side, meanwhile, a pledge to disband ‘all illegal groups’ may face stiff resistance…

“The agreement was signed by lower-level representatives from the Ukrainian and Russian governments… the national leaders themselves did not sign any such deal, and instead supported a nonbinding statement of support for peace. That suggested they were not willing to commit fully that the deal would be successful…

“The fundamentals of the deal appeared to be largely the same as a tattered September cease-fire agreement that was never fully observed and has fallen apart completely. Since then, thousands more people have died, and rebels have captured hundreds of square miles of additional territory.”

The Telegraph wrote on February 12:

“The new agreement in Minsk fails to resolve one of the central issues at stake, namely the presence of thousands of Russian troops on Ukrainian territory… the new agreement merely states that ‘foreign armed formations’ and ‘military equipment’ will leave the ‘territory of Ukraine’. No timetable is given and no deadline is set… the latest Minsk agreement requires no real concessions from Vladimir Putin. Instead, the proposals for a ceasefire and a withdrawal of heavy artillery impose disproportionate obligations on Ukraine.”

Bild Online wrote on February 12:

“Not even the greatest optimist believes that the new agreement will lead to a durable peace in Ukraine… ‘I have no illusions. We have no illusions,’ the Chancellor [Merkel] said… Foreign Minister Steinmeier refused to speak of a ‘breakthrough.’ He said he had hoped for more…

“Experience speaks against the idea that the cease-fire will hold… There is no indication that Merkel, Hollande and Poroshenko changed the aggressive power-hungry Putin into an apostle of peace. There is therefore no indication that Putin will change his politics. But there is every indication that Putin can be much more happy with the results than the other three participants… Putin has won time and can determine now when he will start further escalations…”

Die Zeit Online added: “Putin collects his winnings… He is not interested in the end of the war. He wants the conflict to continue…”

Die Welt Online agreed: “There is only one winner—Putin.”

“Obama and Merkel Should Not Try to Fool Anyone”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 10:

“Merkel, the politician, probably has no other choice than to present a united front, in case Obama decides in the end to deliver desperately needed weapons to the struggling Ukrainian army. Obama and Merkel, however, shouldn’t be trying to fool anybody. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long ago noticed the small crack in the Western alliance, and he knows how to use it to his advantage. Putin will try to push the US and Europe further and further apart, bit by bit.

“An agreement between the US and Europe is now more important than ever. Not only in the conflict with Russia, but also in the fight against the so-called ‘Islamic State,’ in nuclear talks with Iran, the Middle East conflict and in Afghanistan. Since World War II, the world has rarely seen so many highly volatile conflicts. And everywhere, Americans and Europeans are depending on each other. Consensus and functional crisis management is almost essential for survival…

“In the US, Merkel is seen as the one person that held Europe together in the conflict with Russia. She has led Germany back to the political world stage. It’s up to her. The American president finally has that long-awaited phone number – already sought after by Henry Kissinger – which he can call if he wants to talk to Europe’s key decision maker: the German chancellor…

“Angela Merkel, who understands Russia well, has recently admitted that she has no answer here. And so the question whether or not to deliver arms to Ukraine does no more than highlight complete helplessness…”

“Brave Decisions Are Needed!”

The EUObserver wrote on February 10:

“Once again in history, Ukraine has become the bloodiest place on the continent. Russian military aggression has already claimed 5,358 lives, according to the most recent UN report, and made around a million Ukrainians homeless. Despite all the diplomatic efforts and concessions meant to appease Russia, there is no end to the bloodshed on the horizon. The Minsk protocol – last year’s ceasefire accord – is dead.

“The cause of death is clear: Russian aggression against Ukraine has bigger goals than the current territorial gains in Crimea and in the Donbas region in east Ukraine. The failure of peace efforts does not come as a surprise. Since September, Russia has been pouring heavy modern weaponry into Donbas on a scale unprecedented in modern day military conflicts. It was clear that such a military buildup was not intended to respect the ceasefire. For many long months, world leaders pretended to see no hard evidence of direct Russian aggression…

“The recent, massive offensive by Russia-controlled militants and regular Russian troops against the Ukrainian army marks the end of illusions about a ‘diplomatic solution’ in many capitals… Instead of hastily ruling out a military response to the conflict back in March 2014, the US president should have found courage to declare that his country will honour its obligations under the Budapest security memorandum – a 1994 treaty on protecting Ukrainian territorial integrity in return for its renunciation of its nuclear arsenal, which was co-signed by the US, France, the UK, and Russia… Instead, the Budapest memorandum has become a symbol of the failure of non-proliferation initiatives and of international law. Russia broke its obligations under the memorandum, and Western governments didn’t respect theirs.

