- The Federal Reserve disclosed details of its $3.3 trillion bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, lending to foreign banks, auto companies, and hedge funds to prevent economic collapse.
- The disclosure paints a picture of an economy that was in danger of sudden failure without constant debt injections. Many of the loans and pledged collateral were "junk".
- The document discusses how dependent the US economy is on constant debt and how the Fed had to intervene to prop up major companies like Caterpillar and Verizon or risk a total shutdown of corporate America.
- The Federal Reserve disclosed details of its $3.3 trillion bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, lending to foreign banks, auto companies, and hedge funds to prevent economic collapse.
- The disclosure paints a picture of an economy that was in danger of sudden failure without constant debt injections. Many of the loans and pledged collateral were "junk".
- The document discusses how dependent the US economy is on constant debt and how the Fed had to intervene to prop up major companies like Caterpillar and Verizon or risk a total shutdown of corporate America.
- The Federal Reserve disclosed details of its $3.3 trillion bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, lending to foreign banks, auto companies, and hedge funds to prevent economic collapse.
- The disclosure paints a picture of an economy that was in danger of sudden failure without constant debt injections. Many of the loans and pledged collateral were "junk".
- The document discusses how dependent the US economy is on constant debt and how the Fed had to intervene to prop up major companies like Caterpillar and Verizon or risk a total shutdown of corporate America.
A DIGEST OF SIGNIFICANT WORLD NEWS FROM THE PHILADELPHIA TRUMPET STAFF FOR THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 5-11, 2010
We shall yet rue having
forgotten the powerful lessons of that fateful day on which a massive enemy attack broke the back of the USS Arizona. Some 56 percent of people interviewed by Transparency International said their country had become more corrupt. 71 percent of Iranians want the country to have atomic weapons. It may all be too good to be true, but on the face of it, theres an economic miracle going on in Germany. The U.S. thinks it has Iran on the run. T wenty-one thousand loans$3.3 trillion worth: That is what it took in terms of hard currency for the Federal Reserve to stop the fnancial meltdown of the United States. Yet where has this huge amount of money gotten America? Is the system fxed? Or is the Feds latest disclosure actually evidence that the economy is far more precarious than anyone admits? The Federal Reserve fnally made available details concerning its massive Wall Street bailout, corporate bailout, andas it turns outforeign central bank bailout. Although everyone knew the Fed went to extremes to prop up the banking system during the tense days of 2008, few knew just how far it had actually gone. Yet the signifcance is lost on far too many people. Actually, the Feds disclosure is a big deala very big deal. That is why the Federal Reserve fought so hard for two years to keep it secret. It paints a picture of an economy in danger of sudden collapse. Much focus has been given to the scale of the bailouts. $3.3 trillion is a massive amount of money. Measuring at more than two times Americas budget defcit, it is incred- ibly signifcant in terms of the U.S. economy. The fact that this money was created out of thin air seems to be missed by most people. But maybe that is ft- ting, since much of what the Fed traded that $3.3 trillion for appears to be vastly overpriced junk. $1.5 trillion worth of collateral came with the ratings unavailable designa- tion. Only 1 percent of the pledged collateral was highly rated government treasuries. It was also revealed that the Federal Reserve not only lent $600 billion to foreign central banks, but also to foreign auto makers like Toyota, and billions more to foreign private banks at very low interest rates (sometimes at 0.15 percent). In other words, at the height of the crisis, the Fed was printing and lending money to anyone with a pulse, regard- less of who they were and what collateral they pledged. The Federal Reserve even lent cheap money to specula- tive hedge funds and pension planslike the Major League Baseball Players Pension Planto invest, in an attempt to get money fowing through the economy again. Under one of the Federal Reserves lending programs, it was revealed that the Feds cycled a mind-boggling $9 tril- lion in and out of the economy between the collapse of investment bank Bear Stearns in March 2008 through to January 2010, when the last loan was made. To be fair, the Fed never had $9 trillion outstanding at any one time. Many of the loans were very short term and were paid back very quickly. Through this program, Citigroup alone borrowed an astounding $2.2 trillion in multiple revolving transactions to stay afoat. Merrill Lynch borrowed $2.1 trillion across 226 loans. Bank of America borrowed $1.1 trillion in emer- gency money to avoid failure. It asked the Fed for credit a whopping 1,000 different times. Morgan Stanley took out 212 loans to stay in business. Even the venerable Goldman Sachs borrowed $620 billion across 84 loans. Small banks too went to the Fed for money to keep them going. More ominously, it wasnt just the banks and failing hedge funds that the Fed propped upit directly propped up many of the biggest, most famous names in corporate America. Credit card