Insane Tunisian Terrorist Murdering 12 People in Germany Shot Dead by Italian Police

The Sun wrote on December 23:

“Rewind five years, and just days after arriving from the Tunisian post of Sfax trouble-maker Amri was involved in burning down a migrant shelter. His four-year spell in an Italian jail saw him radicalised by extremists who admired ISIS… The extent of Amri’s radicalisation was revealed with his callous killing of 12 innocent people at the German Christmas market on Monday. In a pledge of allegiance to terror group ISIS, he said: ‘My message to crusaders bombing Muslims everyday… Their blood will not go in vain…’

“The Tunisian terrorist screamed ‘Allahu Akbar’ before being killed in a hail of bullets by a rookie cop during a dramatic Milan shoot-out. Amri was brought down by Italian police at 3am this morning after officers asked him to show his ID. He is believed to have slipped over the border from France by train…”

Italy was able to do what Germany was unable to accomplish.

Arrests in Terrorist Attack in Germany

Deutsche Welle reported on December 24:

“Three people – including a nephew of the suspect in the Berlin Christmas market attack – have been arrested in Tunisia… According to a statement, the three suspects are part of a ‘terrorist cell… connected to the terrorist Anis Amri who carried out the terrorist attack in Berlin.’ One of the Tunisian suspects is allegedly Amri’s nephew.”

Further Arrest in Germany

Deutsche Welle reported on December 28:

“Berlin police made [an] arrest early on Wednesday after searching the home and business premises of a 40-year-old Tunisian man in the southern Berlin district of Tempelhof. Investigators were reportedly led to the alleged accomplice after finding his contact details in the phone belonging to the main suspect, Anis Amri…

“According to research by German broadcaster WDR, Amri was much better connected to the western German Ruhr region than previously thought. Since the end of 2015, he regularly commuted between Berlin and the Ruhr region where he is believed to have visited a dozen mosques. The 24-year-old Tunisian is also thought to have had particularly good contacts in Dortmund and to have possessed a key to a mosque where he stayed overnight.”

Subsequently, Deutsche Welle wrote on December 29:

“German police have released a man who had been detained over alleged ties to Berlin attack suspect Anis Amri. Authorities have said they will continue the search for accomplices in the deadly attack. The 40-year-old was allowed to walk free on Thursday, after German authorities determined that he was not a ‘possible contact person for Anis Amri,’ spokesman Frauke Köhler told reporters on Thursday.”

Again, another blunder by the German authorities in this sad saga.

Mad Murderer “Fits the Profile” and “Should Not Have Been in Germany in the First Place”

Breitbart wrote on December 23:

“A member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has said illegal migrants such as Christmas market attack suspect Anis Amri play the German asylum system and should not have been in the country in the first place.  MP for Berlin and CDU member Dr. Philipp Lengsfeld told BBC Radio 4’s Today audience that men like Amri ‘fits a profile’ that sceptics of Merkel’s Willkommenskultur (‘welcome culture’) have been discussing for some time…

“He then stated that following revelations of the suspect’s background that it was right to review Germany’s asylum policies – a suggestion backed by Merkel’s coalition partner and Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Horst Seehofer… Dr. Lengsfeld is a member of the ‘Berlin Circle’ – a traditionalist group within Merkel’s CDU which wants to return the party to its conservative roots and roll back Merkel’s migrant policy.”

Angela Merkel’s migrant policy has failed miserably. It was a disaster in the making from the very outset.

Too Little and Far Too Late–Merkel Orders “Sweeping Review” of Germany’s Failed Security Apparatus

The Local wrote on December 23:

“Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday ordered a sweeping review of Germany’s security apparatus, which has drawn withering criticism after a known jihadist killed 12 people in a Berlin Christmas market. Anger has mounted since it emerged chief suspect Tunisian Anis Amri, 24 – who was shot dead Friday by police in Milan – was a known radical Islamist and criminal who had long been under counter-terrorism surveillance on suspicion he was plotting an attack. Critics have also pointed to a two-day delay before authorities issued a public wanted notice for the fugitive, as well as the fact the rejected asylum seeker should have been deported long ago. Amid the fierce criticism, Merkel pledged a ‘comprehensive’ analysis of what went wrong…

“Politicians and newspapers have deplored the fact that Amri had slipped through the net of security services, who knew he had been in contact with Islamist ‘hate preachers’ and, according to news weekly Der Spiegel, that he had offered himself for a suicide mission. German police had monitored Amri since March but dropped the surveillance in September thinking he was primarily… a small-time drug dealer.

“Anger has also focused on the investigation since Monday’s truck attack. After following an initial false lead, police only found Amri’s identity papers in the lorry’s cabin a day after the attack, and authorities took another day before issuing a Europe-wide public wanted notice. Merkel – already under fire from right-wing populists over her liberal migrant policies – can now expect the security debate to heat up ahead of an election expected in September. Berlin’s B.Z. tabloid charged in a blistering headline this week: ‘They knew him. They did nothing.’

“Conservative lawmaker Stephan Mayer said the case ‘held up a magnifying glass’ to the failings of Merkel’s migration policy, and Christian Lindner, head of the Free Democrats opposition party, charged that ‘catastrophic mistakes’ had been made. Peter Neumann, professor of security studies at the King’s College, pointed to ‘a systemic failure’…

“Criticism has also focused on Germany’s over-burdened asylum and immigration services. Amri’s asylum request was denied in June but because Tunisia refused to take him back, denying he was a citizen, he was issued a stay of deportation paper — the document that police found in the mangled truck cabin. The new Tunisian travel document only arrived on Wednesday, two days after the attack.

“Germany has repeatedly accused Tunisia and other north African states of stalling on the repatriation of their nationals. A law to designate Tunisia, as well as Morocco and Algeria, as ‘safe countries of origin’, to raise the bar for asylum requests, has been held up for months in Germany’s upper house, over human rights concerns in the North African countries.”

Germany will soon institute sweeping changes… but in all probability, not under the weak leadership of Angela Merkel and her incompetent subordinate ministers. It is by no means certain that she will be re-elected in 2017. Germany is being prepared for a strong male personage to lead… and such a person WILL arrive soon.

Huge Support for German Anti-Migration Party AfD

Daily Mail wrote on December 23:

“Support for Germany’s anti-migration AfD party soared to a one-year high of more than 15 percent in the wake of the Berlin truck attack… Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats lost 1.5 points to hit 31.5 percent while the Social Democrats, junior partners in the ruling coalition, ceded one point to 20.5 percent…

“In the immediate aftermath of the Berlin attack, the AfD blamed Merkel’s liberal border policy, under which more than one million asylum seekers entered the country since 2015, for posing a serious security threat to the country. One party official, Marcus Pretzell, even called the victims ‘Merkel’s dead’, in a tweet later criticised by the AfD leadership…

“On Wednesday, a senior German politician has blamed the Christmas terror attacks on ‘institutional political correctness’, arguing that the suspect – a known ISIS fanatic who was on a deportation list – would not have been free to act if police had enforced the law…

“Hugh Theodore Bronson, the deputy leader of the Alternative For Deutschland party (AfD), said that German deportation law was ignored because the authorities were afraid of offending Muslims. Referring to the fact that the prime suspect, Anis Amri, had been arrested three times in Germany and was a known ISIS fanatic with weapons training who was due to be deported, Bronson added: ‘There is a refusal by the authorities to implement German law…”

Not everything which is being said by AfD is incorrect propaganda.

Was “Political Correctness” Reason for Germany’s Failed Pursuit of Terrorist?

Breitbart wrote on December 24:

“German police and judiciary have accused Hamburg Justice Minister [and Green party politician] Till Steffen of delaying the release of pictures of the Christmas market attacker Anis Amri because he was worried about provoking ‘racist’ comments on Facebook… Steffen cited ‘privacy concerns’ when he initially prevented law enforcers from releasing pictures of Anis Amri. However, it has been claimed by members of the judiciary and the police that Steffen… denied the release of images of Amri because he was concerned it would incite racial hatred. It is alleged that he only released images after a 12-hour delay following a call from German newspaper Bild.

“Joachim Lenders, Hamburg’s chief of police, told Bild: ‘It is incomprehensible to throw such a spanner in the works of investigators. Steffen is incompetent.’ Parliamentary leader André Trepoll, who is a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, called ‘Scandalsenator’ Steffen a ‘security risk’ for delaying the search for the world’s most wanted man…

“CDU judiciary spokesman Richard Seelmaeker called for a special meeting of the Justice Committee, stressing: ‘Anis Amri allegedly murdered twelve people, but instead of using all means necessary to search for him, Hamburg’s green justice senator was more concerned about the state of comments in a Facebook post – which hindered our police… If the allegations against Steffen are proven true, he can no longer hold the position of senator,’ the CDU judicial expert added.

“Calls for his resignation were also made by the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Dirk Nockemann, the party’s spokesman, said: ‘It is an incredible and scandalous process … [Steffen’s] concerns are unstable and far-fetched.’”

Austria’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn Changes His View on the Migrant Crisis

Express wrote on December 25:

“Cardinal Christoph Schönborn [Archbishop of Vienna, Austria] said he had come to ‘rethink’ his stance on the migrant crisis… The Cardinal, who is tipped as a possible future leader of the Roman Catholic church, said he was no longer convinced that Europe should accept all arrivals… He said: ‘We have had to learn, this [crisis] goes well beyond our capacity and ability… Our country is worried”.

“… Cardinal Schönborn is something of a controversial figure within the church… In his homily at St Stephen’s Cathedral on September 11 he said: ‘Will there be a third Islamic attempt to conquer Europe? Many Muslims think this and wish this and say that Europe is at its end.’

“Cardinal Schönborn later clarified: ‘Europe’s Christian legacy is in danger, because we Europeans have squandered it. That has absolutely nothing to do with Islam nor with the refugees. It is clear that many Islamists would like to take advantage of our weakness, but they are not responsible for it. We are.’

“Cardinal Schönborn, who has a large amount of support from conservative elements within the church was originally a student of Joseph Ratzinger (aka Pope Benedict XVI) at the University of Regensberg and later became the co-editor with the future Pope Benedict XVI of the landmark Catechism of the Catholic Church commissioned by Pope St. John Paul II.”

Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser General Michael Flynn Meets with Austria’s Heinz-Christian Strache

The Independent wrote on December 21:

“Heinz-Christian Strache says he met General Michael Flynn ‘and other high-ranking US politicians’… at New York’s Trump Tower. Describing them as ‘friends’, he said they had discussed Mr Trump’s presidential victory.  Mr Strache, whose Freedom party was defeated in a rerun of the Austrian presidential election earlier this month, also announced he had signed a cooperation agreement Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.  They agreed to ‘contribute to the expansion of the partnership between the two parties and countries, including in matters of international security, migration crisis, economic and human development, supporting traditional values and protecting the environment’, the party said in a statement on its website.

“Mr Strache said: ‘The Freedom party is continuing to win political influence. A collaboration between the US and Russia is particularly important for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Syria and in the Crimea’. He also called the economic sanctions imposed on Russia after the July 2104 downing of the MH17 flight over the Ukrainian region of Donetsk, ‘ultimately useless’. ‘Politics has to serve the people and not be used for geopolitical power games’, he continued…”

USA’s “Complicity in the Aleppo Tragedy”

Newsmax wrote on December 23:

“John McCain again ripped into President Barack Obama’s inaction on Syria, this time writing an opinion piece for The Washington Post saying that the president ‘has borne witness to all of this and done nothing to stop it.’ The Arizona senator’s op-ed echoes many of the same sentiments and phrasing from a statement he and Sen. Lindsey Graham released nearly two weeks ago when Aleppo was falling to the Syrian military. Now that Aleppo has fallen, McCain is driving home the message that the United States had a hand in it all. ‘As we eulogize the dead of Aleppo, we must acknowledge the United States’ complicity in this tragedy,’ McCain wrote.

“Worse, McCain says Obama’s strategy of inaction and watching from afar threatens our homeland. ‘We must acknowledge that we have a stake in what happens in Syria. It is not just about the suffering of others, as moving as that is. It is about the national security of the United States,’ McCain wrote. ‘We do not need to become the world’s policeman to defend our interests. But we cannot wall ourselves off from the chaos of our dangerous world. And if we try, the instability, terror and destruction at the heart of that chaos will eventually make their way to our shores,’ McCain concluded.”

Even though John McCain addressed the failed policy of President Obama, his criticism would likewise apply to the intentions of President-elect Donald Trump to withdraw from American involvement on the world scene.