“Crimea was de facto sacrificed. But this kind of ‘diplomacy’ only further encouraged Kremlin aggression… Meanwhile, in Ukraine, which suffered from Russian colonialism for centuries, even the most pro-Western politicians can hardly hide their disappointment with the West’s leniency towards Russia.

“Last March, it would have been hard to imagine that it would take almost a year for a country under attack to establish in world public opinion that it is being invaded, not by some unknown masked men but by irregular and regular armed Russian forces. But even today Putin ‘understanders’ in the West find a way to deny proven facts, manipulate public opinion, and mislead their nations… many do not trust the mediation by European leaders. They remember the outcome of similar mediation in Georgia’s war with Russia in 2008…

“The West’s refusal to send arms is increasingly seen as a betrayal both of Ukraine and of the principles on which Western democracies are supposed to function… Putin has shifted the world into a brutal, new era. He created a new precedent of international relations with no rules or laws… Ukraine needs brave decisions from its partners.”

Europe’s Losing Battle with Russia Regarding Ukraine

The Local wrote on February 11:

“Merkel, Hollande, Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroschenko are meeting in the Belarusian capital, with the European leaders hoping they can revive a ceasefire agreement signed there just six months ago in September 2014… Merkel has become the de-facto lead negotiator for Europe… Germany stands at the centre of the fractious Western coalition supporting the pro-European government in the Ukrainian capital Kiev… Germany has its own reasons for trying to defuse the conflict as, along with France, it has significant economic ties to both Russia and Ukraine…

“There was news last night that Obama had telephoned Putin to warn the Russian leader there would be ‘costs’ if he continued supporting ‘aggressive acts’ in eastern Ukraine. He directly accused Putin of sending troops, weapons and financial support to the separatists…

“But even with western arms deliveries, the Kiev government is set to run out of money in just a few months, as a temporary agreement with Russia over gas supplies comes to an end… Putin’s best interest is to drag out the conflict for as long as possible, and he appears for now to have the will and the means to do it…”

Ultimately, Ukraine and Russia will join forces against Europe, according to biblical prophecy.

“Germany to Become Leading Power in Europe to Solve Big European Problems”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 9:

“The current endeavors by the chancellor and foreign minister, and Germany’s willingness to take over the chair of the OSCE next year, indicate that Germany is ready to take on a more important role in matters of peace and conflict.

“Germany is in a good position to be a leading power in Europe to try to solve the big European problems we have at the moment, and it’s very useful that Germany is doing this together with France.”

“Pope’s ‘Smack’ Approval Draws Ire in Germany”

The Local wrote on February 6:

“In a general audience dedicated to the role of fathers, the Pontiff said a good father is one who can forgive and disciplines with firmness while not discouraging the child. ‘One time, I heard a father in a meeting with married couples say “I sometimes have to smack my children a bit, but never in the face as to not humiliate them”’, said Pope Francis.  ‘How beautiful. He knows the sense of dignity! He has to punish them but does it justly and move on,’ he added.

“In an interview with N-24 broadcaster, head of the DKSB said that the Pope’s words were incredibly damaging. ‘He is a world leader with a global audience,’ said Paula Honkanen-Schoberth. ‘It damages children’s rights around the world.’…

“Manuela Schwesig added her own ire to the comments from the Holy See. ‘There is no “dignified” hitting of children,’ tweeted the Minister of Families, Women and Children on Friday. ‘There should be no misunderstanding: Any violence against children is unacceptable.’

“The Catholic Church, in a follow-up statement, said the Pope was not advocating for beating children, but for ‘helping someone to grow and mature.’… The German Bishops Conference simply said ‘We don’t speak for the pope.’”

This reflects a total lack of balance. The Pope’s statements were 100% correct, and left-wing liberals and voter-friendly politicians are not going to change this one iota. It is hoped that at least in this case, the Vatican is not going to back paddle even more and “explain” away what the Pope has said.

Historic Address to US. Congress by Pope Francis in September

UPI reported on February 5:

“Pope Francis will deliver an unprecedented address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Sept. 24, House Speaker John Boehner announced Thursday. The Pope will make his first visit to the United States to attend the World Meeting of Families, to be held in Philadelphia, and confirmed in January he would also visit New York, where he will address the United Nations, and Washington. Although several popes have delivered speeches to the United Nations, an address to Congress would be historic.