companies, insurance companies, vehicle manufacturers all got loans. Some of this was known. But did you know that Caterpillar took government money? That Verizon Communications needed $1.5 billion? That Harley-Davidson received bailout money 33 times, for a total of $2.3 billion? General Electric Co. needed funding 12 times for a total of $16 billion? Even McDonalds borrowed money from the Fed. Why did the Fed give loans to these companies? How is it that Harley-Davidson poses such a systemic risk to the economy that it gets special bailout funding? All these companies borrow money each and every day. They need credit just to keep up business as usual. During the economic crisis surrounding Sept. 11, 2008, the debt markets froze. No one would lend moneyat all. Banks were failing. The government was nationalizing trillion-dollar cor- porations. The whole system was balanced on a razors edge. Just imagine what would have happened if Caterpillar, or Verizonor worse yet, McDonaldshad a failed debt auction. If MacDonalds, one of Americas highest rated companies, couldnt borrow money. Contagion could have gone national, even international. A massive domino effect might have swept the business world. The Fed had to step in to provide the moneyor it risked total shutdown of corporate America. That is how addicted to debt America is. It cannot func- tion without dailyhourlydebt injections. Stop the debt america the precarious see PRECARIOUS page 10 ROBERT MORLEY COLUMNIST Middle east E gypts ruling party won a sweeping victory in parliamentary elections according to results released Monday following a fnal round of voting. The National Democratic Party (ndp) won 83 per- cent of the seats and, if independent candidates join with it as expected, the party could control 96 percent of the legislature. The runoff elec- tion, held Sunday, was boycotted by the two main opposition groups, including the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, because of alleged massive vote-rigging. In the last elections, held in 2005, the Muslim Brotherhood won 20 percent of the seats in parliament. This time around, despite increased popularity, the Brotherhood failed to win a single seat outright in the frst round of voting. The party has prom- ised to mount legal challenges against the results, and Egyptian rights groups are demanding that President Hosni Mubarak annul the elec- tions and dissolve the newly elected parliament. Opposition fgure and former head of the UNs nuclear watchdog agency Mohammed ElBara- dei called for a boycott of next years presidential election, dismissing Egypts election process as a farce. While the elections leave the ndp frmly in control of the new parliament, this could instigate a backlash resulting in greater support for its main rival, the Muslim Brotherhood. Brazil announced on December 3 that it now recognizes an indepen- dent Palestinian state, with Argentina following suit three days later and Uruguay saying it intends to do the same in 2011. The Palestinian Authoritys Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said that he expected Para- guay and other South American nations to recognize a Palestinian state soon. Stratfor reports that the endorsements are a result of a campaign by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to gain support and to put pressure on the Israeli government to freeze settlement activity. Abbas praised the moves, while Israel reacted by saying they breached its 1995 agreement with the Palestinian Authority that any Palestinian state would only come about by mutual negotiations. These Latin American countries join some 100 other states, including most Arab countries, in recognizing an independent Palestinian state, and while the development is unlikely to make much if any difference on the ground, it is another psychological victory for the enemies of Israel. British Jewrys relationship with Israel is undergoing seismic change, the Telegraph reported this week. One of the most senior leaders of Britains Jewish community, speaking at a meeting at the London Jew- ish Cultural Center on November 13, shattered a longstanding taboo by publicly criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the peace process, voicing concerns about Israeli policy and calling for criticism of Israel to be voiced freely. Mick Davis, chairman of the leading Anglo-Israel charity, the ujia, and the executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, was supported in his statements by other Jewish leaders. The British government and society have long shown hostility against Israel; now it is emerging that even the Jewish community in Britain is withdrawing its support for the Jews of Israel. This trend was foretold in Bible prophecies that reveal that the time is coming when Israel will no longer be able to rely on the U.S. or Britain for support in the peace process and will instead look more to Europe. A massive wildfre in northern Israel that overwhelmed Israeli fre- fghters was fnally contained, with the help of international frefghting crews, on Sunday, after claiming 42 lives and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes as the fres raged for three days. Haaretz criticized Prime Minister Netanyahus handling of the crisis, calling it his Hurricane Katrina, his BP oil spill. Blame has also been pointed at the interior minister, whose ministry is responsible for the countrys frefghting services. The brushfre, which destroyed about 50 square kilometers of forest land and caused extensive damage to homes and infrastructure, is considered the worst natural disaster