New Nuclear Arms Race between USA, Russia and China?

Deutsche Welle wrote on December 23:

“US President-elect Donald Trump said on Friday he would welcome an international nuclear arms race in an interview with broadcaster MSNBC. The network had asked Trump to elaborate on comments made a few days earlier on Twitter, wherein the president-elect promoted nuclear proliferation.

“Trump wrote that the US ‘must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.’… The comment on Twitter set shares in uranium production firms surging and caused a great deal of alarm amongst non-proliferation experts. When MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski asked Trump for details during a telephone call, he responded ‘let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.’

“Trump did not say who ‘them’ could be, but his original comment came on the same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow should also boost its nuclear arsenal… The president-elect’s spokesman Sean Spicer… implied that [‘them’ or] ‘other countries’ meant Russia and China… The United States has a stockpile of some 6,970 nuclear warheads, and Russia 7,300. The two nations began to cut down on nuclear spending in the 1970s…”

The idea that peace can be established through a nuclear arms race is erroneous. The Bible predicts a nuclear war in the not-too-distant future, and the USA will NOT prevail in that coming war, which will threaten the very survival of mankind.

Russian Plane Crashes Into Black Sea, Killing 92 People—Terrorism Not Excluded

The Associated Press reported on December 25:

“Backed by ships, helicopters and drones, Russian rescue teams searched for victims in the Black Sea after a Russian plane carrying 92 people to Syria crashed Sunday shortly after takeoff from Sochi. Investigators said they are looking into every possible cause for the crash, including a terror attack. All 84 passengers and eight crew members on board the Tu-154 plane operated by the Russian military are believed to have died when it fell into the sea two minutes after taking off in good weather from the southern Russian city…

“Asked if a terror attack was a possibility, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said in Sochi that investigators were looking into every possible reason.

“The plane belonged to the Defense Ministry and was taking its world famous army choir, the Alexandrov Ensemble, to a New Year’s concert at Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia. Those on board also included nine Russian journalists and a Russian doctor famous for her work in war zones. Russian President Vladimir Putin went on television to declare Monday a nationwide day of mourning…

“The plane that crashed was built in 1983, and underwent factory check-ups and maintenance in 2014 and earlier this year, according to the Defense Ministry… Some experts noted that the crew’s failure to report a malfunction pointed at a possible terror attack…

“Russian planes have been brought down previously by terror attacks. In October 2015, a Russian passenger plane carrying mostly Russian tourists back from vacation in Egypt was brought down by a bomb over the Sinai, killing all 224 people aboard. Officials said the explosive device was planted in the plane’s luggage compartment. The local affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility.

“In August 2004, two Russian planes were blown up in the skies over Russia by suicide bombers, killing 89 people. A Chechen warlord claimed responsibility for the twin attacks, which happened on the same day…”

Deutsche Welle reported on December 29:

“Based on the available evidence, the authorities ruled out a midair blast as the cause of the crash. ‘There was no explosion on board, I can say that for certain,’ said General Sergey Bainetov, head of flight safety for the Russian air force. ‘But an act of terror does not necessarily mean an explosion, there might be other causes. That is why we are not discarding this version of events.’”

Putin to US Democrats: “You Lost. Get Over It.” Relationship between Russia and USA “Can’t Get Any Worse.”

The Washington Post wrote on December 23:

“Russian President Vladimir Putin has a message for the White House and Democratic leaders who accuse him of stealing their candidate’s victory: Don’t be sore losers. That was how Putin answered a question Friday at his nationally televised annual news conference about whether Russia interfered in the U.S. presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. The Democrats ‘are losing on all fronts and looking elsewhere for things to blame,’ he told the nearly 1,400… ‘In my view this, how shall I say it, degrades their own dignity. You have to know how to lose with dignity.’

“The Kremlin leader — who also sent an upbeat letter to Trump last week that the president-elect revealed Friday — pointed out that Republicans had won the House and Senate, as well. ‘Did we do that, too?’ he said with a slight grin… ‘Outstanding figures in American history from the ranks of the Democratic Party would likely be turning in their graves. Roosevelt certainly would be,’ Putin told the journalists… ‘Trump understood the mood of the people and kept going until the end, when nobody believed in him,’ Putin said…

“The Russian leader has repeatedly denied involvement in the U.S. election despite the accusations from the White House, and the Kremlin has questioned the evidence for the U.S. claims… Putin also reiterated at the news conference his interest in better ties with the United States after the inauguration of Trump, who, during the campaign, espoused positions favorable to Russia, including joining forces to fight terrorism and considering whether to recognize Russia’s annexation of Ukraine.

“The Russian president played down the significance of Trump’s tweet Thursday calling for the United States to expand its nuclear arsenal, calling it ‘nothing unusual’ and saying that Moscow did not intend to pursue an arms race ‘that we can’t afford.’ Putin did say that Russia was modernizing its nuclear strike capability, which he said, would enable it to overpower any missile defenses that the United States is developing. Russia, he said, ‘will be stronger than any aggressor.’

“Putin moved back the news conference a day to attend the funeral of his slain ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, who was shot dead in public by a man shouting slogans about the war in Syria.  Since the assassination, Moscow and Ankara have made a show of their willingness to work together and, along with Iran, bring a settlement to Syria… The Russia-Turkey-Iran troika met in Moscow on Tuesday. The United States’ absence was a sign not only of the stalemate of U.S.-Russian talks over Syria, but also of the bad blood in the relationship as a whole. ‘Mr Trump did, after all, say during the election campaign that he thought it right to normalize U.S.-Russia links and said it would not get worse,’ Putin said. ‘Because they cannot get any worse, I agree with him on that. We’ll think together about how to make the situation better.’ Someone asked whether Putin would accept an invitation from Trump to the United States. ‘Of course, I will, if he invites me,’ Putin said.”

Much of what Vladimir Putin said— especially regarding the White House and the Democrats—is not without merit. However, the relationship between the USA and Russia CAN get worse, but the truth is, that no big wars will break out between Russia and the USA. Rather, we will see devastating wars between Europe and Russia; as well as between Europe and the USA.

USA “Retaliates” Against Russia

Deutsche Welle wrote on December 29:

“The United States announced on Thursday that two Russian compounds in Maryland and New York, used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related activities, will be closed. Access to the compounds will be denied to all Russian diplomats as of noon on Friday, ‘The New York Times’ reported.

“The State Department also declared 35 Russian intelligence operatives ‘persona non grata,’ meaning they must leave the country.

“Washington has accused the Russian military’s Main Intelligence Directorate

(GRU) of hacking information with the intent to interfere with the US election – along with help from the Federal Security Service (FSB)…

‘US President Barack Obama said he implemented the sanctions in response to the Russian government’s ‘aggressive harassment of US officials and cyber operations’ aimed at last month’s US election… The president added, however, that the actions were ‘not the sum total of our response to Russia’s aggressive activities.’…

‘Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, signaled that Moscow was now considering retaliatory measures against the US…

“With Trump due to take office on January 20, Obama’s move puts the president-elect in the position of having to decide whether to retract the measures once sworn in as president…”

Reuters added on December 29:

“Trump said in October he would ‘cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama’ on his first day in office, without saying who would determine their constitutionality.”

“Obama Backstabs Israel”

With this headline, the Drudge Report introduced the Obama Administration’s decision to abstain from, rather than veto, a Resolution by the Security Council, condemning Israeli settlements.

JTA wrote on December 23:

“The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution condemning Israeli settlements, with the United States abstaining. The resolution was adopted Friday afternoon with 14 votes in favor and only the U.S. abstention…

“Israel was defiant in its reaction to the resolution and the U.S. vote. ‘Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the UN and will not abide by its terms,’ a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. ‘At a time when the Security Council does nothing to stop the slaughter of half a million people in Syria, it disgracefully gangs up on the one true democracy in the Middle East, Israel, and calls the Western Wall “occupied territory.” The Obama administration not only failed to protect Israel against this gang-up at the UN, it colluded with it behind the scenes’…

“Speaking to the Security Council, Israel’s U.N. envoy, Danny Danon, described the resolution as ‘evil’ and likened it to condemning Americans for building in Washington or the French for building in Paris. ‘This resolution today will be added to the long and shameful list of anti-Israel U.N. resolutions,’ Danon said. ‘Instead of charting a course forward,  you are sending a message to the Palestinians that they should continue on the path of terrorism…’

“The resolution was introduced by New Zealand, Venezuela, Malaysia and Senegal… On Facebook, Trump wrote that the resolution was ‘extremely unfair.’…

“Several U.S. lawmakers also criticized the American abstention. Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Nita Lowey, both New York Democrats, and Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., all issued statements criticizing the Obama administration. ‘It is extremely frustrating, disappointing and confounding that the Administration has failed to veto this resolution,’ said Schumer, the incoming Senate minority leader. ‘Whatever one’s views are on settlements, the U.N. is the wrong forum to settle these issues.’…

“The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Jewish community’s foreign policy umbrella group, issued a scathing denunciation of the resolution and the American vote. ‘There is no justification or explanation that validates the United States failure to veto the one-sided, offensive resolution adopted by the Security Council today,’ said a statement attributed from the Presidents Conference chairman, Stephen Greenberg, and its executive vice chairman, Malcolm Hoenlein. ‘The United States vote will be seen as a betrayal of the fundamentals of the special relationship that will nevertheless continue to mark the close ties between the peoples of the two countries’…”

Further Harsh Condemnation for President Obama

Deutsche Welle wrote on December 23:

“The Palestinian Presidency… commented that the UN vote amounted to a ‘big blow’ to Israel. Trump meanwhile only said that upon his inauguration, ‘things will be different’ in US-UN relations… the resolution is reportedly near-impossible for the Trump administration to reverse…

“The resolution, initially circulated by Egypt, was originally going to be discussed the previous day but then faced an indefinite postponement, after US President-elect Donald Trump reportedly intervened and spoke to Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. Egypt represents all Arab states on the Security Council…

“US Senator John McCain commented that the US’ abstention from the vote made the US ‘complicit in this outrageous attack against Israel.’…

“An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Agence France Presse (AFP) news agency that outgoing US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry were ‘behind this shameful move against Israel at the UN… President Obama could declare his willingness to veto this resolution in an instant but instead is pushing it,’ the official said, calling it an ‘abandonment’ of the Jewish state, ‘which breaks decades of US policy of protecting Israel at the UN and undermines the prospects of working with the next administration of advancing peace… The US administration secretly cooked up with the Palestinians an extreme anti-Israeli resolution behind Israel’s back which would be a tail wind for terror and boycotts and effectively make the Western Wall occupied Palestinian territory,’ the same official told the Associated Press news agency.”

President Obama Under Increasing Attack for Betrayal of Israel

Newsmax wrote on December 23 and 24 in a series of related articles:

“… former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton… thinks President Barack Obama took the action to ‘box the incoming Trump administration in.’ ‘This was a stab in the back against the Israelis,’ Bolton [said]. ‘It was entirely predictable. I would say this for people in the pro-Israel community in the United States who defended Obama’s Middle East policy over these last eight years: You should have seen this coming and this is what you get for supporting Barack Obama’… Further, Bolton said, the consequences of the resolution will be felt for many years in negative ways for both Israel and the United States… ‘I do think, contrary to what Obama says, this is the death now of the two-state solution,” Bolton said… Bolton continued that he’d recommend that Trump call the resolution ‘illegitimate’ and say the United States will try to repeal it, and if that fails, cut the U.S. contribution to the UN.’…

“Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee… slammed President Barack Obama Friday…  ‘I’m so outraged I can’t even hardly contain myself,’ the former Republican candidate [said]… He added that when President-elect Donald Trump takes over the White House next month, ‘the first thing he does I hope is send some jackhammers over to the Turtle Bay neighborhood in Manhattan and jack-knife the United Nations off into the river… When people use the term ‘settlements,’ they may think of the Israelis building a bunch of tents and mobile homes… These settlements are communities and neighborhoods with schools and synagogues and shops and permanent structures, where people live and raise their families. And Judea and Samaria belong to Israel. Obama is saying that the Western Wall ought to be part of territory that’s given back,’ he continued. ‘This is insane — so beyond anything that we’ve seen in 40 years. It’s just stunning’. Huckabee, who has long attacked the United Nations for its anti-Israel policies, joined several congressional Republicans in calling for an end to federal financial support for the organization ‘if they’re going to do stupid and frankly idiotic things that are hurtful to any hope of peace…’”

“Conservatives Friday ripped the U.N. Security Council for condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — and the Obama administration’s abstention from the unanimous vote — with Sen. Lindsey Graham threatening to cut funding to the United Nations. ‘This provocative action by the United Nations is an outrage and must be dealt with sternly and forcefully,’ said the South Carolina Republican, who chairs a subcommittee that oversees funding to the organization. ‘The United States is currently responsible for approximately 22 percent of the United Nations total budget. The Obama-Kerry foreign policy has gone from naïve and foolish to flat-out reckless,’ he added…

“Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said he supported Graham’s call to strip the U.N. of federal funding ‘and reconsider aid to countries if they fail to join our opposition.’