“Boehner, a Catholic, offered an invitation to the Pope in March, saying he ‘has inspired millions of Americans with his pastoral manner and servant leadership, challenging all people to lead lives of mercy, forgiveness, solidarity, and humble service.’”

We wonder whether the White House was “consulted” before the invitation was extended to the Pope to speak to Congress, and if not, whether President Obama, Vice President Biden [a Catholic] and other Democrats will refuse to attend, as they have threatened to do so in the case of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Terrible Crimes in the Name of Religion

The Washington Post reported on February 6:

“Remarks made by President Obama at Friday’s National Prayer Breakfast proved divisive to some… Obama pointed out how Christianity has been invoked in the past to justify hideous deeds… ‘remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,’ Obama said…

“But were Obama actually in the market for a historical parallel to describe the Islamic State, there are safer options. Indeed, Iraq’s top Christian cleric already suggested it last year when lamenting the ravages of the extremist militants, who had overwhelmed cities, desecrated holy sites and slaughtered innocents. ‘How in the 21st century could people be forced from their houses just because they are Christian, or Shi’ite or Sunni or Yazidi?’ Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako asked…  ‘This has never happened in Christian or Islamic history. Even Genghis Khan or Hulagu didn’t do this,’ he said.

“He was talking about the Mongols, who led by Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, crushed the once powerful Abbasid Caliphate and ravaged its capital in Baghdad in the mid-13th century… It was at this historic and landmark city that the Mongols arrived in 1258. Their army, estimated at over 150,000 soldiers, stood before the city that was just a shadow of the great capital of the Muslim world of the 800s. The siege began in mid-January and only lasted two weeks. On February 13th, 1258, the Mongols entered the city of the caliphs.

“A full week of pillage and destruction commenced. The Mongols showed no discretion, destroying mosques, hospitals, libraries, and palaces. The books from Baghdad’s libraries were thrown into the Tigris River in such quantities that the river ran black with the ink from the books… In 1400, another Mongol army overran the great city of Aleppo, in what’s now Syria… The victorious Mongols, according to some accounts, piled a mountain of skulls outside the city gates.

“The scale of devastation and upheaval wrought by the Mongols also carries a historical echo — the Islamic State, which has emerged amid the collapse of Middle Eastern states, is redrawing the political map of the region, not unlike the Mongol conquests seven centuries ago.”

It is true that the Mongols behaved like ravenous beasts, like the demonically-inspired murderers of the Islamic State do today, and it is also interesting that the Bible prophecies that the descendants of the ancient Mongols will play another predominant role in future wars to come (note for instance Ezekiel 38 and 39—compare our free booklet, “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Bible Prophecy,” pages 24-25). But this does not in any way excuse the violent behavior of the Roman Catholic Church, even though some would like to try.

On February 6, The Fox News channel broadcast a highly offensive edition of “The Sean Hannity Show,” during which the ridiculous proposition was propagated by two Catholic guests, including a priest (and which was supported by Hannity, a Catholic) that the crusades were justified as a defensive war against Muslims. The question is answered in the next article whether the same argument will also be made for the horrible crimes of the Inquisition perpetrated by the Catholic Church–or for the slaughter of religious minorities such as the Waldensians, because they would not subject themselves to the religious credos of the Pope.

Crusades and Inquisition Justified???

On February 6, Breitbart published the following outrageous and grossly inaccurate comments in one of their articles:

“Historically speaking, the Crusades were a response to Islamic aggression in Europe and the Middle East; the Inquisition… was designed to regularize executions rather than leaving them to the will of the masses. Christians undoubtedly pursued horrible brutalities against people, including innocent Jews. However… [quoting a writer, Goldberg, with approval] ‘Christianity, even in its most terrible days, even under the most corrupt popes, even during the most unjustifiable wars, was indisputably a force for the improvement of man…’”

These kinds of statements are appalling and 100% wrong. To state that the Inquisition was designed to regularize (!) executions is grotesque and perverse. But it reveals a deeply troubling and dangerous thought process of those who are willing to advocate persecution, injustice, torture and war for “religious reasons.” We hasten to point out that President Obama’s comments about “Christianity” were misplaced for the reason alone that the Inquisition and the Crusades were not established and carried out by true Christians. Rather, true Christians were many times the victims of such horrible crimes.