in Israels history, Xinhua reports. The fre is just one more end-time curse on a THE TRUMPET WEEKLY December 11, 2010 2 iran is planning to place medium-range missiles on Venezuelan soil according to an article in the German daily, Die Welt, of November 25. According to the article, an agreement between the two countries was signed during the last visit of Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez to Tehran . The previously undisclosed contract provides for the establishment of a jointly operated mili- tary base in Venezuela, and the joint devel- opment of ground-to-ground missiles. According to Die Welt, Venezuela has agreed to allow Iran to establish a military base manned by Iranian missile offcers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile offcers. In addi- tion, Iran has given permission for the mis- siles to be used in case of an emergency. In return, the agreement states that Ven- ezuela can use these facilities for national needsradically increasing the threat to neighbors like Colombia. The German daily claims that according to the agreement, Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1,300-1,500 km) will be deployed in the proposed base . Venezuela has also become the coun- try through which Iran intends to bypass UN sanctions. Following a new round of UN sanctions Russia decided not to sell fve battalions of S-300pmu-1 air defense systems to Iran. Now that these weap- ons cannot be delivered to Iran, Russia is looking for new customers it found one: Venezuela. Novosti reports that if the S-300 deal with Venezuela goes through, Caracas should pay cash for the missiles. If Iran, therefore, cannot get the S-300 missiles directly from Russia, it can still have them through its proxy, Venezuela, and deploy them against its staunchest enemy, the U.S. . If a missile base can be opened in Venezuela, many U.S. cities will be able to be reached from there even with short- medium range missiles. The situation that is unfolding in Ven- ezuela has some resemblance to the Cuba crisis of 1962. Among the nations that aspire to become world powers, Iran has certainly the best capabilities of posing a challenge to the West. Iran is soon going to have a nuclear weapon, and there are no signs that UN sanctions will in any way deter the Ayatol- lahs regime . Now we learn that Iran is planning to build a missile base close to the U.S. borders. iran placing medium-range missiles in Venezuela HUDSON NEW YORK, ANNA MAHJAR-BARDUCCI | December 8 THE TRUMPET WEEKLY December 11, 2010 3 nationbiblical Judahthat does not have Gods protection. In another WikiLeaks disclosure, Lebanons Western-backed gov- ernment told the U.S. that Iran telecom was taking over the country when in April 2008 it discovered a secret Hezbollah communications network operating across the country, according to a U.S. State De- partment cable. The Lebanese minister of communications, Marwan Hamadeh, told the Americans that the Iranian Fund for the Recon- struction of Lebanon fnanced the network. The group was accused of laying telecommunications lines in tandem with the rebuilding of roads and bridges. It was shortly after this that Iran solidifed its control of Lebanon politically following a show of Hezbollahs strength. JERUSALEM POST | December 9 71 percent of iranians Want nuclear arsenal T he majority of Iranians are in favor of their country having nuclear weapons, despite the fact that they are worried about international sanctions, according to a poll carried out by U.S.-based Charney Research for the International Peace Institute. The poll found that 71 percent of Iranians want the country to have atomic weapons, a number that stood on only 52 percent in 2007 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR | December 6 a stronger iran returns I ran began talks Monday in Geneva with world powers eager to curb its expanded nuclear capabilities. But some Iranian offcials say their nuclear program (which has made substantial progress on nuclear enrichment, despite new sanctions) wont even be on the agenda. And if it is, the political and technical landscape has changed so much in the past yearproof that U.S. efforts have backfred, say analyststhat Irans hand is stronger going into these talks. While Iran is set on pursuing its independent uranium enrichment policy, and when the U.S. is not in a position of starting a new war in the region, time is against Washington, says Kayhan Barzegar, an Iran specialist at Harvard Universitys Belfer Center for Science and Inter- national Affairs. The U.S. thinks it has Iran on the run after Tehran experienced some technical problemsthe International Atomic Energy Agency (iaea) reported that all of Irans 8,426 centrifuges involved in low enrichment were idle in mid-Novemberit has also made progress in many areas. Its easy if you are sitting at the State Department to say: Were steamrolling these guys, says Ms. Barzashka. But at the same time, Iran is pushing forward with 20 percent enrichment. Theyre pushing forward with their own fuel manufacture. If reducing Irans capacity to get a nuclear bomb was a concern, the delayed diplomacy and Irans inability to secure 20 percent fuel from any other source have so far given Iran a reason [to go] for higher en- richment, putting it closer to a bomb, she says. Sanctions dont push back the nuclear clock, but 20 percent enrich- ment actually pushes that [clock] forward, Barzashka adds. Iran has already produced about 33 kilograms of the higher-grade material; if it were able to get the fuel, it would have no reason to enrich to that level.