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the abstention was ‘a failure of leadership and judgment’ by President Barack Obama. ‘It is highly regrettable that one of President Obama’s last actions in office was again to abandon our ally Israel,’ the Kentucky Republican said.

“House Speaker Paul Ryan called the vote ‘absolutely shameful.’ ‘Today’s vote is a blow to peace that sets a dangerous precedent for further diplomatic efforts to isolate and demonize Israel,’ the Wisconsin congressman said…

“Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton declared that Obama was ‘personally responsible for this anti-Israel resolution. ‘His diplomats secretly coordinated the vote, yet he doesn’t even have the courage of his own convictions to vote for it,’ the first-term GOP member said. ‘This cowardly, disgraceful action cements President Obama’s richly deserved legacy as the most anti-Israel president in American history.’…

“Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, called the abstention ‘an act of utter cowardice. ‘This dramatic shift in U.S. policy leaves our strongest ally in the region vulnerable,’ he said. ‘To make matters worse, this cowardly act — under the cover of the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays — comes when the fallout will be left to the incoming administration.’

“Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said that ‘the actions of the Obama administration will forever be remembered as a dark, shameful moment for our country…’”

No Love Left Between Obama and Netanyahu

Times of Israel wrote on December 23:

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at US President Barack Obama Friday, accusing him of actively working against Israel at the UN — seemingly abandoning all pretense of diplomatic cautiousness after a US abstention at the Security Council led to the passage of a resolution against settlements…

“Netanyahu said he would immediately call back Israel’s ambassadors in New Zealand and Senegal — two sponsors of Friday evening’s resolution — for consultations. He also said a planned official visit by Senegal’s foreign minister next month would be cancelled and all Israeli aid programs in Senegal would be halted. Israeli officials reacted with disappointment and anger to Washington’s failure to veto the resolution.

“… cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi said the US vote also ‘spits in the face’ of incoming president Donald Trump…”

Whether or not the Obama Administration actively collaborated with the instigators of the Security Council resolution, their decision not to veto the resolution is indeed a shameful and well-calculated attempt to not only backstab Israel during the remaining days of Barack Obama’s failed Presidency, but it is also clearly designed at preventing President-elect Donald Trump from establishing a more friendly and productive relationship with Israel.  

Israel to Re-Assess Its Ties to UN—Stops Funding to Five UN Institutions

Deutsche Welle reported on December 24:

“Israel will re-assess its ties with the United Nations following the adoption by the Security Council of a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday… ‘I instructed the Foreign Ministry to complete within a month a re-evaluation of all our contacts with the United Nations, including the Israeli funding of U.N. institutions and the presence of U.N. representatives in Israel,’ Netanyahu said in broadcast remarks. ‘I have already instructed to stop about 30 million shekels ($7.8 million) in funding to five U.N. institutions, five bodies, that are especially hostile to Israel … and there is more to come,’ he said.”

Israel Summons Ambassadors

Reuters reported on December 25:

“Israel summoned the ambassadors of 10 nations to Jerusalem to reprimand them on Sunday… Ambassadors from 10 of the 14 countries that voted in favor of the resolution and have embassies in Israel – Britain, China, Russia, France, Egypt, Japan, Uruguay, Spain, Ukraine and New Zealand – were summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, the ministry said. Sunday is a regular work day in Israel, but most embassies are closed, and calling in envoys on Christmas Day is highly unusual.”

The Jerusalem Post stressed that Netanyahu summoned the US ambassador as well.

Why an American Veto Would Have Been Critical

The Guardian wrote on December 23:

“The resolution says Israel’s settlements on Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have ‘no legal validity’ and demands a halt to ‘all Israeli settlement activities’… The resolution reiterated that Israeli settlement was a ‘flagrant violation’ of international law… A resolution requires nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the United States, France, Russia, Britain or China in order to be adopted…

“While the resolution is largely symbolic in some senses, it will be seen as empowering an increasingly tough EU over Israel and will give pause to international companies who have interests in the occupied territories…

“The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), one of the most influential lobby groups, said it was ‘deeply disturbed by the failure of the Obama administration to exercise its veto to prevent a destructive, one-sided, anti-Israel resolution from being enacted by the United Nations security council’. It also pointedly thanked Trump for his attempts to intervene: ‘AIPAC expresses its appreciation to president-elect Trump and the many Democratic and Republican members of Congress who urged a veto of this resolution.’ …

“About 430,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and a further 200,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as the capital of their future state. The resolution demands that ‘Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem’.”

As can be seen, a veto by the USA would have prevented the resolution from being adopted. With the American abstention, the Obama Administration voted in effect FOR the resolution. This can only be viewed as a betrayal of Israel and of Israel’s position of Jerusalem as its eternal capital.

Impossible to Reverse?

The Independent wrote on December 23:

“The Israeli Prime Minister said his administration was looking forward to working with Donald Trump to negate Friday’s resolution…

“Given the world’s widespread opposition to settlements, the action will be almost impossible for anyone, including Mr Trump, to reverse. Nevertheless, the president-elect vowed via Twitter: ‘As to the UN, things will be different after Jan 20th.'”

Germany Supports Anti-Israel Resolution

Bild Online reported on December 25 that Frank-Walter Steinmeier, “currently Minister for Foreign Affairs and probably soon the next President,” supported the text of the “anti-Israel” resolution. In its article, Bild asked whether Israel was being forsaken by their friends. Bild continued that Steinmeier sided with autocratic countries which voted for the resolution, including Russia, China, Egypt and Venezuela.

Bild strongly disagreed with Steinmeier who “did not even say a word about the anti-Israel content.” The paper also pointed out that the resolution does not bring any solution; and ignores the historic relationship between the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Jewish people. The tabloid referred to “the Western Wall of the Temple as the most holy site which was destroyed in 70 AD,” explaining that Israel will never allow that it will fall into the hands of Palestinians who want it to become a part of East Jerusalem as their capital.

Sadly, the German position is in line with most countries which are antagonistic against and hostile towards Israel. The Bible prophecies that Israel will indeed be forsaken by their “friends”—many of whom were never real friends to begin with.

Further Incredible Attacks by John Kerry: Israel Cannot Be Jewish and a Democracy at the Same Time

Grabien.com wrote on December 28:

“Secretary of State John Kerry declared Wednesday that Israel ‘can either be Jewish or democratic’ but ‘it cannot be both.’ “Here’s a transcript: ‘The truth is that trends on the ground, violence, terrorism, settlement expansion and the seemingly endless occupation, they are combining to destroy hopes for peace on both sides and increasingly cementing any reversible — an irreversible one state reality that most people do not actually want.

“‘Today, there are a similar number of Jews and Palestinians living between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea. They have a choice. They can choose to live together in one state or they can separate into two states. But here is a fundamental reality. If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic. It cannot be both. And it won’t ever really be at peace. Moreover, the Palestinians will never fully realize their vast potential in a homeland of their own with a one state solution.”

One wonders what the international reaction and outrage would have been, if a German politician would have dared to make comments like these.

Breitbart added the following:

“Kerry complained about Netanyahu’s democratically-elected government — which the Obama administration did its best to defeat in 2015 by using American taxpayers’ money to fund left-wing political efforts during the Israeli election — ‘His current coalition is the most right-wing in Israeli history, with an agenda driven by the most extreme elements.’”

The Kerry Backlash

The Washington Post wrote on December 29:

‘Secretary of State John Kerry set off a firestorm in the United States and Israel… It will be hard to argue that [UN] resolution and Kerry speech did anything but make matters worse and diminish the United States in the region… Indeed, the resolution and Kerry’s speech seemed more designed to blame Israel for the Obama administration’s disastrous Middle East policy than to prompt a return to the ‘peace process’…

“All of this will cement President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to move the embassy and increase chances he will cut off funds to the Palestinian Authority and maybe even the U.N. Like the rest of the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is much more volatile and further from a peaceful resolution than it was at the start of the Obama presidency.”

Trust in God

Breitbart wrote on December 29:

“The Times of Israel reports: The US has forsaken Israel, and the Jewish state can now place its trust only in God, Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef said Wednesday, as Jerusalem and Washington continued to face off over Friday’s United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements.

“‘Sometimes, we need to be reminded from above that we can count on no one but our Father who art in heaven,’ Yosef told followers at the Western Wall. ‘Even America forsook us last week at the UN.’

“He added: ‘We mustn’t forget that the hearts of kings and captains are in the hands of the Lord, and we can count on no one but (the Lord).’”

Trump Attacks Obama

Deutsche Welle wrote on December 28:

“[US Secretary of State John Kerry’s public] remarks come just weeks before the Obama administration hands over power to President-elect Donald Trump, who on Wednesday reiterated his support for Israel over the settlement issue… Kerry warned that expanding settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem was leading to an ‘irreversible one-state reality’… On Wednesday, despite attempts to delay a local housing committee from approving plans to build 492 new homes in annexed East Jerusalem, the construction was later given the go-ahead, a local non-profit organization said.

“For his part in a worsening row, Trump took to Twitter ahead of Kerry’s speech on Wednesday to say: ‘Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!’ referring to his upcoming inauguration. The billionaire businessman said Obama had treated Israel with ‘total disdain and disrespect,’ adding that ‘They used to have a great friend in the US, but not anymore.’

“… Trump’s incoming ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, opposes a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian situation and has publicly stated that Israel’s settlement activity is not illegal, in his opinion.”

Trump also twittered this: “Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks. Thought it was going to be a smooth transition – NOT!”

This was so predictable, and it will become even more contentious.

The Temple Will Be Built on the Temple Mount

Israel National News reported on December 25:

“Ne’emanei Har Habayit activists lit a Hanukkah menorah outside the Old City of Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate on Sunday morning, in response to the United Nations Security Council’s latest anti-Israel resolution. Ne’emanei Har Habayit is a group of activists dedicated to preserving the Temple Mount’s Jewish identity. The name literally means ‘the Temple Mount’s faithful.’

“During the ceremony, Ne’emanei Har Habayit CEO Gershon Salomon said, ‘Today, we send a message to the Jewish nation and to the entire world – especially to the ‘Oom Shmoom’ (UN – ed.). The Temple Mount belongs to us for eternity. Jerusalem belongs to us, and only to us. We will not move from this spot, ever… I am optimistic regarding President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration, but the final decision will be made by Israel, not by the US, Rome, or Paris. Israel’s fate will be decided in Jerusalem, and on the Temple Mount we will build the Third Temple, right under the noses of world leaders,’ Salomon emphasized.”

Jerusalem Eternal Capital City of Israel

The Jewish Press wrote on December 27:

“President Reuven Rivlin [stated on Tuesday:] ‘United Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel and it will remain so. There is no international body with the power to revoke this. And as sovereigns of the city, I stand here today to repeat in the clearest way: the State of Israel is deeply committed to ensure the religious rights of all faith communities in Jerusalem and throughout Israel.’”

Christmas Tree Controversy in Israel

JTA wrote on December 21:

“Rabbinic officials in Jerusalem and northern Israel recently issued separate statements saying that displays of Christmas trees are against Jewish law… ‘As the secular year ends, we want to remind you that erecting a Christmas tree in a hotel contravenes halacha and that therefore it is clear that no one should erect [a tree] in a hotel,’ Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar wrote to hotel managers. The letter also said it was ‘appropriate to avoid hosting’ New Year’s parties, reminding hotel managers that the New Year is properly observed at the beginning of the Jewish calendar.