Don’t Justify the Crusades!

The Daily Beast wrote on February 10:

“[There is] a shocking belief held by many Christian conservatives: that the Crusades weren’t really so bad.

“… the Crusades were one of the worst episodes in history: marauding Christian soldiers massacring everyone in sight. Especially Jews… the Crusades were a dark chapter in Christian history, with extraordinary violence carried out in Christ’s name… between one and three million people died in the Crusades (including the Crusaders)…

“Perhaps the leading theme in [some] literature is that ‘The Crusades—despite their terrible organized cruelties—were a defensive war’…

“In fact, the Crusaders massacred, massacred, and massacred some more. They massacred Jews in the Rhineland, Albigensian heretics in Spain, Muslims in the Holy Land… whitewashing of one of the most bloody periods in world history is troubling on many levels…”

How Bad They Really Were…

The Town Talk wrote on February 7:

“The Crusades lasted almost 200 years, from 1095 to 1291. The initial spark came from Pope Urban II, who urged Christians to recapture the Holy Land (and especially the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem) from Muslim rule. Like the promise of eternal life given to Muslim martyrs, Crusaders were promised absolution from sin and eternal glory.

“… Along the way, the Crusaders massacred. To take but one example, the Rhineland Massacres of 1096 are remembered to this day as some of the most horrific examples of anti-Semitic violence prior to the Holocaust…  The Jewish communities of Cologne, Speyer, Worms, and Mainz were decimated…

“Although most of us regard the Inquisition as a particular event, it actually refers to a set of institutions within the Roman Catholic Church that operated from the mid-13th century until the 19th century. One actually still survives, now known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was directed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before his 2005 election as Pope Benedict XVI.

“These institutions were charged with prosecuting heresy — and prosecute they did, executing and torturing thousands of suspected witches, converts from Judaism (many of whom had been forced to convert), Protestants and all manner of suspected heretics, particularly in the 15th and 16th centuries.

“… the Inquisition… used torture as a method of extracting confessions. Methods included starvation, burning victims’ bodies with hot coals, forced overconsumption of water, hanging by straps, thumbscrews, metal pincers, and of course, the rack… all of this was meant to be for the victim’s own good: better to confess heresy in this life, even under duress, than to be punished for it in the next…”

The “Insane” Measles Hysteria Is Continuing and Worsening

The LA Times wrote on February 4:

“A group of state [Democratic] lawmakers [in California] announced legislation Wednesday that would abolish an exemption from the mandate that children get vaccinated before they enter school if it conflicts with their parents’ personal beliefs… Gov. Jerry Brown signaled that he was open to such a bill…

“The legislation does not address children who are completely home-schooled. It would still allow children to avoid vaccination for medical reasons including allergic responses and weak immune systems. The mandate only applies to children attending public or private schools.

“Currently, 13,592 children have personal belief affidavits on file; of those, 2,764 were identified as based on religious beliefs. Pan said if the bill passes, the religious exemption would also disappear…

“Currently, two states, Mississippi and West Virginia, do not allow exemptions except for medical reasons, and 46 states allow exemptions based on religious beliefs…

“Any proposal to eliminate the personal belief exemption is ‘absolutely insane,’ according to Alan Phillips, a North Carolina attorney who has represented clients in California and other states seeking exemptions…

“Eliminating the personal belief exemption is opposed by Matthew B. McReynolds, senior staff attorney at the conservative Pacific Justice Institute, a Sacramento-based organization that advocates for parental rights and religious freedoms. ‘It’s concerning to me that the measles outbreak seems to have prompted some hysteria and this seems like a pretty sweeping approach to what really is a very limited problem that could be addressed in other ways,’ McReynolds said… He also said parents who lose the ability to be exempted on religious grounds could have cause to challenge that change on grounds it violates their First Amendment rights.”

Attorneys Alan Phillips and Matthew B. McReynolds are absolutely correct: To enact any law eliminating religious exemptions against vaccinations is in fact “absolutely insane” and constitutes quite clearly a blatant violation of the US Constitution. To even entertain such nonsensical avenue is revealing an unbelievable disrespect for religious minorities in this country. Please view our recent StandingWatch program, presented by Attorney and Evangelist Norbert Link, titled “Measles Outbreak”– Blaming the Unvaccinated?”

Man-Made Global Warming—a Gigantic Scientific Fraud?

