TALIBAN VICTORY IN AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan Taliban members

Our neighborhood has had internet problems all week, so my blog is shorter than usual.   It should be solved by 5pm tonight.

“At the July 7-8 talks in Doha, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization), backed by Qatar and the U.S., emerged victorious, extracting major advantages from Afghan delegates and the international community.   A key Taliban advantage was that they held on to the Islamic Emirate’s long-standing position of not recognizing the elected government of Afghanistan as a legitimate entity.   While the Afghan delegates, including those from the government, were forced to attend the talks in their personal capacity, the Taliban representatives came to the table as the Taliban.

“As per a statement issued by Qatar, Dr. Mutlaq bin Majid Al-Qahtani, the Qatari Special Envoy for Counterterrorism and Mediation in Conflict Resolution, announced the “success” of the talks, stating:   “We are very pleased today to reach a joint statement as a first step to peace.”  The “success” and the “first step to peace” which Al-Qahtani spoke of belong to the Taliban and shari’a, not to the democratic government in Kabul, not to Afghan women who suffered under the Taliban’s shari’a rule during the 1990s, and not to common Afghans whose civil liberties are at stake in Doha.

“The Afghan Taliban – as a result of the Doha talks which were sponsored jointly by Qatar and Germany – marched closer to their stated objectives of enforcing Islamic shari’a rule in Afghanistan and of restructuring the Afghan government institutions, including the military, to their liking.”   (Tufail Ahmad, MEMRI #191. 7/12/19)

A total of almost 3,500 coalition forces have died in the 18-year conflict.

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BRITISH CLASH WITH IRAN

There was a time, even in my lifetime, when the British dominated the Persian Gulf.   But that was before 1971.   Now, a British naval presence is once again essential, to protect British shipping.   A British tanker was intercepted by Iranian vessels earlier in the week.

This was seen as retaliation for a previous confrontation off the coast of (British) Gibraltar.

Things were a lot easier during the four centuries when Britain had the greatest navy in the world.   The navy held the “multitude of nations” together (Genesis 48:19).   Since World War II it has been allowed to decline, so that more and more money could be spent on Britain’s welfare system and its National Health Service.

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BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO US QUITS

The American Ambassador to the Court of St. James (London), has always, in effect, bought his way into the position.   His contribution to the presidential election campaign would have been one of the largest contributions made.

Not so the other way around.

Britain’s diplomatic service is always made up of career diplomats. Nobody has bought a position and the service is non-political.

This week, unexpectedly, it became “political” when a memo from the British Ambassador in Washington was leaked.   The memo evaluated the Trump Administration as “inept.”

President Trump exploded and the Ambassador resigned.   President Trump rightly felt he could no longer work with the man.

The Ambassador will take early retirement (he was due to retire at the end of the year, anyway).   The big question is:  who leaked the memo and why?

It may have something to do with Brexit.   What doesn’t nowadays?

Somebody might be trying to damage US-UK relations at a time when Brexit is imminent.   Could this worsen relations with the US and therefore make it more likely that Britain will stay in Europe?  Or could it have been an attempt to get rid of a man who is critical of the US president, in time for Boris Johnson to become PM and appoint a more pro-US Ambassador?

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CHENNAI OUT OF WATER

India’s sixth biggest city has run out of water.   Tankers have to deliver water to its seven million plus inhabitants.

It highlights a problem that is set to make life much harder for people around the world.

Water is the one commodity that people can’t live without.

SIGNIFICANT MIDTERMS

The US midterm elections do not normally get much attention, as the office of the presidency is not up for a vote.   This year has been quite different, with the election seen by many as a “referendum” on Donald Trump.   The country is very divided and there was a very high turnout.

The Irish Times, of all papers, got it right with the following comment on the midterm election.

“Many in the (US) had hoped that the first full electoral verdict on the presidency of Donald Trump would deliver a decisive repudiation of Trumpism.   The results do not bear this out.” — Irish Times.