“A day earlier, the rabbi of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, a prestigious public science and engineering university in Haifa, forbade students from entering the student union on campus because of the presence of a Christmas tree in the building. ‘The Christmas tree is a religious symbol — not Christian, but even more problematic — pagan,’ Rabbi Elad Dokow wrote in a Q&A on the religious Srugim website. ‘Halacha clearly states that whenever it is possible to circumvent and not pass through a place where there is any kind of idolatry, this must be done. So one should not enter the student union if it’s not necessary to do so… This is the world’s only Jewish state. And it has a role to be a “light unto the nations” and not to uncritically embrace every idea.’ Dokow compared the Christmas tree’s display to… allowing a Spanish food festival that ‘prominently featured pork.’…

“The Chief Rabbinate — the highest Jewish authority in Israel and overseer of the Jerusalem Rabbinate — last year offered some protection to displayers of Christmas trees. Under threat of a petition to the Supreme Court, the Chief Rabbinate issued guidelines stating that its kashrut inspectors could not revoke the kosher certifications of hotels over the trees or Shabbat violations. The Technion responded to its Christmas tree controversy with a statement saying that Rabbi Dokow’s words ‘expressed his personal opinion and not that of the Technion’….

“Knesset member Yousef Jabareen of the Joint List of Arab political parties accused Dokow of incitement… ‘These statements contain clear incitement to racism, in violation of the law, and therefore also constitute a serious criminal offense,’ the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. According to Haaretz, Technion student Peter Hana said ‘an absolute majority of students, as well as management and the dean,’ supported the Christmas tree, and ‘only a handful of students and the rabbi himself chose to come out against it.’”

It is of course pharisaical to forbid entering a building because of the presence of a Christmas tree. At the same time, the Christmas tree IS of pagan origin and neither Christians nor Jews should display it.

 “5,000-Year-Old Nativity Scene Found in Egypt”

As linked by the Drudge Report, Seeker.com wrote on December 22:

“Italian researchers have discovered what might be the oldest nativity scene ever found — 5,000-year-old rock art that depicts a star in the east, a newborn between parents and two animals… ‘It’s a very evocative scene which indeed resembles the Christmas nativity. But it predates it by some 3,000 years,’ geologist Marco Morelli, director of the Museum of Planetary Sciences in Prato, near Florence, Italy, told Seeker.

“Morelli found the cave drawing in 2005, but only now his team has decided to reveal the amazing find… He noted the newborn is drawn slightly above, as if raising to the sky. Such position, with the baby not yet between the parents, would have meant a birth or a pregnancy… The scene becomes more symbolically complex if the other figures, two animals and a small circular feature, are taken into consideration. On the upper part is a headless lion, a mythical beast which appears in several rock art drawings from the same area, while below in the scene a baboon or an anthropomorphic monkey can be seen. In the east, the Neolithic artist [has] drawn what appears to be star.

“The researchers called the site the ‘Cave of the Parents.’ ‘No doubt it’s an intriguing drawing,’ Morelli said. ‘We didn’t find similar scenes until the early Christian age.’”

This find sheds some light on the pagan concepts associated with the birth of Christ. For more information, please listen to our sermon, “The REAL Christmas Story.”

Public Hanukkah Events in Europe to ‘Drive Out Darkness’

JTA wrote on December 22:

“Before Monday’s attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal had planned to invite hundreds of people to the traditional lighting of the first Hanukkah candle at a large menorah erected at the city’s Brandenburg Gate monument. But he decided to change his original plan following the attack… And so, ‘Instead of one public lighting this Hanukkah, we’re going to have one on each of the eight nights of Hanukkah,’ Teichtal, a Chabad rabbi who is part of the Jewish community in Berlin, told JTA on Thursday. ‘It’s our way of driving out the darkness that is terrorism.’

“Teichtal’s determination is shared by rabbis across Europe, including France and the Netherlands, who speak of upholding and celebrating the relatively new tradition of public lightings of menorahs. Some Jewish leaders say that celebrating Hanukkah at central locales in European capitals and cities is considered an appropriate, uplifting Jewish response to the wave of Islamist terrorism hitting the continent…

“Separately, the Jewish community of the Netherlands is preparing to co-host, together with Christian Zionists from the Christians for Israel organization, a public lighting in The Hague of what organizers say is the largest Hanukkah menorah in Europe. Christian Zionists built the menorah in 2013 as a gift for the country’s Jewish community… Hanukkah, a holiday celebrating the defiance of Jews during the Maccabean revolt against the Syrian Greek army, is especially appropriate for such demonstrations…”

Sadly, these displays will do little, if anything, to drive out the darkness of terrorism or other ungodly conduct.

How Nuclear Wars Could Start

The Guardian wrote on December 25:

“A fake news story has touched off a Twitter confrontation between nuclear powers Pakistan and Israel. The exchange took place following the publication of a fake story headlined ‘Israeli Defense Minister: If Pakistan send ground troops to Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a nuclear attack’. The story appeared on 20 December on the site AWD News.

“In an apparent response to the story, Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif sent a warning to Israel on Twitter that ‘Pakistan is a nuclear state too.’ Israel’s defense ministry tweeted back on Saturday, saying the original story was ‘totally fictitious.’ AWD has been identified by fact-checking organisations as a fake news site.

“Israel maintains a policy of nuclear ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying the existence of an arsenal but is widely believed to have its own nuclear weapons. Pakistan became a nuclear power in 1998. The countries have no diplomatic ties. There was no immediate reaction from Pakistan to Israel’s response…”

Americans Admire Obama and Hillary Clinton the Most

Newsmax wrote on December 28:

“President Obama beat Donald Trump as the most admired man in 2016, a new Gallup poll shows. Twenty-two percent of those polled listed Obama as the most admired man, while Trump came in second with 15 percent… Here’s how the poll breaks down: Pope Francis (4 percent); Bernie Sanders (2 percent) and the Rev. Billy Graham (1) percent round out the top five admired men…

“Hillary Clinton is the most admired woman for the 21st time with 12 percent; Michelle Obama was second with 8 percent. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (3 percent); Oprah Winfrey (3 percent) and Ellen DeGeneres (2 percent) complete the top five.”

One may have to wonder whether Americans have lost it completely, if these results are true.

Uncertainty and Fear Continue for 2017

The Guardian wrote on December 24:

“Britain’s Christian leaders are focusing their Christmas messages on uncertainty, anxiety and fear at the end of a tumultuous year on the global stage… Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster and leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales… quoted WB Yeats’s 1919 poem, The Second Coming: ‘Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.’…

“In the last week Prince Charles has also spoken about disturbing trends in 2016. ‘We are now seeing the rise of many populist groups across the world that are increasingly aggressive to those who adhere to a minority faith. All of this has deeply disturbing echoes of the dark days of the 1930s,’ the prince said…  ‘We owe it to those who suffered and died so horribly not to repeat the horrors of the past.’”

The Guardian added on December 25:

“The phrase ‘turning point’ is overused, but future historians are likely to view the year 2016 as exactly that. The standout event was Donald Trump’s surprise victory. The maverick Republican’s defeat of Hillary Clinton produced a shock that reverberated around the world. The billionaire’s White House tenancy begins on 20 January. Many will dub that date Black Friday, fearful that Trumpism may irreparably damage international security, environmental protection and human rights. Others will see it as a sign of welcome change. It will be a year of living dangerously…

“Trump’s protectionist, isolationist stance brought into question the inevitability of globalisation, suggesting a return to a pre-1939 age of economic nationalism, punitive tariffs, trade barriers, controls on movement of labour and capital, closed markets and minds… he questioned the usefulness of international institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank and Nato. He cast doubt on key security alliances in Asia. Trump also ignited concern for April’s Paris climate change deal.

“Trump’s stated support for the unilateral waging of war, for authoritarian governance, torture, indefinite detention without trial, and religious and racial profiling of immigrants and refugees could, if copied, destroy the universal legal and human rights protections erected via the UN system since 1945…

“Britain’s narrow 52%-48% referendum vote in June in favour of leaving the EU was unexpected. Many drew parallels with the US, saying similar nationalist, populist forces were at work… If the British government’s timetable holds, Brexit will begin in March, when the UK will formally file for divorce…

“France will hold a presidential election in spring. Marine Le Pen, of the far-right National Front, is expected to do very well. Le Pen wants France to quit the EU and euro. Her main challenger is likely to be François Fillon, a Catholic Thatcherite, for the centre right. The Socialist president, François Hollande, will not stand for re-election. In the Netherlands’ March general election, the Islamophobe Geert Wilders could prove an influential warm-up act for Le Pen. Wilders advocates a Dutch ‘Nexit’…

“Germany holds federal elections in September. Angela Merkel is seeking re-election for a fourth term as chancellor, but faces strong opposition from the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany… The fashionable idea that Merkel will pick up the torch from Obama and become defender-in-chief of western liberal democracy looks like wishful thinking…

“Despite repeated UN attempts at peace, Syria’s civil war passed the five-year mark in 2016 and approached a bloody denouement… The siege of eastern Aleppo became a symbol of the suffering and brutality of the Syrian war. Children were killed or maimed in large numbers. Hospitals and schools were repeatedly hit…

“In Iraq, an offensive to retake Mosul from Isis got bogged down. The war in Yemen showed no sign of abating, notwithstanding a furore in Britain and the US about arms sales to Saudi Arabia, whose airstrikes are blamed for numerous civilian deaths. In Libya, a new threat from Isis emerged, centred on the late Muammar Gaddafi’s stronghold in Sirte, prompting fierce fighting.

“Isis was also active in Afghanistan, challenging the Taliban for control of rural areas. Afghanistan is now America’s longest war. More than 8,000 US troops are still based there…

“The Isis threat will persist… the global spread of Islamist extremism is likely to continue…

“Syria aside, Russia’s military build-up along its border with the Baltic republics, its meddling in Ukraine, and its covert political influence-peddling, disinformation campaigns and cyber warfare in eastern Europe are expected to accelerate…

“Putin has been building bridges to Xi Jinping, China’s president. This alliance of convenience will create more headaches for the west in 2017. Xi has enlisted Russia’s support in conducting military ‘exercises’ around disputed South China Sea islands, where Beijing is rapidly expanding its presence. China defied a 2016 UN court ruling deeming its activities illegal…

“The nuclear brinkmanship of North Korea’s paranoid regime increased regional tensions. This problem will possibly come to a head in 2017. Kim Jong-un, the country’s dictator, conducted an underground nuclear test in September, the fifth and biggest, involving nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.

“In Tokyo, there were calls for Japanese rearmament. Trump suggested Japan and South Korea acquire nuclear weapons… Trump demanded Japan and South Korea pay more for US bases…

“The biggest regional upset was in the Philippines, where the foul-mouthed Rodrigo Duterte was elected president… Protests from the US and UN prompted him to turn to China for support, repudiating the long-standing US alliance…”

Terror Strikes Germany!

nydailynews.com reported on December 21:

“Monday’s devastating terrorist attack at a Berlin Christmas Market was bleakly inevitable…

“Until last summer, Germany had been immune to the Islamist violence that has afflicted Madrid, London, Paris, Brussels and other European cities. But the rise of the Islamic State, the continued existence of which provides an alluring recruitment tool to disillusioned European Muslims, has sharply increased the threat of jihadist terrorism across the continent. Now, even Germany is under assault.

“The Christmas market attack — which killed 12 people and wounded dozens — bookends a tumultuous year in Germany. Last New Year’s Eve, as many as 2,000 migrant men sexually assaulted over 1,000 women just outside Cologne’s main train station. Police initially attempted to cover up the incident. Their motives — shielding Muslim immigrants from a xenophobic backlash — may have been benign, but the long-term effect has only redounded to the benefit of the far right.”

Deutsche Welle wrote on December 22:

“Klaus Bouillon of the state of Saarland who is currently spokesman for Germany’s 16 regional interior ministers said security was being tightened. ‘We will have more patrols, Officers will have machine guns,’ said Bouillon, referring to the more than 1,400 Christmas markets across Germany.

“Federal authorities searching for 24-year-old Anis Amri offered a reward for information leading to his capture and issued multilingual notices, including one in French.

“The public was warned that Amri could be armed. Police said ID papers identifying him as a Tunisian national were found in the cab of the truck used in Monday’s attack.”

Merkel and Police Under Fire

Deutsche Welle wrote on December 22:

“Both the Berlin police and Chancellor Merkel’s government faced heavy criticism on Thursday. The former for spending the first crucial hours after the attack focusing on a Pakistani suspect who turned out not to be involved in the attack, and the latter for its open-door refugee policy. The ire on behalf of the press and the public intensified as it became clear how much the intelligence services knew about Amri prior to the incident.