RON FRASER | COLUMNIST For the past two decades, the Trumpet has warned of the revival of the German question and has continu- ally pointed out just how little understood this major geopolitical phenomenon is. That has been our theme for over 20 years, consistent with the prophetic warnings of our late men- tor, Herbert Armstrong, which go clear back to even before World War ii. Some intelligence experts are now seeing it. Take Stratfors European analyst Marko Papic, who after recent observations on what the leaked U.S. diplomatic dispatches have revealed concerning Germany. Our readers know we have consistently declared Germany is destined to dominate Europe, overtake nato and replace it with a pact with Russia. No surprise then when Papic wrote, We have also seen the German-Russian rela- tionship grow and in particular this has given Berlin an impetus to evolve its rela- tionship with its nato member state allies (December 2; emphasis mine throughout). There is another observation that Papic made that should ring in our ears, The 2008 fnancial crisis and the subsequent 2010 eurozone sovereign debt crisis have allowed Germany to exert more infuence on EU affairs. In particular, Berlin has looked to re- shape and reformulate European Union and the eurozone in its own image (op. cit.). Herbert Armstrong foretold that same story to his supporters on July 7, 1984, de- claring what would cause Europe to suddenly unite: I think I can see what may be the very event that is going to trigger it, and that is the economic situation in the world. All of a sudden Germany is calling the tune on the European economy. The euro- zone nations, especially those in debt crisis, effectively handed control of their economies to the regulators in Berlin/Brussels. You are now seeing current-day, living Bible prophecy take place before your very eyes! The WikiLeaks revelations on the growing tensions between Germany and Washing- ton, which Stratfors Marko Papic concluded as being perhaps the most signifcant and yet the least understood geopolitical issue of the moment is, in reality, the greatest of non-leaks. Its been embedded in the prophecies of your Bible for 3,000 years. Now its rapidly becoming reality! Its the greatest non-leak of the past century. the great Wiki non-leak europe G erman deFense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg argued for greater European military cooperation on December 9 as he met with other European defense ministers in Brussels. The commitment to European defense must be more than just lip service, wrote Guttenberg in an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, published on the same day. By intensifying our military coopera- tion, we will all beneft in the end. Guttenberg worked with Swedish Defense Minister Sten Tolgfors to present EU defense ministers with a plan to streamline Europes militaries as nations cut their defense budgets. The scarcity of resources in all nations, wrote Guttenberg, means that nations need to pool their military equipment. A lot of politicians have talked about integrating Europes militaries, but often it has yielded little results. In the short time that Guttenberg has been German defense minister, however, he has begun a complete revolution of the German military. His advocating European military cooperation could well achieve signifcant results. Nearly 2,000 people said they had been sexually or physically abused as minors by Roman Catholic Church personnel in the Neth- erlands, an independent commission reported on December 9. This makes the Netherlands the second-most abused nation by the Catholics, after Ireland. Hungary had its credit rating cut by two notches by credit-rating agency Moodys on December 6. Its rating is now Baa3, Moodys lowest investment grade. Moodys said its outlook for Hungary