In fact, Donald Trump’s legitimacy as president was confirmed by Tuesday’s election.   He emerged as a credible candidate for a second term in 2020.

This goes even further – populist parties around the world have received greater legitimacy.   Liberals and globalists will now have to accept that a significant percentage of the population does not want to continue in the same direction, but wants to put their own country first, over all others.

Brazil is the latest country to vote for a populist as president.   Brazil is the second most powerful nation in the Americas. President Jair Bolsonaro has said that he will follow Trump (and Guatemala) in recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.   He also plans a radical program similar to what the US president is trying to do at home.

At a press conference the morning after the election, an African-American reporter with PBS accused the president of advocating “white nationalism.”    Mr. Trump was quick to respond and point out that he is a “nationalist,” not a “white nationalist.”   He puts America first.   Most of the journalists present did not seem to understand the concept!

We are likely to see more evidence of this over the weekend when Mr. Trump joins European leaders for the centenary of the end of the First World War.   The celebrations are being held in France.   President Macron of France has already said that the war was a good example of how allies cooperating can achieve great things; he has also emphasized that the Europeans need to work together even more now that the US is less committed to Europe.

Another issue likely to arise is highlighted by this comment from the German newspaper Die Welt, following Tuesday’s election:

“. . . Trump is expected significantly to increase pressure on Europeans to invest the target of two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense.   Above all, Berlin will face pressure to spend billions and billions of euros, because the federal government is far from achieving this goal.” — Die Welt

It’s easy to understand why the president of the United States is pressuring Germany on this issue, but many Europeans, including Germans, are not so keen on seeing a more militarized Germany.   Just because a nation has been a democracy for seventy years does not mean it will remain one.   Just look at history!

The press conference on the morning after the midterms was also significant and not just because the PBS and CNN reporters were  put down, for different reasons.

Nancy Pelosi was the Democratic Party spokesperson and, true to form, talked up her party’s gains on Tuesday, even though they were nowhere near as good as she herself had predicted.   She spoke of how the “monied power” had been defeated, a throw back to when the Republican Party was considered the enemy of the working man.

On the same day, I learned of a new book by Anthony Scaramucci, “Trump, the blue collar president.”   When I Googled the book, this blurb came up on “Google Books:”

“Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci tells the inside story of how Donald J. Trump, a billionaire living on Fifth Avenue, identified the struggle of blue-collar Americans, and won the Presidency.   TRUMP, THE BLUE-COLLAR PRESIDENT is the comeback story for America and Americans …”

It’s clearly not possible for Nancy Pelosi to claim the Democrats are the party of the working man when Donald Trump, a Republican, is the “blue collar president.”

The Dems’ enthusiasm for the “caravan” moving through Mexico, headed for the border, will only result in Americans at the bottom of the economic ladder losing their jobs, forcing down wages.   Trump’s promise to refuse them entry will help blue-collar workers far more.

Times have changed.   Populists across the world are the new parties of “blue collar” workers – they appeal to the grassroots.   But the liberal, intellectual parties fail to understand this.

Ms Pelosi, at 78, is out of touch with reality.

It was pointed out on the BBC the evening of the election that the average age of the three top Democrats in Congress is 75.   This contrasts with the average age of the three top Republicans in Congress, which is 48.   The new democrats entering Congress are not likely to want to be led by somebody who is so out of touch with the winds of change that are sweeping America.   The last election showed that the Dems are the wealthier party.   The Wall Street Journal last week said the midterms were a battle between college educated white women and non-college educated white blue-collar workers.   It’s all topsy-turvy!

A further change was also highlighted in the Wall Street Journal (and on TV), that 40% of African-Americans now support President Trump.   It’s not so long ago that only 4% voted for the Republicans!

Liberal news programs were enthused at the fact that the new House of Representatives is more diverse, with more women, including  the first two Muslim women.  But diversity is the opposite of unity and could do further damage to the political system.