“According to Der Spiegel magazine, Amri had been under surveillance for associating with hate preachers online. He had offered to act as a suicide bomber on an Islamist website, and asked where he could obtain weapons. ‘He was even in deportation detention, but had to be released after a day,’ Stephan Mayer, the interior affairs spokesman for Germany’s conservative union in parliament, told RBB-Inforadio.

“Amri’s asylum application had been rejected in the summer and he was scheduled for deportation, but the procedure was postponed due to problems proving his Tunisian citizenship. Incidentally, his new Tunisian passport arrived in Germany on Wednesday. It was some of these asylum documents left behind in the truck used in the attack that turned the police onto Amri in the first place.”

The Telegraph added on December 21:

“Amri… had multiple identity documents with six different aliases under three nationalities, and a criminal record in Italy and Tunisia. He spent four years in an Italian prison before travelling to Germany after an expulsion order expired… It also emerged that the killer might have received hospital treatment for his injuries before slipping away.

“ The Polish lorry driver whose vehicle was hijacked sand used in the attack—claimed by the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) was being hailed a hero…  Mr Urban’s injuries suggested he may have been alive as the lorry ploughed into Christmas shoppers, having perhaps been assumed dead by the hijacker who had stabbed and beaten him.

“It gave rise to the theory that he grabbed the steering wheel, forcing the lorry off its intended course through the middle of the crowd and potentially saving countless lives. His life came to an end when he was shot in the head by the hijacker…

“British experts said the bungled police investigation highlighted fundamental flaws in Germany’s counter-terrorism strategy…

“The German investigation has also been hampered by the lack of available CCTV footage. State surveillance is a sensitive issue in Germany because of extensive snooping by the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany and by the Gestapo in the Nazi era. The result is that there are far less cameras in public places than in the UK. However, on Wednesday a bill was passed to allow more video surveillance in German society with greater weight given to ‘the protection of life, health and freedom’…”

These horrible mass murders by an insane fanatic pose a further threat to Angela Merkel’s political survival.

Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey Assassinated

Newsweek.com reported on December 21:

“Tragedy struck once again in Turkey on Monday, this time targeting the Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov at an art exhibit. His assassin was a Turkish police officer, who shot the ambassador multiple times as he was delivering a speech.

“Video footage suggests that the assassin had drawn no suspicion as he was waiting calmly behind the ambassador before the attack—this is supported by the revelation that he used his police badge to get past the security checkpoint at the entrance of the exhibit.

“The footage also shows the assassin saying a religious verse in Arabic: a pledge for jihad for Muhammed moments after the attack. He also said in Turkish: ‘Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria. Until our towns are safe, you will not taste safety. Only death will take me away from here. Everyone who played a role in this cruelty will pay.’”

Barack Obama’s Long-Form Birth Certificate Determined to Be a Fake

WND wrote on December 15:

“A years-long forensics investigation into the computer image of the long-form Hawaiian birth certificate image that Barack Obama released during a White House news conference during his first term and presented to the American people as an official government document concluded it is ‘fake.’ The probe also confirms that those who were subjected to the derogatory ‘birther’ label from many media outlets and Democrats were right – at least regarding the document used to establish Obama’s eligibility to be president.

“The issue is that the U.S. Constitution requires the president to be a ‘natural-born citizen’ but does not define the term. Scholarly works cited by the Founders defined it as a citizen at birth, born in the country to two citizens of the country, or merely the offspring of two citizens of the country. The birth certificate Obama displayed on the White House website as ‘proof positive’ of his eligibility states he was born in Hawaii to an American mother and a Kenyan father… Now, what has been described as the only official law enforcement investigation ever done into the Obama birth certificate, ordered by Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, has concluded it is ‘not authentic.’

“Jerome Corsi, Ph.D., WND senior staff writer and author of ‘Where’s the Birth Certificate?’ was credited by sheriff’s officials with contributing to the investigation. Corsi said Mike Zullo, head of the Cold Case Posse, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio ‘have done the United States a heroic service demonstrating by forensic analysis that the long form birth certificate produced in a White House news conference on April 27, 2011, as Barack Obama’s authentic birth certificate is a forgery… That President Obama’s birth certificate is fake, as proven now by a legitimate law enforcement examination raises serious questions that high crimes and misdemeanors have been committed at the highest level of government. The clear conclusion is that the Obama presidency may have been illegitimate, having violated Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution. Impeachment procedures may be required, even if those procedures are conducted after Obama leaves office.’

“The sheriff’s video said there were nine images on the Obama birth certificate that appear to be identical to, and copied from, another birth certificate issued in Hawaii just days after his birth. That certificate belongs to Johanna Ah’nee… Forlabs, an Italian company that specializes in extracting information from multimedia files, also produced the results [showing the birth certificate to be a forgery]. ‘We had two experts from two countries in separate disciplines of forensics that came to one conclusion: Barack Obama’s long form birth certificate it not authentic,’ the report said…

“The investigators also said they had developed credible evidence that Obama’s Selective Service card was a forgery, based on an examination of the postal date stamp on the document. Also, records of Immigration and Naturalization Service cards filled out by passengers arriving on international flights originating outside the United States in the month of August 1961, examined at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., were missing… for the week of President Obama’s birth…

“Zullo has noted that Reed Hayes, a document examiner who has served as expert witness for Seattle law firm Perkins Coie – the firm that flew an attorney to Honolulu to personally deliver two paper copies of the birth certificate to the White House – has concluded in a signed affidavit that the document posted on the White House website is ‘entirely fabricated.’

“… at the time Obama was born, only a short time after Hawaii was admitted as a state, there were a number of ways a Hawaiian birth certificate could have been obtained without the person having been born in Hawaii…

“Among the many records the Obama camp has refused to release are the marriage license of his father (Barack Sr.) and mother (Stanley Ann Dunham), name-change records (Barry Soetero to Barack Hussein Obama), adoption records, records of his and his mother’s repatriation as U.S. citizens from Indonesia, baptism records, Noelani Elementary School (Hawaii) records, Punahou School financial aid or school records, Occidental College financial aid records, Harvard Law School records, Columbia senior thesis, Columbia College records, record with Illinois State Bar Association, files from his terms as an Illinois state senator, his law client list, medical records and passport records.”

Newsmax added on December 15:

“Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio held a press conference on Thursday to release information he says proves that President Barack Obama’s long form birth certificate is a forgery. Arpaio said he received information in 2011 that indicated the certificate could have been forged, and he consulted forensic experts from around the world who agree it is not authentic. Arpaio and his team are not claiming that Obama was not born in Hawaii, but only that the long form birth certificate is not authentic. So-called ‘birthers’ have questioned Obama’s place-of-birth, saying he was born in Kenya, which they say disqualifies him to serve as president of the United States. Obama says he was born in Hawaii.

“… lead investigator Mike Zullo… showed video of Obama’s birth certificate alongside one of a person named Johanna Ah’Nee. Zullo said that the forensic experts found ‘nine points of forgery’ from which parts of Zullo’s birth certificate was copied to the one purporting to be Obama’s. Among them was a stamped date that had the exact same angle. By comparison, a set of twins born five minutes apart had birth certificates where the stamp did not align exactly… Zullo said the ‘safety paper’ used by Hawaii is easily obtained on eBay, but even at that, no original piece of paper has been seen by very many members of the press. Instead, the White House provided a .jpg image to the Associated Press, which distributed it to members. As for the stamp, one was obtained at Kinko’s for $25, ‘no questions asked.’ Arpaio… called on Congress to look into the matter.”

Mr. Trump did himself and the country a great disservice when he stated, without any explanation whatsoever for his 180-degree “turn-a-around” and “change” of mind, that Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii. Whether Congress would be willing to even look into this matter is a highly dubious question. It seems more likely that they would want to let sleeping dogs lie—being afraid of potentially horrible consequences for the country (and for an indifferent Congress which could be viewed as allegedly complicit in a potential cover-up), if Mr. Obama were to be found of not having been a legitimate president. We can be certain that America’s mainstream media—liberal AND conservative—will continue to speak of the horrible “LIE” of ignorant or malicious people (indiscriminately calling all of them “birthers”) to the effect that Mr. Obama was allegedly not born in Hawaii. But what IF it were to turn out one day that the mass media have perpetrated a propagandistic “LIE” in claiming, without evidence, that he WAS born in Hawaii? Many democratic and conservative politicians and the mass media are in panic about such an undesirable outcome.

Mass Media Wrong Again—President NOT Exempt from Conflict of Interest Laws

The Huffington Post wrote on December 15:

“When President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, he will be banned from using nonpublic information for private profit under the 2012 STOCK Act, the Office of Government Ethics said in a letter clarifying the law’s interpretation.

“The letter from OGE Director Walter Shaub released Thursday night expanded on an earlier letter to Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) to make it clear Shaub’s official guidance is that the STOCK Act does apply to the president. ‘The STOCK Act bars the President, the Vice President, and all executive branch employees from: using nonpublic information for private profit; engaging in insider trading; or intentionally influencing an employment decision or practice of a private entity solely on the basis of partisan political affiliation,’ Shaub’s letter reads.

“The guidance further states the STOCK Act prohibits the president and vice president from participating in an initial public offering and participating in any action that could benefit or influence any person with whom they may be negotiating future employment or compensation after leaving office. This official guidance was necessary because OGE had not issued the guidance formally declaring how the law applied to the president and vice president…

“This law could cause significant problems for Trump, who appears ready to continue to hold a stake in his multibillion-dollar business enterprise. He has hinted that he will hand off control of the company to his two oldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump. If at any time he gives them profitable information that he has learned through his presidential duties and that has not been disclosed to the public, he would be committing a felony…”

It has been uniformly misrepresented by the uninformed mass media—both liberal and conservative—that there are NO laws prohibiting the President from engaging in actions, constituting a conflict of interest. As we have reported before in our Update, these interpretations are manifestly erroneous.

Another Turn-Around by FBI Director James Comey?

The Washington Post wrote on December 16:

“FBI Director James B. Comey and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. are in agreement with a CIA assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election in part to help Donald Trump win the White House, officials disclosed Friday, as President Obama issued a public warning to Moscow that it could face retaliation. New revelations about Comey’s position could put to rest suggestions by some lawmakers that the CIA and the FBI weren’t on the same page on Russian President Vladi­mir Putin’s intentions. Russia has denied being behind the cyber-intrusions, which targeted the Democratic National Committee and the private emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta. Trump, in turn, has repeatedly said he doubts the veracity of U.S. intelligence blaming Moscow for the hacks…

“The positions of Comey and Clapper were revealed in a message that CIA Director John Brennan sent to the agency’s workforce Friday. ‘Earlier this week, I met separately with FBI [Director] James Comey and DNI Jim Clapper, and there is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature, and intent of Russian interference in our presidential election,’ Brennan said, according to U.S. officials who have seen the message…”

As we reported previously (note Update #764), it had been James Comey’s position that there was no credible evidence that Russia influenced the outcome of the recent U.S. presidential election by hacking the Democratic National Committee and the emails of John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign; that James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, agreed with this FBI assessment; and that it remained to be an open question whether the Russians did it and that it was just as likely that the hacking was done by people who had no direct connection to the Russian government.

Serious Test for U.S.-China Relations

Bloomberg and Newsmax wrote on December 17:

“U.S. President-elect Donald Trump slammed the Chinese navy’s capture of an American Navy underwater drone in international waters in the South China Sea, just hours after the country signaled it wants to resolve the issue smoothly. ‘China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters — rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented act,’ Trump wrote Saturday in a Twitter post. After much criticism, the Tweet has since been deleted and re-posted to reflect the correct spelling of the of the word ‘unprecedented.’ …

“A Chinese naval ship unlawfully seized the small unmanned vehicle Thursday while the USNS Bowditch, a U.S. Navy survey ship, was [to] pick up the drone in a routine operation 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines, according to a Defense Department statement…

“While the motive remains unclear, the move threatened to exacerbate tensions between the U.S. and China at a time when policy in Washington is becoming uncertain. Trump has threatened higher tariffs on Chinese products and questioned the U.S.’s policy regarding Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory. The seizure was ‘one of the most brazen actions that the PLA Navy has taken against U.S. Navy for a very long time,’ said Ashley Townshend, research fellow at the U.S. studies center at the University of Sydney. ‘Against a background of rising tensions in the South China Sea and Trump’s increasingly hawkish comments on China policy, this incident will be a serious test for U.S.-China relations.’”

It will remain to be seen in what way these developments will result in a prophesied closer collaboration between Far Eastern nations, such as China and Russia. See our article below, titled, “Russia and Japan Getting Closer.”  