is negative, meaning it may downgrade it to junk status in the next three months. TELEGRAPH, JEREMY WARNER | December 7 germanys economic miracle I t may all be too good to be true, but on the face of it, theres an economic miracle going on in Germany, against which the crisis in the peripheral economies of the eurozone, all-absorbing spectacle though it is, seems something of a sideshow. Rewind seven years to 2003, and Germany was widely regarded as the sick man of Europeuncompetitive after the traumas of reunif- cation, infexible, uncreative and far too dependent on manufacturing for a modern, post-industrial society. But the crisis has vindicated Germanys economic model, while the boom in developing markets, far from wiping out Germanys manufacturing sector, has by provid- ing fast-growing new export markets for German companies, proved a positive boon. Germany is experiencing a sharp V-shaped recovery, more so than any other major advanced economy as industrial production, poleaxed by the banking crisis, bounces back. Nor is this recovery entirely down to industrial production. Services have bounced back sharply too. One reason for this is that since 2003, Germany has sharply increased its competitiveness against the euro- zones peripheral economies. Germany has acted to reduce once-internationally-uncompetitive rates of corporation tax. For multinationals, the tax regime in Germany is now marginally more competitive than the UK. More importantly, unit labor costs have been signifcantly reduced relative to the rest of the eurozone. Germany has invested heavily in energy effciency, further reducing its costs. THE TRUMPET WEEKLY December 11, 2010 4 u.s. Fiscal Health Worse than europes the u.s. dollar will be a safe invest- ment for the next 6 to 12 months be- cause global markets are focused on the eurozones troubles but Americas fscal health is worse than Europes, an adviser to the Chinese Central Bank said on Wednesday. Li Daokui, an academic member of the central banks monetary policy com- mittee, said that U.S. bond prices and the dollar would fall when the European economic situation stabilized. For now, market attention is still on Europe and for the coming 6 to 12 months, it will not shift to the United States, Li said . But we should be clear in our minds that the fscal situation in the United States is much worse than in Europe. In one or two years, when the European debt situation stabilizes, attention of fnancial markets will defnitely shift to the United States. At that time, U.S. treasury bonds and the dollar will experience consider- able declines. In Europe, Irelands parliament passed the frst in a series of resolutions under- pinning its 2011 austerity budget on Tues- day, marking the frst step in a lengthy approval process. But investors are now worried that the regions debt crisis could engulf Portugal next, or Spain. China has a big stake in the perfor- mance of dollar assets. The country holds the worlds biggest stockpile of foreign exchange reserves at $2.64 tril- lion, and an estimated two thirds of that is invested in dollar assets, including U.S. treasuries. Li was speaking on the sidelines of a fnancial forum in Beijing. He sits on the monetary policy committee of the central bank but does not have real infuence on key decisions on interest rates and the yuan. Chinas annual economic growth will exceed 9.5 percent in 2011 and will remain above 9 percent through the coming decade, Li told the forum. The long-term growth outlook would be underpinned by the need to continue investing in infrastructure, he said. China has a vast domestic demand that is untapped, and thats the fundamental difference between China now and Japan in 1985, Li told a forum. Li also predicted that global com- modities prices, including oil, would rise sharply next year.