One final thought comes from noted columnist Pat Buchanan who wrote this morning:   “The war in Washington will not end until the presidency of Donald Trump ends.   Everyone seems to sense that now.”  (“The War for the soul of America”)

Jesus Christ once said that ^”If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”  (Mark 3:25).   A recent poll revealed that one third of Americans think the country is headed for a civil war.   This scripture was used by Abraham Lincoln on the eve of the last one, on June 16^th, 1858.

The times, they are a-changing, indeed!

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BREXIT

Britain’s decision in a referendum to exit the European Union is getting more and more complicated.   Today, Jo Johnson, the brother of the former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, resigned declaring that leaving Europe is “a terrible mistake.”   This will make it even more difficult for Prime Minister Theresa May to steer the whole process through parliament.   Others may resign as the Brexit deadline of March 29^th gets closer.

It’s a mess!

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ISLAM

1)   Pompano Beach, Florida, Friday Sermon By Imam Hasan Sabri: Palestine Must Be Liberated ‘Even If This Leads To The Martyrdom Of Tens Of Millions Of Muslims’.

2) Asia Bibi is a young Christian mother in Pakistan, who made the mistake of drinking out of a glass that had been used by Muslims.   For this, she was put on trial for blasphemy.   There were huge demonstrations calling for her death.

She was freed, but is going to have to leave the country as Muslim citizens still want her executed.   There have even been calls for other family members and her lawyers to be put to death.

Pakistan remains an ally of the United States.

3) Saudi Arabia is also an ally, in spite of the officially sanctioned murder of a US based journalist who worked for the Washington Post.

Jamal Khashoggi went to the Saudi Embassy in Turkey to get papers that would enable him to marry. He never left.   It seems that he was murdered in a gruesome manner, and then dismembered, his remains carried out in black plastic trash bags.

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GERMANY

Today is the centenary of the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.   His resignation ended 400 years of Hohenzollern rule over Prussia and, after 1871, Germany.   Wilhelm is often blamed for World War I, though it’s a lot more complicated than that.   Two days after he fled to neutral Holland, the war ended.   World War II started a little over twenty years later.

Today is also the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass.   On this night, November 9, 1938, almost 200 synagogues were destroyed, over 8,000 Jewish shops were attacked and dozens of Jews were killed in Germany under the Third Reich.

GERMAN ELECTION AND THE FUTURE OF EUROPE

Angela Merkel told supporters they had achieved “something fantastic” (AFP)

First Brexit, then Trump, now the AfD (Alternative for Deutschland).   Sunday’s German election was the third electoral upheaval in a western country since June last year when the Brexit vote showed a majority of Brits wanted to leave the EU.

Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union received 33% of the vote, which still puts her ahead to form a coalition government with two smaller parties.   Her party received one million votes less than last time.   The Social Democrats got half a million less votes. These have been the two dominant parties through Germany’s postwar history.   The CDU’s more conservative sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union, saw a drop of over 10% in support since the 2013 election.

The third biggest party, with 13.2% of the vote, was the AfD, giving them seats in the Bundestag for the first time.   The party is considered extreme right-wing and has even been described as a “neo-Nazi” party. It’s anti-Islam, anti-immigrant and anti-euro.   It could grow in power and influence as Germany is increasingly threatened by Islamic extremists, let in by Mrs. Merkel two years ago.   She will be blamed for terrorist attacks and every other problem created by the Muslims.   Mrs. Merkel stands by her decision, yet also says the CDU will win back the voters they lost to the AfD.

The CSU’s late leader, Franz Josef Strauss, once warned that Germany must never have a party to the right of his.  It’s now happened.   The CSU is expected to quickly move to the right politically before the state election a year from now.

If she can put together a coalition with the Free Democrats (liberals) and the Greens (left-of-center), she will command a majority of seats in parliament.   If she is able to continue the coalition with the Social Democrats (socialists), the AfD will be the opposition party in parliament, giving them greater public exposure, enabling them to pose a greater threat next time there’s a general election.