Europe’s Responsibilities in Light of the Trump Administration

The EUObserver wrote on December 16:

“In European capitals like Warsaw, Budapest, and Bratislava, Trump’s election is being openly welcomed. Others, including the heads of EU institutions, appreciate the possible risks but are unwilling to make any moves. ‘We need to wait until we know who his cabinet picks are and what he wants to do,’ a high-profile EU diplomat told me recently… acting on such an assumption is reckless, particularly given what we already know about the foreign policy outlook of the new administration.

“We know, for example, that Rex Tillerson, the new US secretary of state, is generally opposed to sanctions and is also a recipient of the Kremlin’s Order of Friendship. We know that the president-elect has a reserved attitude towards Nato and America’s duty to defend allies, should they come under attack. Neither is it a secret that Trump has peculiar ideas about trade and liberalisation and is unlikely to champion further trade liberalisation with the EU or other trading blocs around the world.

“… these snippets add up to a coherent view of the world in which America abandons much of its global responsibilities. It can no longer be expected to act as the world’s policeman, the leading voice in free-trade negotiations, nor a country that necessarily holds its friends and allies to high standards of democracy and rule of law… However, history shows that when global hegemons become derelict in their duties, turmoil ensues.

“After World War I… the United Kingdom was not in a position to be the world’s leading nation. It’s natural successor, the United States, was not willing to take on the responsibilities… When the economic crisis of 1929 hit, there was no government willing to step in and prevent the Western world from descending into protectionism and competitive devaluations. It was the near-collapse of international trade that made the Depression Great… democracies were unable to stop Mussolini and Hitler in Abyssinia, Spain, Austria, or the Sudetenland…

“Trump needs to understand that he will not be remembered fondly if he presides over the demise of Nato, another Great Depression, or a world war. European leaders need to reach out to him quickly… It should not be impossible to explain to the Trump family just how much the post-Cold War order depends on America’s leadership.

“More importantly, Europeans have to be prepared also to do things – to invest in their security, to step in where they know America will be absent, and to be prepared to lead by example.. After all, these are the right things to do even if Trump’s administration turns out to be perfectly benign. If it is not, however, being ready is what will stand between Europe and a geopolitical disaster of proportions unseen since 1945.”

Based on biblical prophecy and the signs of the time, it does not appear that there will be a “benign” relationship between Europe and “Trump’s administration”. Europe will undoubtedly realize this, and in order to prevent “a geopolitical disaster of proportions unseen since 1945,” they WILL work toward a strong unified European power bloc of ten nations or groups of nations—united economically by the euro and militarily by a common army. The Bible shows that ultimately, war will break out between this future European configuration and the USA.

Strong Dollar – Weak Euro

Deutsche Welle reported on December 16:

“After the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise rates, a lot of cash has made its way into the United States. That makes other currencies like the euro drop. Now even parity is on the horizon – meaning one euro buys one US-dollar.”

But this will only last so long, until the dollar drops and the euro rises again.  

CSU’s Seehofer: Cap on Migrants a Precondition for Next Government

Deutsche Welle wrote on December 15:

“Never before has Bavaria’s state premier spoken so bluntly about limiting the influx of migrants. Now, Merkel’s conservative ally has said a cap will be a prerequisite to forming a new government next year. ‘Without an annual threshold of 200,000 migrants allowed to enter Germany, the Christian Social Union (CSU) will refuse to be part of the next government,’ the Bavarian party’s head Horst Seehofer told news agency dpa on Wednesday.

“While German Chancellor Angela Merkel has so far refused to entertain the notion of such a cap, Seehofer sought Wednesday to enforce his position…”

The relationship between Angela Merkel’s CDU and Horst Seehofer’s CSU has been difficult for some time. If Mr. Seehofer carries out his threat, the CDU would not gain enough votes for Angela Merkel to become the next German Chancellor.

No Euro Crisis in Italy

AFP wrote on December 15:

“Italy’s banking problems can be solved and the EU will do everything to help, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said on Wednesday, dismissing fears of something akin to the euro crisis. New Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni has said his government was prepared to come to the aid of the country’s third largest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS), if private rescue efforts fail.

“The bank, seen as being in danger of failing if it is not recapitalized, needs to raise five billion euros ($5.29 billion) to avoid a state-subsidized rescue. ‘I do not think that we have to expect that the problems of the Italian banks have to be considered as unsolvable,’ Juncker said in an interview with the German public television ZDF.”

As we have been saying repeatedly, Italy will not exit the Eurozone or the EU.

Cold Shoulder for Theresa May

Daily Mail wrote on December 15:

“Theresa May’s Brexit challenge was laid bare for all to see today as European leaders gave her the cold shoulder at a key EU summit in Brussels. As the other 27 heads of state hugged and kissed ahead of the meeting, the British Prime Minister was left with no one to talk to… After 11 seconds of looking around…, she gave up and took her seat at the table. To many it symbolises the EU’s attitude towards Britain following the decision to leave the EU in June.  EU leaders even excluded Mrs May from their dinner tonight so they can discuss their Brexit plans in secret… Theresa May did find some friendly faces to talk to eventually, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel… and European Parliament President Martin Schulz…

“[Mrs. May said:] ‘As we are going to invoke Article 50 and trigger Brexit by the end of March next year, it is right the other leaders prepare for those negotiations as we have been preparing. We will be leaving the EU, we want that to be a smooth and orderly process as possible – it’s not just in our interests, it’s in the interests of Europe as well.’”

The Brexit will ultimately take place, and even though the German government (modern Assyria) is not too happy about this, they will not be able to “help” Britain (modern Ephraim) and to prevent the prophesied outcome. In fact, the relationship between the UK and continental Europe under German leadership will continue to deteriorate.

Russia and Japan Getting Closer

Deutsche Welle reported on December 16:

“Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Japan’s leader Shinzo Abe failed to reach a breakthrough on the Kuril Islands during Putin’s two-day visit. Officials from both sides, however, inked dozens of economic deals…

“The dispute started with the USSR claiming the four islands at the end of World War II, and has burdened bilateral ties ever since. Tokyo and Moscow have yet to sign a peace accord to formally end wartime hostilities…

“Speaking alongside Putin on Friday, Abe said overcoming the issue was a complex task, considering the deal ‘has not been concluded in more than 70 years.’ ‘I think we as the two leaders were able to show our sincere determination toward signing a peace treaty, although a difficult path lies ahead,’ he said. Putin concurred, but stressed that signing a peace deal should be a priority in the relations between the two neighboring countries….

“During the talks in Nagato and Tokyo, representatives of the two countries finalized nearly 70 deals on economic, cultural, science and sports cooperation. Among other initiatives, the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Japan Bank for International Cooperation agreed on creating a $1 billion… joint investment fund. Also, Novatek Chief Executive Leonid Mikhelson said his company had signed agreements with Japan’s Mitsui & Co, Mitsubishi Corp and Marubeni Corp for the liquefied natural gas plant in the Arctic.

“… Putin expressed concern about US missile defense systems in Japan, calling it an overreaction to the threat from North Korea…”

According to biblical prophecy, nations from the Far East will form an economic and military alliance which will be hostile towards Europe. This alliance will include China and Russia, and, in all likelihood, countries such as Japan and India.

The New False “Wisdom” of Pope Francis on Evolution

The Independent wrote on December 17:

“The theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real and God is not ‘a magician with a magic wand’, Pope Francis has declared… the Pope made comments which experts said put an end to the ‘pseudo theories’ of creationism and intelligent design that some argue were encouraged by his predecessor, Benedict XVI. Francis explained that both scientific theories were not incompatible with the existence of a creator – arguing instead that they ‘require it’.

“‘When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so,’ Francis said… ‘Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve.’

“… Pope Francis’s comments were more in keeping with the progressive work of Pope Pius XII, who opened the door to the idea of evolution and actively welcomed the Big Bang theory. In 1996, John Paul II went further and suggested evolution was ‘more than a hypothesis’ and ‘effectively proven fact’.

“Yet more recently, Benedict XVI and his close advisors have apparently endorsed the idea that intelligent design underpins evolution – the idea that natural selection on its own is insufficient to explain the complexity of the world. In 2005, his close associate Cardinal Schoenborn wrote an article saying ‘evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense – an unguided, unplanned process – is not’”

These comments by controversial Pope Francis are the product of faulty human reasoning. Allegations that God cannot do everything are highly offensive. If you want to understand what the Bible says about the hypothesis of evolution, which has not been and cannot be proven, please read our free booklets, “The Theory of Evolution—a Fairy Tale for Adults?” and “Heavens and Earth… Before and After the First Man.”

Donald Trump vs. the CIA

The Washington Post wrote on December 10:

“The simmering distrust between Donald Trump and U.S. intelligence agencies escalated into open antagonism Saturday after the president-elect mocked a CIA report that Russian operatives had intervened in the U.S. presidential election to help him win.  The growing tensions set up a potential showdown between Trump and the nation’s top intelligence officials during what some of those officials describe as the most complex threat environment in decades…

“Trump’s reaction will probably deepen an existing rift between Trump and the agencies and raised questions about how the government’s 16 spying agencies will function in his administration on matters such as counterterrorism and cyberwarfare… The tensions between Trump and spy agencies could escalate even further as dozens of analysts begin work on a project, ordered by President Obama, to deliver a comprehensive report on Russian intervention in the election before Trump’s inauguration in January…

“In a statement, Trump suggested that the CIA had discredited itself over faulty intelligence assessments about Iraq’s weapons stockpile more than a dozen years ago. ‘These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,’ he said.”

CIA and FBI Disagree

ABC wrote on December 12:

“In an unprecedented public display of acrimony, President-elect Donald Trump and the CIA are engaged in a war of words over the extent and details of Russian efforts to interfere with the American presidential election… Trump used his Twitter account this morning to continue his effort over the weekend to discredit the CIA and its reported conclusion that the Russians hacked into the Democratic Party computers in an effort to help elect Trump. Trump tweeted: ‘Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called conspiracy theory!’…

“Responding to Trump’s comments over the weekend, an intelligence official said that ‘It is concerning that intelligence on Russian actions related to the U.S. election is being dismissed out of hand as false or politically partisan… The inclination to ignore such intelligence and impugn the integrity of U.S. intelligence officials is contrary to all that is sacred to national security professionals who work day and night to protect this country,’ the official said…

“Over the weekend, Reince Priebus, who is RNC chairman and has been selected to be White House chief of staff in the Trump administration, told ABC News’ This Week that the RNC’s systems were ‘absolutely not hacked.’ ‘We contacted the FBI months ago when the [hacking of the Democratic National Committee] issue came about. They reviewed all of our systems. We have hacking-detection systems in place, and the conclusion was then, as it was again two days ago when we went back to the FBI to ask them about this, that the RNC was not hacked,’ he said.”

Newsmax wrote on December 14:

“In telephone conversations with Donald Trump, FBI Director James Comey assured the president-elect there was no credible evidence that Russia influenced the outcome of the recent U.S. presidential election by hacking the Democratic National Committee and the emails of John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. What’s more, Comey told Trump that James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, agreed with this FBI assessment…

“During their phone conversations, Comey informed Trump that the FBI had been alert for the past year to the danger that the Russians would try to cause mischief during the U.S. presidential election. However, whether the Russians did so remains an open question, Comey said, adding that it was just as likely that the hacking was done by people who had no direct connection to the Russian government…”

Deutsche Welle wrote on December 15:

“The government of the outgoing US President Barack Obama claimed on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was directly responsible for the hacker attacks during the US election  campaign.

“‘Nothing of such a bearing’ is done within the Russian government, without Putin knowing, said the Obama advisor Ben Rhodes on MSNBC television. Putin was ultimately responsible for the deeds of the Russian government.’

“The White House also said it was ‘fact’ that such actions helped Donald Trump’s campaign.”

This does not look like a “smooth transition” of the US Presidency, as previously claimed by President Obama.

Donald Trump’s Controversial Nomination of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State

JTA wrote on December 13:

“President-elect Donald Trump nominated Rex Tillerson, the chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil, who is close to the Russian leadership, as secretary of state. Trump in his statement Tuesday morning emphasized Tillerson’s executive skills…

“Tillerson faces a tough nomination fight [in the Senate] because of his associations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He led the expansion of Exxon’s joint drilling with Russia in recent years and has objected to sanctions imposed on Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine. Tillerson in 2012 was honored with the Russian Order of Friendship decoration.

“Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. told NPR on Tuesday that he was withholding judgment on Tillerson. Calling Putin a ‘thug’ [and a ‘murderer’] for his expansionism in Ukraine and his human rights abuses, McCain, who will be key to getting Tillerson confirmed, said in the interview, ‘Did he ever raise those issues with Mr. Putin? Is it strictly business?’

“Oil companies have in the past clashed with the pro-Israel lobby, in the 1970s over the Arab boycott of Israel and in the 1990s over the imposition of sanctions on Iran.”

BBC News added on December 13:

“Although he has no formal foreign policy experience, as Exxon chief Mr Tillerson oversees a company with 75,000 employees and business activities in more than 50 countries. He has warned of the ‘catastrophic’ impact of unchecked climate change, although his company has been accused of deliberately misleading the public about the role of fossil fuels in global warming.

“But it is his connections to Russia that have drawn most flak. He has forged multi-billion-dollar deals with Russia’s state oil company, Rosneft…

“As rumours of his nomination gathered pace in recent days… Marco Rubio… said being ‘a friend of Vladimir is not an attribute I am hoping for from’ the next secretary of state… Reacting to the nomination, Mr Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov, said all Russian officials and not just the president enjoyed ‘good, businesslike relations’ with Mr Tillerson…”

Tillerson’s Nomination “Deeply Disturbing” to Jews

JTA wrote on December 13:

“‘Exxon Mobil has not been a friend to Israel through the years,’ said Abraham Foxman, the national director emeritus of the Anti-Defamation League… ‘There was a time that being associated with oil made you automatically deemed hostile when it comes to Israel,’ said David Makovsky, the Ziegler distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy…

“Through his role at Exxon, Tillerson forged deep and friendly ties in the Arab world… ‘Tillerson’s nomination is deeply disturbing, as he is the leader of one of the world’s largest energy corporations — which has polluted the global environment, developed close relationships with dictators, and used its resources over 40 years to suppress climate science,’ said AJWS [American Jewish World Service] President Robert Bank.”

Mr. Trump’s nomination of Mr. Tillerson as Secretary of State, as well as his nomination of Andy Puzder, who runs the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. fast-food chains as CEO of CKE Restaurants, to lead the Department of Labor, are indeed controversial picks. Other somewhat controversial picks include so far Betsy De Vos for Education; Ben Carson for Housing and Urban Development; Jeff Sessions for Attorney General; retired General “Mad Dog” Jeff Mattis for Defense; Michael Flynn as Security Advisor; former Texas Governor Rick Perry as Energy Secretary (see article below); and former Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Stephen Bannon as Chief Strategist.

Ex-Texas Governor Rick Perry Nominated as US Energy Secretary

Deutsche Welle reported on December 14:

“US President-elect Donald Trump has formally chosen Rick Perry [who recently performed in “Dancing with the Stars”] as his future secretary of energy. If the oil industry ally is confirmed to the post, it could have profound consequences for US environmental policy…

“As energy secretary, Perry would be in charge of policy decisions on boosting the US domestic supply of oil and on investments in oil exploration and technology. The Energy Department also plays a major regulatory [role] in the areas of nuclear power and natural gas, as well as maintaining and securing the country’s nuclear arsenal… Perry is expected to try to push through the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline project, which has provoked major protests in North Dakota, along with similar enterprises by the oil industry.

“He is currently board director at Energy Transfer Partners LP and also at Sunoco Logistics Partners LP, which together developed the Dakota Access Pipeline. The US Army Corps of Engineers decided last month to delay the pipeline to allow talks with the Standing Rock Sioux and other project opponents.”

At one time, Mr. Perry announced that if he were to become President, he would eliminate the Energy Department.

Moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem?

The Washington Post wrote on December 13:

“Every four years, presidential candidates routinely signal their support for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Then, after they’re sworn into office, they balk when faced with the potential ramifications. Comments from Trump aides and the mayor of Jerusalem, though, suggest that Trump could be poised to discard yet another diplomatic axiom and relocate the embassy ‘fairly quickly’ after he enters the White House.

“That move would be highly political, effectively meaning that the United States was recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which it has refused to do for decades out of concern about provoking Palestinians who want part of the city to become their own capital. ‘They are serious about this,’ Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said Tuesday after returning from a trip to the United States, where he met with transition aides whom he declined to identify. ‘I am optimistic that this will happen sooner rather than later.’

“The question of Jerusalem’s status is the most sensitive and complicated issue in the long-running conflict between ­Israelis and Palestinians. It is fraught with political, religious and nationalist implications that potentially could create an uproar throughout the Middle East and the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims.

“Trump will have an opportunity to decide the fate of the U.S. diplomatic mission on June 1, at the expiration of another six-month waiver President Obama signed to the Jerusalem Embassy Act passed by Congress in 1995 mandating that the embassy be moved by 1999.

“Jerusalem sits in the middle of the contested land, figuratively and literally. To avoid the appearance of favorites, the United States and every other country place their embassies in and around the commercial city of Tel Aviv and drive to Jerusalem to meet government officials…

“During the campaign, Trump repeatedly promised that if elected he would ‘100 percent’ move the embassy. About a week after the election, Jason Greenblatt, a real estate lawyer and Trump adviser, told Israel’s Army radio that Trump was ‘going to do it.’ That confidence was reinforced Monday when Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said moving the embassy was a ‘very big priority’ for Trump.

“Meir Turgeman, the head of the Jerusalem building and planning committee in the Jerusalem City Council, said on Israeli radio this week that the transition team contacted Barkat asking for help finding an appropriate property. ‘The decision was already approved by Congress, and it is the right thing to do to recognize Jerusalem. It’s been the capital of the Jewish people for 3,000 years,’ said Barkat, who is a friend of Trump son-in-law Jarad Kushner…

“The move would be unpopular among Arabs across the Middle East and make it even more difficult for Arab governments to acknowledge publicly that they have been developing under-the-table relations with Israel, said Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. ‘It would fan the flames of a region already on fire,’ he said…”

JTA wrote on December 15:

“President-elect Donald Trump is nominating a top Jewish surrogate, David Friedman, to be ambassador to Israel, with a statement saying Friedman will serve from Jerusalem and describing the city as ‘Israel’s eternal capital’.”

Such a transfer would indeed be very interesting in the light of biblical prophecy.

China Responds to Trump Policy

The National World wrote on December 12:

“An official Chinese newspaper called Donald Trump ‘as ignorant as a child’ on Monday after the president-elect again suggested that he was reconsidering how the US deals with Taiwan – one of the most sensitive issues in the relationship between Washington and Beijing. The Global Times, a Communist Party-controlled newspaper, was responding to Mr Trump’s comments in a television interview on Sunday that he would not feel ‘bound by a one-China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade’.

“Beijing was already angered by Mr Trump’s December 2 call with Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, the first time an American president or president-elect has publicly spoken to a Taiwanese leader in nearly four decades. China considers the self-governing island to be its territory and any reference to a separate Taiwanese head of state to be a grave insult. Hours after Mr Trump’s interview with Fox News Channel aired, the Global Times published a Chinese-language editorial headlined: ‘Trump, please listen clearly: “One China” cannot be traded.’…

“The Global Times, which is published by the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, often runs commentaries that target nationalistic sentiment with provocative language…”

“China Warns Trump: Taiwan Is ‘Not for Bargaining’”

Newsmax added on December 12:

“China warned Donald Trump against using the One-China policy regarding Taiwan as a bargaining chip in trade talks, a swift response that indicates Beijing is losing patience with the U.S. president-elect as he breaks with decades of diplomatic protocol… the official Xinhua News Agency warned that world peace hinges on close and friendly ties between the U.S. and China…”

Germany Won’t Change China Policy

ABC wrote on December 12:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that her country, Europe’s biggest economic power, won’t be changing its policy on China and Taiwan after President-elect Donald Trump raised questions about the future U.S. stance. Merkel was asked Monday whether she, like Trump, would be prepared to speak to Taiwan’s president and what Trump’s recent comments on China mean for Europe. She replied: ‘We continue to stand by the one-China policy and we will not change our position.’

“The one-China policy means recognizing Beijing as China’s capital and maintaining only unofficial relations with Taiwan. Trump said over the weekend he wouldn’t feel ‘bound by a one-China policy.’ Merkel has visited China regularly over 11 years as chancellor and cultivated economic ties, though she irked Beijing by receiving the Dalai Lama in 2007.”

As this article indicates, even a “minor” incident such as taking a phone call from Taiwan could lead to deteriorating relationships between the USA and Europe under German leadership.

Donald Trump on Paris Global Warming Agreement

Newsmax wrote on December 11:

“Trump said Sunday he was ‘studying’ whether the U.S. should stick with the global warming agreement struck in Paris a year ago, signed by more than 100 countries to reduce carbon emissions… ‘I don’t want that agreement to put us at a competitive disadvantage with other countries,’ he said.  ‘As you know, there are different times and different time limits on that agreement.  I don’t want that to give China or other countries signing agreements and advantage over us.’”

USA Economic Downfall Coming

Express wrote on December 12:

“An Economist has warned American citizens to prepare for a ‘once in a generation’ economic collapse, similar to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Harry Dent, an economics forecaster and writer, said the rise in investment since Donald Trump’s presidential election win was setting America up for a fall.

“He said he expected the country’s economy to grow sharply over the next few months before crashing in scenes not witnessed since the inter-war period. Mr Dent predicted: ‘I think this is going to be a stock market peak of a lifetime followed by a crash very similar to the early 1930s. This happens once in a lifetime. I think this is the last rally in this bull market. You can’t have stocks keep going up at this rate when earnings are going nowhere.’

“He said Mr Trump’s many election pledges, primarily creating millions of jobs in the country and kick-starting dying industrial towns, would prove to be his downfall. Once his promises go unfulfilled, Mr Dent explained, investors would panic, withdrawing their funds and creating a devastating economic collapse.

“The top finance expert also said economic instability in Europe, particularly Italy, could have a knock-on effect in America. He said: ‘I think the trigger is people seeing sometime early next year that Donald will not be able to do everything that he said, and the economy may be slowing by then. ‘The biggest trigger, kind of like the subprime crisis in 2008, is going to be Italy.  Italy is bankrupt. Its bonds are trading at lower rates than ours which is ridiculous.’

“Mr Dent concluded his warning by conceding his prediction could be way off target – but claimed he felt he had to warn the public of what may lie ahead.”

Certain words in the article, such as “fall”; “downfall”; “economic collapse”; and “what may lie ahead” are quite interesting in light of our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

The Revival of Roman Catholicism in France

MSN wrote on December 8:

“For many French voters, François Fillon is more than a leading contender for president in next year’s elections: He is viewed as a crusader in the throes of a holy war… represent[ing] an astonishing prospect: the political reawakening of Catholic France after decades of slumber.

“As right-wing and populist leaders across Europe — such as Viktor Orban in Hungary and Marine Le Pen in France — increasingly turn toward Christian values, Fillon has ignited a wave of nostalgia for a nation of traditional families and quaint village churches. It is a nation that he and many of his supporters say is under siege from the dual threats of multiculturalism and Islamist terrorism. As evidence, conservatives cite the slaying of an 85-year-old village priest in July by Islamic State-inspired militants, explaining it as an assault on the essence of France…

“When the fervent Roman Catholic responds to terrorist violence, he often does so in the lofty language of religious rapture. The war against the Islamic State, he wrote in his recent book, is ‘a battle of the end times,’ sounded with ‘trumpets of the apocalypse.’ In short, what he promises is a return to his nation’s roots. And in his eyes, those roots are fundamentally Catholic.