The Telegraph wrote on February 7:

“When future generations look back on the global-warming scare of the past 30 years, nothing will shock them more than the extent to which the official temperature records – on which the entire panic ultimately rested – were systematically ‘adjusted’ to show the Earth as having warmed much more than the actual data justified… this wholesale manipulation of the official temperature record… has become the real elephant in the room of the greatest and most costly scare the world has known. This really does begin to look like one of the greatest scientific scandals of all time.”

Climate Depot wrote on February 8:

“Meteorologist Anthony Watts on ‘adjusted’ U.S. temperature data: ‘In the business and trading world, people go to jail for such manipulations of data.’”

The Worldwide Massacre of the Monarch Butterflies

The Washington Post wrote on February 9:

“Threatened animals like elephants, porpoises and lions grab all the headlines, but what’s happening to monarch butterflies is nothing short of a massacre. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service summed it up in just one grim statistic on Monday: Since 1990, about 970 million have vanished.

“It happened as farmers and homeowners sprayed herbicides on milkweed plants, which serve as the butterflies’ nursery, food source and home… Monarch butterflies are a keystone species that once fluttered throughout the United States by the billions. They alighted from Mexico to Canada each spring on a trek that required six generations of the insect to complete. Afterward, young monarchs… fly back, resting, birthing and dining on milkweed…

“The extinction of certain butterfly species is not unheard of. The blueberry-colored Xerces blue disappeared from San Francisco years ago, and recently Fish and Wildlife announced that two subspecies — the rockland skipper and Zestos in South Florida — haven’t been seen since 2004 and are probably extinct. On top of that, pesticide use has also caused a collapse of other pollinators — wasps, beetles and especially honeybees.”

And so, rather than preserving God’s creation, man has been systematically destroying it…

Legal Confusion in Alabama Over Same-Sex Marriages

The Associated Press reported on February 10:

“The Supreme Court is inappropriately signaling it intends to clear the way for gay marriage across the nation, Justice Clarence Thomas complained Monday in a stinging dissent to the court’s refusal to block the start of same-sex marriages in Alabama. Bitterly objecting to Monday’s action, Thomas provided a rare insider’s perspective on the widely held view that the court’s embrace of gay marriage is a done deal. Thomas filed a dissenting opinion [which was joined by Justice Antonin Scalia] after his colleagues rejected Alabama’s plea to put a hold on same-sex marriages in the state until the Supreme Court resolves the issue nationwide in a few months.

“He criticized his fellow justices for looking ‘the other way as yet another federal district judge casts aside state laws,’ rather than following the customary course of leaving those laws in place until the court answers an important constitutional question… many legal commentators have predicted not only the case’s outcome this spring (in favor of same-sex marriage), but the vote (5-4) and the author of the majority opinion (Justice Anthony Kennedy). The number of states in which gay and lesbian couples can marry has nearly doubled since October, from 19 to 37, largely as a result of terse Supreme Court orders that allowed lower court rulings to become final and rejected state efforts to keep marriage bans in place pending appeals.”

The Washington Post reported on February 10:

“A federal judge on Tuesday said she will consider whether to require a local official to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, a day after dozens of counties refused to comply with a ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in Alabama.

“U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade, who last month struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban, set a hearing on the new matter for Thursday in Mobile. Lawyers for about a dozen couples have asked Granade to clarify that her previous ruling applies to the probate judge in Mobile County, where couples were turned away when they sought marriage licenses Monday.

“Gay rights advocates hope a favorable decision by Granade, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, will force other probate judges around the state to fall in line. More than 40 of these judges refused this week to give licenses to gay couples. The advocates are also looking for Granade’s ruling to serve as a repudiation of Roy Moore, the chief justice of the state supreme court who had called on local officials to ignore the federal ruling making gay marriage legal…

“The stalemate eased somewhat on Tuesday, with probate judges in about 10 counties who had refused to issue licenses changing course and opening their doors to everyone. Among those places was Elmore County, just outside the capital Montgomery. John Enslen, the probate judge there, said he decided not to issue marriage licenses on Monday after receiving a letter late Sunday from Moore, who had written to all probate judges ordering them not to issue marriage licenses to gay couples despite the federal ruling. Enslen said he changed his mind later in the day Monday after reading the U.S. Supreme Court opinion, leading him to believe that same-sex marriage will probably become legal across the nation…

“But he wasn’t happy about it. Enslen said he opposes same-sex marriage; and while he will issue licenses, he will stop performing wedding ceremonies for anyone, heterosexual or homosexual…”