Mrs. Merkel is the world’s most powerful woman and the leader of Europe’s most powerful country.   This election is going to have a ripple effect throughout the EU and even the rest of the world, as the EU is the world’s biggest trading bloc.

It’s certainly going to impact Brexit negotiations with the United Kingdom, partly because the British lack the self-confidence to truly go-it-alone.   Mrs. May addressed EU leaders in Florence a few days ago and was bending over backwards to accommodate their demands.   One of her proposals was for a two year transition period, which would mean that the UK would not fully leave the EU until 2021.   That’s not what voters had in mind when they voted on Brexit.

The pro-Brexit leader Nigel Farage described Mrs. May’s proposal as a victory for Goldman Sachs and other international corporations – certainly not one for the British people.

Monday’s Daily Express warned:   “FEARS of a new Franco-German plot to sabotage Brexit and keep Britain tied to Brussels for ever have emerged.”   President Macron of France has proposed some revisions to the EU treaties to keep Britain in and stop others from leaving.

Just as the people in the UK are not going to get what they want, Americans find themselves in a similar situation.   President Trump seems unable to deliver on his promises – to end Muslim immigration, to build a wall on the southern border, to abolish Obamacare, to withdraw from Afghanistan.

The people voted in support of these, just as the British people voted for Brexit.

If they cannot get their countries back through the ballot box, they may take more desperate measures.

Mrs. Merkel has promised to address the concerns of the German people, including those who voted AfD, whom she wants back in the CDU by the next election.   But again, it’s doubtful anything will be done about immigration.   It seems to be an issue western leaders cannot handle.

Bible prophecy shows that the Middle East and Europe will be central to the fulfillment of the final end-time events.   Right now, Europe is at the forefront, with developments that will lead to a continental upheaval resulting in the revived Roman Empire, a new arrangement that will up-end the Treaty of Rome, which was itself an attempt at a European revival based on the Roman Empire.

EUROPE UNDER ATTACK

Daily Star

Today’s triple bombings in Brussels, Belgium, are the latest ISIS attacks.   They follow an attack in Istanbul only three days ago.

Shortly after the Brussels attacks, I watched President Obama, supposedly “the Leader of the free world,” speaking to the people of Cuba.   He began his speech with a brief reference to the Brussels bombings, extending his condolences to the families of those killed. He then continued with the pre-set program, including attending a baseball game.

Once again, I was struck by how the President of the United States is living in the past, rather than the more complex present.   He’s not the only one, of course.   Aspiring presidents are mostly just the same.

It’s a sixties generation thing.

Remember the sixties, when the western world was turning to the left, immediately prior to the birth of multiculturalism, which has been the official religion of western countries ever since?

Liberal thinking has created a very different world from what we had over 50 years ago. Both Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Labour, have all wanted the same things, working toward the same goals.

Now, it’s all falling apart and we’re seeing a return to some of the old values, including patriotism, ethnic identity, nationalism, Trump in America, AfD in Germany and UKIP in the UK. Other parties want the same things in Sweden, Finland, Poland, The Netherlands, Italy and elsewhere.

The world is, once again, on the cusp of significant change.

Note the following comment made on the Fox Business Network Monday, prior to the Brussels attack. Lt. Col. Ralph Peters (Retired), said:  “Not all cultures are equal . . . the Middle East and Islam as currently practiced is currently not compatible with western civilization.”

Following the comment, Englishman Stuart Varney wondered aloud what the implications would be of the EU’s new agreement with Turkey.  While the Middle Eastern country is willing to take back the migrants who do not qualify to stay in Europe, 78 million Turkish citizens will have the right of visa-free travel to all EU member countries.   Many are not likely to return home.

More Muslims = more terrorism!  That’s because a certain percentage will be extremists.  And, as Lt. Col. Ralph Peters observed, the religion as practiced is not compatible with western civilization.