REUTERS | December 8 In marked contrast to other advanced economies, unemployment barely rose during the crisis and is now back below pre-crisis levels. This was only partly due to government policy to subsidize employ- ment during the downturn. Employees also agreed part-time working arrangements, which employers were happy to accept so as to preserve a skilled workforce for the upturn. Levels of youth unemployment have remained among the lowest in Europe, thanks largely to Germanys apprenticeship system. The pay is marginal, but the young worker ends up trained. German companies are investing as heavily abroad as at homepar- ticularly in China, where German investment is now almost as big as for the entire EU-15 put together. German trade with bric states has grown at such a rate that it now exceeds trade with the U.S., once Germanys biggest market after Europe. Contrary to received wisdom, the problem of subdued domestic de- mand in Germany isnt primarily one of lack of consumption. In fact, it is private investment that has been the problem. Post the reunifcation boom, much of Germanys surplus of savings fowed into the periphery of the eurozone, where it fnanced unsustainable real-estate and con- struction booms. But this is now changing. More of the surplus is now staying at home, funding a renewed domestic investment boom which restores Germa- nys position as the engine room of Europe. Imports are now rising more strongly than exports. Too good to be true? Seeing is believing. DEUTSCHE WELLE | December 2 germans negative about muslims and Jews G ermans view Muslims and their religion, as well as Jews, more negatively than their European neighbors, according to sociolo- gist Detlef Pollack, who led a study on religious tolerance by the University of Muenster in northwestern Germany. Compared to France, the Netherlands and Denmark, there is a more rigid and intolerant understanding of extrinsic religions in Germany, Pollack said. Most Germans entirely disagree with a recent statement by President Christian Wulff that Islam belongs to Germany, he added. The study also revealed a more prevalent anti-Jewish undercurrent in Germany than in other western European countries. A little more than 28 percent of West Germans and 29 percent of East Germans had negative attitudes about Jews, the survey found. This compared to about 10 percent in the Netherlands, 12 percent in Denmark, and nearly 21 percent in France. The fgures and comparisons were also similar for other religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism. The representative survey, which polled 1,000 people in each of the four countries mentioned, found that fewer than 5 percent of Germans thought Islam was a tolerant religion, compared to roughly 20 percent for the Danes, Dutch and French. In Germany only 34 percent of those surveyed in the west of the country and 26 percent in eastern Germany had a positive view of Muslims. When asked what they associated with Islam, more than 80 percent said discrimination of women, 60 percent said fanaticism, and only 8 percent of West Germans and 5 percent of East Germans said that Islam was peaceful. THE TRUMPET WEEKLY December 11, 2010 5 a World With no one in charge currency wars. Terrorist attacks. Military conficts. Rogue regimes pursuing nuclear weapons. Collapsing states. And now, mas- sive leaks of secret documents. What is the cause of such turbulence? The absence of empire. Americas ability to bring a modicum of order to the world is simply fading in slow motion. The days of the U.S. dollar as the worlds reserve currency are numbered, just as our diplomacy is hobbled by wide-ranging security leaks that are specifc to an age of electronic communication, itself hostile to imperial rule. Then there is Americas military power. Armies win wars, but in an age when the the- ater of confict is global, navies and air forces are more accurate registers of national might. (Any attack on Iran, for example, would be a sea and air campaign.) The U.S. Navy has gone from nearly 600 warships in the Reagan era to fewer than 300 today, while the navies of China and India grow apace. Such trends will accelerate with the defense cuts that are surely coming in order to rescue America from its fscal crisis. The United States still dominates the seas and the air but the distance between it and other nations is nar- rowing. As for Taiwan, China has 1,500 short- range ballistic missiles pointed at the island, even as hundreds of commercial fights each week link Taiwan with the mainland in peaceful commerce. When China effectively incorporates Taiwan in the years to come, that will signal the arrival of a truly multipo- lar and less predictable military environment in East Asia. In the Middle East we see the real collapse of the Cold War imperial order. The neat Israeli-Arab dichotomy that mirrored the American-Soviet one has been replaced by a less stable power arrangement, with a zone of Iranian infuence stretching from Lebanon to western Afghanistan, pitted against both Israel and the Sunni Arab world, and with a newly Islamic, and no longer pro-Western, Turkey rising as a balancing power. Yes, empires impose order, but that order is not necessarily benevolent, as Irans budding imperial domain shows. Out of self-interest we will probably not involve ourselves in another war in the Middle East even as that very self-interest could consign the region to a nuclear standoff. [L]essening our engagement with the world would have devastating consequences for