“Although France is renowned for strict prohibitions on religious displays in public spaces — notably on certain types of veils worn by many Muslim women — it is also a country of some 45,000 Catholic churches and one whose public holidays are almost exclusively Christian in origin [We understand, of course, that they are not speaking of true biblical Christianity and biblical “Holy Days,” but of “orthodox” or “traditional “ Christianity which has adopted many pagan holidays, rites and traditions, and which has rejected most of the biblical doctrines]…  Some insist that France would not exist without the Catholic Church: The nation’s oft-invoked creation myth begins, after all, with the baptism of Clovis I, who united the kingdom of the Franks in the 6th century…

“In provincial towns like Chartres — and in Fillon’s native northwest region — that ancient relationship is apparent everywhere. Anchored by a majestic medieval cathedral, Chartres is home to a relic said to be the tunic that the Virgin Mary wore at the birth of Jesus…

“Members of the clergy explain this increasing embrace of religion in the context of recent terrorist attacks, which they say have drawn many secular French Catholics back into churches for the first time in years…”

Challenges of the 64^th Italian Government in Past 70 Years

Deutsche Welle wrote on December 11:

“Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella has asked Paolo Gentiloni to form a new government as prime minister. Mattarella has rejected calls for immediate elections… President Mattarella said on Saturday he would act quickly to give the country a fully functioning government after holding 23 separate meetings with leaders of all parties over the past three days following the resignation of the previous caretaker prime minister, Matteo Renzi, who was defeated in a referendum on constitutional reforms last Sunday…

“Gentiloni is a 62-year-old former journalist and member of the Democratic Party (PD) which Renzi still leads. The new prime minister was one of the most trusted ministers and his appointment should allow Renzi to retain some influence on public affairs ahead of a possible candidacy in the 2018 elections…

“Italy has had 63 governments in the past 70 years…

“The challenges for the new prime minister are not just political… The country’s heavily indebted banking sector is also in need of substantial funds to recapitalize. The third-largest lender and the oldest surviving bank in the world, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS,) may need state intervention to avoid collapse. The bank has been in business since 1472, but it failed European stress tests in July and needs to raise 5 billion euros ($5.2 billion) to cover losses… The European Central Bank (ECB) refused on Friday to allow more time for a private bailout meaning a state-funded salvage operation was more likely. Under EU rules, state funds can be injected into troubled banks only if private creditors accept losses. In the case of BMPS this could hit many small investors who hold the bank’s junior bonds.”

Terror Attacks in Turkey

Deutsche Welle wrote on December 11:

“Ankara has declared a day of mourning after a terror strike outside a soccer stadium on Saturday night in Istanbul killed 38 people and wounded 155. The target was police officers, according to the Interior Ministry… Turkey came to terms with its latest large-scale attack, this one targeting police officers, killing 30 of them together with seven civilians and one unidentified person. On Sunday, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters that 13 people had been arrested in connection with the ‘terrorist attack.’… ‘Nobody should doubt that with God’s will, we as a country and a nation will overcome terror, terrorist organizations … and the forces behind them,’ [President] Erdogan said in a statement.

“The Kurdish militant group TAK claimed responsibility for the blast, Reuters news agency reported on Sunday, citing a TAK member who said Turkish civilians were not the direct target of the bombings. Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus had told the private news channel CNN Turk that ‘arrows point to the PKK,’ the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party… The ‘Islamic State’ (IS) group has also been blamed for previous strikes, including one in June, when militants killed 45 people in a gun attack on Istanbul’s airport. Last week, the group threatened to target Ankara’s ‘security, military, economic and media establishment.’”

Subsequently, Mr. Erdogan began another crackdown on those who are not sympathizers and supporters of his policies, even though they are not in any way aligned with TAK, PKK or IS.

The Netherlands’ Geert Wilders Convicted for “Insulting” Moroccans

The EUObserver wrote on December 9:

“Dutch anti-EU politician Geert Wilders has been convicted by a Dutch court on Friday (9 December) for insulting a group and inciting discrimination, for remarks he made about Moroccans in 2014. The court said it was ‘legally and convincingly proven’ that Wilders had insulted Moroccans as a group when he rhetorically asked a crowd if there should be ‘fewer Moroccans’ in the country. However, the court did not impose a fine or jail sentence. Wilders was acquitted from the charge of inciting to hatred…

“Wilders’ defence lawyer announced he would appeal. Wilders was not present during the ruling. In a tweet, Wilders called the verdict ‘completely crazy’, said the judges ‘hated’ his political party and that ‘half the Netherlands’ had been convicted with him…

“Ahead of the verdict, Wilders had said the verdict ‘whether acquittal or conviction, will not change anything de facto’, and that he would continue to speak his mind. Several political analysts had pointed out, ahead of Friday’s ruling, that both outcomes would be a political win for Wilders.

“Having lost the case, he can now play the role of the victim who is being silenced by the establishment… Had he won the case, he would be able to prove he was right all along. In any case, Wilders is expected to do well in the upcoming national elections in the Netherlands, on 15 March 2017. His party has been leading in most polls for weeks and has consistently been doing well since the migration crisis broke out in September 2015…

“Earlier this year, he campaigned against an EU-Ukraine treaty, and correctly predicted… that ‘the chances are very big that a majority of the people will vote No in this referendum’… “

Following his “conviction,” Mr. Wilders’ popularity rose even more in the polls.

Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” One of the Favorite Books Among Italian Schoolchildren

Breitbart wrote on December 11:

“A survey by Italy’s Education Ministry showed that students at Italian high schools all over the country included Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s manifesto Mein Kampf in their list of their top ten favorite books. Alessandro Fusacchia from the Education Ministry said the choice was a ‘particularly nasty case,’ The Local reported. He added that the vote was not counted since students had been asked to pick from books by Italian authors that were published after 2000…

“Mein Kampf – translated as ‘My Struggle’ – details Hitler’s anti-Semitism and worldview that led him to perpetrate the murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust. In June, Italian rightwing newspaper Il Giornale faced an outcry after it distributed free copies of an annotated version of Mein Kampf. The paper, which is owned by Paolo Berlusconi, the brother of former premier Silvio Berlusconi, justified the move by saying, ‘know evil in order to reject it.’…

“A 70-year-old copyright on Mein Kampf held by the German state of Bavaria expired at the end of last year, prompting the publication of a 2,000-page, two-volume annotated version of Mein Kampf by Munich’s Institute for Contemporary History in order to ‘thoroughly deconstruct Hitler’s propaganda in a lasting manner.’”

Martin Schulz—New Threat to Angela Merkel?

The Local wrote on December 9:

“Outgoing European Parliament President Martin Schulz has gained tremendous ground in a new poll, emerging as a potential threat to Chancellor Angela Merkel in next year’s election. When Schulz announced last month that he would not seek a new term as EU Parliament President to return to German politics, he was immediately pegged by German media as being a potential candidate for Chancellor for the Social Democrats (SPD) to run against Merkel. And now a new poll shows that he may actually have a fighting chance, more so than the current SPD leader and Vice Chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel…

“When Merkel was pitted against Gabriel, she received 57 percent of the vote, while he received 19 percent… But when respondents had to choose between Merkel and Schulz, Merkel… received 43 percent of the hypothetical vote, while Schulz took in 36 percent… Whether Schulz will run rather than Gabriel is yet to be disclosed, and the party has said it will announce its decision in January. Schulz could also reportedly be a potential replacement for Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is expected to leave his post next year as he has been nominated as the country’s next president…

“After Merkel was officially selected by her party this week to be candidate for Chancellor once again… 59 percent of respondents said it was ‘good’ that she was running for a fourth term… And when asked how they felt about Merkel’s policies, 57 percent of respondents said they were happy or very happy… Schulz also received 57 percent approval…”

Meet Martin Schulz

We are told by Wikipedia that “Schulz (60) is married [he has been married for 30 years] and has two children… [After completing elementary school], Schulz attended the Heilig-Geist (Holy Spirit) grammar school, a private Roman Catholic school run by the Holy Ghost Fathers (or Spiritans) [without graduating; he did not advance twice to the next grade. At 24, he became an alcoholic and wanted to commit suicide, according to Der Stern, dated December 11. His brother, a doctor, helped him to overcome alcoholism… he stopped drinking immediately, from one day to the next. He also stopped smoking from one day to the next]…

“Schulz is widely considered an ardent EU supporter [Der Stern called him a “Super European”. He speaks fluently six languages: German, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch.] … In 2016 Schulz stated that Donald Trump is a problem ‘for the whole world,’ and linked the Trump phenomenon to far-right populism in Europe. He called Trump an ‘irresponsible man’ who ‘boasts about not having a clue’… In 2015, amid the Ukrainian crisis, Schulz suspended a committee made up of Russian and EU lawmakers that meets several times a year to improve ties.

“When Russia barred entry to two European Union politicians who had planned to attend the funeral in 2015 of murdered opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, Schulz criticized the barring as ‘a high affront to EU–Russia relations and the work of democratic institutions’… On a visit in February 2014, Schulz gave a ‘generally pro-Israel’ speech to the Knesset, but he implied at one point, based on what he himself described as unverified data, that Israel was denying Palestinians a fair share of water resources in the occupied West Bank. This part of the speech sparked a walk-out by several lawmakers from the right-wing Jewish Home party, and drew a public rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…

“On 24 November 2010 the British MEP Godfrey Bloom caused a row in the European Parliament when he interrupted a speech by Martin Schulz, heckling him with the Nazi propaganda slogan ‘Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer’ (‘one people, one empire, one leader’) and accusing him of being an ‘undemocratic fascist’… Schulz had criticised the role played by the United Kingdom, which was involved in the discussions despite not being a member of the eurozone, and said that some eurosceptics would take pleasure in the collapse of the European Union.”

Der Stern wrote that Schulz is driven by an “unrestrainable ambition.”

Pope on Syria: Accustomed to War and Destruction?

Zenit wrote on December 11:

“Pope Francis again reiterated his appeal for peace in Aleppo, turning once more to the plight of the Syrian city… The Pope has already made public appeals on behalf of Aleppo a handful of times. ‘Every day I am close, above all in prayer, to the people of Aleppo. We should not forget that Aleppo is a city. That there are people there: families, children, elderly, sick people,’ he said.

“The Pope lamented that ‘we have already grown accustomed to the war, to the destruction…’”

Gruesome Murders in Aleppo

The Telegraph wrote on December 14:

“The government’s operation to recapture the rebel-held eastern part of the city is in its final stages and reports of atrocities are coming in. The Syrian army is reportedly going from house to house and executing residents on the spot. At least 82 civilians, including women and children, were shot on Monday, according to a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Residents fear summary executions, forced disappearances, torture, and rape – a grim litany of war crimes. Meanwhile, the Syrian regime and the Russian government are ignoring calls for the safe passage of civilians from war-torn Aleppo, as more than 100,000 terrified people are still trapped inside the city.

“If this story sounds familiar, that is because we have heard it before. We have seen it on the killing fields of Cambodia, the ghost towns of Iraqi Kurdistan poisoned by chemical weapons, in the faces of machete-wielding Rwandans, the sieges of Sarajevo and Srebrenica, and the desert death camps of Darfur. ‘Never again,’ the world pledged in the wake of these atrocities. And yet the same horrors are now being inflicted on the people of Aleppo and we are reacting with much the same carelessness…

“Five years into the civil war, Syria has turned into the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our time. All red lines have been crossed. One of the greatest failures of our political leadership has been to allow Syria and Russia to dominate the narrative around Aleppo. Everyone is now a terrorist. Every hospital bombed a secret weapons storage. Every use of chemical weapons a false flag operation by the rebels…

“Aleppo will become the ultimate symbol of anger and disillusion. It will drive more young men into the arms of Islamic State and other terrorist groups and it will bring more refugees to Europe’s shores…”

Highly Regarded Scientist Recognizes God as the Creator of the Universe

Express wrote on December 12:

“Michio Kaku, who is highly regarded in the scientific community thanks to his work in helping to popularise the String Theory, has developed a new theory which he says points to the existence of God or an intelligent designer for the universe. The American scientist, who is a professor in theoretical physics at the City College of New York, came to his conclusion by studying ‘primitive semi – radius tachyons’.

“These tachyons are theoretical particles that have the ability to ‘unstick’ matter in the universe or vacuum space between particles, essentially leaving everything free from the influence of the universe. This led Mr Kaku to the conclusion that the universe was created through design, and not random chaos…

“He said of his research: ‘I have concluded that we are in a world made by rules created by an intelligence. Believe me, everything that we call chance today won’t make sense anymore. To me it is clear that we exist in a plan which is governed by rules that were created, shaped by a universal intelligence and not by chance.’

“With all of the calculations that would need to go into creating a successful universe, Mr Kaku says… [that] ‘the mind of God, we believe, is cosmic music, the music of strings resonating through 11-dimensional hyperspace.’”

This is a refreshing position of light in a foolish world of evolutionary darkness. Most scientists do not believe in God and attempt to “explain” a creation without a Creator; even suggesting that the universe “created” itself. To give you much biblical information on the truth and to expose the lies of so-called “scientific knowledge,” please read our free booklets, “The Theory of Evolution—a Fairy Tale for Adults?” and “Heavens and Earth… Before and After the First Man!”