Dealing with the problem requires a major change in immigration policies.  That’s not going to come from most western politicians, who are still influenced by liberal 1960’s thinking that says all peoples are the same and can all mix together peaceably.

Just a few days before the latest terror attacks in Brussels, the European Union signed the agreement with Turkey.  Again, like American politicians, the EU’s top leaders are still living in the sixties – they haven’t woken up yet to the threat from Islam nor have they even begun to figure out how to deal with it.

That will come.  Today’s attacks may be a turning point – the attackers were attacking the European Union ‘s capital, Brussels. One bomb hit the railway station close by the headquarters of the European Commission.  Europe itself was under attack – not just Brussels or Belgium.

Another interesting development today is how quickly the bombers were identified as ISIS by the Belgian authorities.  ISIS later claimed responsibility.  Normally, following an attack in the US or the UK, we are told not to blame Islamists, or that there is no evidence this was terrorism.   Some are still in denial, but others are waking up!   Speaking in Havana, Cuba, President Obama could not bring himself to use the term “Islamic terrorism”.

Daniel 11 is a prophecy about the Middle East, written more than five centuries before the time of Jesus Christ.  It’s amazingly detailed from Alexander the Great until Roman times.  Then it leaps 2,000 years until the present era.  The reason for the leap is that there was no Jewish nation in the Holy Land during that time period. Jerusalem is the epicenter of Bible prophecy, which focuses primarily on the Middle East and Europe.

The two play a central role in end-time events.

“The king of the south” is set to “push” against “the king of the north”, unleashing the military power and wrath of the latter, the prophesied Beast-power of Revelation 17, a revived Roman Empire.   What happened Tuesday in Brussels is likely part of this “push”, following on from Paris and other lesser attacks on Europe.

More attacks will follow.  It will take Europe some time to fully wake up.  But it will come.  It’s either that or we will witness the fall of western civilization!

 

 

TWO SIGNIFICANT ELECTIONS

I thought readers might appreciate the following from a friend in Australia:

“Your presidential race is fascinating yet depressing.  Away from America, nobody, and I mean just about no one, can believe that Americans would support such a demagogue as Trump and all he stands for.   To say they like him because he speaks his mind and refuses to be PC is just inane.  Look at the type of person he is.  I would really fear for America, and more so the world, with a clown like him in charge.   It is positively sickening.

Bernie Sanders sounds like maybe a nice guy but a bit out of touch. I don’t think America could work his way. So Hilary . . .  there are skeletons in the closet so to speak but at least she has experience and did quite a reasonable job of it.  I think much of America still lives in the Teddy Roosevelt era in outlook . . . with little knowledge of the outside world and sort of contempt for it.”

Similar comments are also being made in newspapers in other parts of the world.

It’s difficult to imagine the Atlantic alliance holding together if Trump wins the election; having said that, the Democrats have not done any better.   Bret Stephens in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal wrote an article titled:   “Barack Obama checks out.”   With 311 days left until he hands over to his successor, the president seems to be insulting America’s friends while embracing her enemies (visits to Vietnam and Cuba are going to follow last year’s treaty with Iran).

Mr. Stephens’ article follows on from one in The Atlantic by Jeffrey Goldberg.   Mr. Goldberg interviewed President Obama, who seemed to forget he is still president and spent quite some time criticizing US allies, including Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron and former President Sarkozy of France who may be re-elected. He even made it clear that if Russia invades Moldova, the US will do nothing, giving the Russian president the go-ahead to annex another neighbor.   Even Israel is set to suffer another blow from the US president, who is treating Saudi Arabia equally in arms sales.

Historian Niall Ferguson also commented on the Goldberg article in today’s Boston Globe:

“At the top of the list of scapegoats are America’s traditional allies: not only Britain and France (Libya’s descent in chaos was all their fault) but also Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.   Then comes the Washington “foreign policy establishment” and the US military, who are always trying to “jam” him into going to war.   Next in line are the members of his own cabinet — among them former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — who urged him to intervene in Syria in 2012.

“The president says he is “very proud” of his decision in 2013 not to follow through on his earlier threat to take military action if the Assad regime used chemical weapons in Syria.   He seems not to understand that by asking President Putin to “force Assad to get rid of the chemical weapons,” he opened the door to Russian intervention in the Middle East, a region the Kremlin was effectively shut out of by Henry Kissinger in the early 1970s.   Wondering why the death toll in Syria has leapt upwards in recent months?   Step forward President Putin, whose air campaign against every anti-Assad force except ISIS has been a horror show.

“The Mosul dam symbolizes the critical state of an entire region. Like a huge wall of water, barely held in check by a crumbling dam, the combined forces of Islamic extremism, vicious sectarianism, networked terrorism, and Arab-Iranian rivalry have yet to wreak all the havoc of which they are capable.  But why worry?  The president has stuck to his foreign policy doctrine:   “Don’t do stupid sh–.”   As for ISIS, according to Goldberg, the president likens them to the Joker in the Batman movies.” (“A Catastrophe of Epic Proportions,” Niall Ferguson, Boston Globe).

As a President, Hillary Clinton seems likely to continue Mr. Obama’s policies and Europe is apprehensive of a Trump presidency, the Atlantic alliance could have some serious problems a few months from now.

Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson once observed: “it is true that, in America, any boy can grow up to become president.   This is something we are going to have to learn to live with!”   That was said over sixty years ago.   The problem has since doubled as every girl can now also aspire to be president.

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The United States isn’t the only country experiencing an interesting and potentially nation-changing election.   Germany had one, too. Last Sunday three of Germany’s states voted.  The result was significant gains for the AfD, the Alternative for Germany, an anti-immigrant party.   Trump is not the only western politician who wants to do something about immigration.

As Reuters put it:   “Voters punished Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives in three German regional elections on Sunday, giving a thumbs-down to her open-door refugee policy and turning in droves to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD).

“The result is a big setback for Merkel, who has led Europe’s biggest economy for a decade, and could narrow her room for manoeuvre as she tries to convince her European Union partners to seal a deal with Turkey to stem the tide of migrants.

“Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) lost ground in all three states – Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate in the west and Saxony-Anhalt in the east – which were together widely seen as offering a verdict on Merkel’s liberal migrant policy.”

Following the election we see this report from the New York Times today:

BERLIN — German authorities banned a neo-Nazi group known as the White Wolves Terror Crew after the police conducted early morning raids on Wednesday in 10 of the country’s 16 states, confiscating weapons but making no arrests, the Interior Ministry said.

Far-right parties have gained strength as Germany struggles to integrate more than one million migrants, and the ban is intended to demonstrate that the authorities will not tolerate agitation against foreigners and migrants “and certainly no violence,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said.

“This group is an association of neo-Nazis who openly and aggressively agitate against our state, against our society, against people who think differently, against migrants and against the police,” he said.

Mr. de Maizière said that the group wanted to build a dictatorship, and that its aim “is supposed to be realized with all means available,” including violence. He added that the core of the group was made up of approximately 25 people, with the leaders coming from Hamburg.

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Staying in Europe, the Prime Minister of Iceland, a European country that is not a member of the EU, has warned the United Kingdom to recognize a European reality.   The Daily Telegraph carried the following headline on March 9^th:

“Britain warned it wields no power in German dominated EU.”

It’s even losing control of its own stock market. Deutsche Bourse and the London Stock Exchange are to merge, with Deutsche Bourse holding a 54.4% stake in the London Stock Exchange, giving it effective control of one of the most important stock markets in the world.

Whether the British vote to leave the EU or remain a member on June 23^rd may not make much difference. They will still be under the dominance of Berlin, whatever the outcome.

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Another March 9^th headline from the UK’s Daily Mail:

London is more Islamic than most cities in Muslim countries, says Pakistan-born Islamic scholar.”