humanity. WASHINGTON POST, ROBERT D. KAPLAN | DECEMBER 5 asia R ussian president Dmitry Medvedevs trip to Europe this week has improved his countrys relations with the Continent and brought Russia closer to joining the World Trade Organization (wto). Med- vedev visited Brussels for an EU-Russia summit on December 7, where he signed a bilateral trade agreement between Russia and the European Union which European Commission President Jos Manuel Barroso called a milestone. Russia has been negotiating to join the wto for 17 years, and Barroso said that We expect Russia to join the wto next year. Russia came to a similar agreement with the U.S. in September, mean- ing that few obstacles bar it from wto membership. On the same trip, on December 6 Medvedev visited Poland, where he worked to improve rela- tions in the frst offcial visit to the country by a Russian leader in nine years. Medvedev said that in order to attain better relations with nato and the EU, Russia must draw closer to Poland. The Russia-EU, and spe- cifcally the Russia-Germany, relationship is an important one to watch. If the two work together, as they have several times in recent history, they can rise in power quicklyputting them in a better position to wage war. Gen. Ricardo David Jr., the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (aFp), traveled to Beijing on Tuesday to meet with Chinese military offcials and sign a military logistics deal between the two na- tions. Although the details of the agreement havent been divulged, an aFp spokesman said it was a step in the direction of bolstering military ties between Beijing and Manila, which would greatly beneft the Philip- pines 130,000-man army. The aFp is too weak to control either internal threats in the Philippines or external security challenges involving the nations many sea-lanes and islands. Historically, Manila has depended on the U.S. for the military assistance it needs in these areas, but the U.S.-Philippines military relationship is cooling as Washington becomes distracted by pressures in the Middle East and elsewhere. Meanwhile, Beijing sees the void as a chance to gain a foothold in the Philippines and expand its sphere of infuence in Southeast Asia, while simultaneously elbowing the U.S. out. As Americas infuence in the Philippines and all of Asia wanes, Chinas soft-power diplomacy and hard-power buildup will fll the void and steadily solidify the Asian nations into a global power. TELEGRAPH, AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD | December 5 chinas credit Bubble on Borrowed time T he royal Bank of Scotland has advised clients to take out protec- tion against the risk of a sovereign default by China as one of its top-trade trades for 2011. This is a new twist. It warns that the Communist Party will have to puncture the credit bubble before infation reaches levels that threaten social stability. This in turn may open a can of worms. Many see Chinas monetary tighten- ing as a preemptive tap on the brakes, a warning shot across the prover- bial economic bows. We see it as a potentially more malevolent reactive day of reckoning, said Tim Ash, the banks emerging markets chief. Offcially, infation was 4.4 percent in October, and may reach 5 per- cent in November, but it is too hard fnd anybody in China who believes it is that low. Vegetables have risen 20 percent in a month. Diana Choyleva from Lombard Street Research said the money sup- ply rose at a 40 percent rate in 2009 and the frst half of 2010 as Beijing stoked an epic credit boom to keep uber-growth alive, but the costs of this policy now outweigh the benefts. THE TRUMPET WEEKLY December 11, 2010 6
BRAD MACDONALD | COLUMNIST when Kim Jong Il began shell- ing the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong last month, most of the world, especially regional counterparts such as Japan and Taiwan, roared with disapproval. China though, remained relatively quiet. The reason is simple. Chinas leaders sup- port Kims regime because a rogue North Korea serves Chinas ambitions, both within the region and globally! The existence of an unpredictable, highly volatile nuclear aspirant is a distraction to Chi- nas competitors. Chinese President Hu Jintao uses Kim to keep Japan and South Korea off balance. China employs North Korea in Asia in much the same way Iran employs Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon: as an instrument to push, pry and distract Western-aligned governments, thereby undermining and countering U.S. interests in Asia. But ultimately, the reason Beijing keeps North Korea afoat is because Kim Jong Ils ideologies and ambitions align perfectly with Chinas goal of undermining the united states! The media are awash with reports on Chi- nas effort to destabilize the dollar and under- mine the American fnancial system. Evidence shows that Beijing is expanding its military capacities to counter America. China is com- peting with the U.S. in space, and reports show it to be undermining U.S. power in cyberspace. It has forged dubious relationships with anti- American regimes, and it consistently handi- caps Americas diplomatic ventures. When you consider Chinas defense of North Korea in this broader perspective, theres only one conclusion: China considers Pyongyang a tool with which it can challenge the U.S.! Why isnt China concerned about Pyong- yangs nukes fnding their way into the hands of terrorists? Simple. It knows the nukes wont explode in Beijing or Shanghai, but in New York City or Los Angeles. China has groomed North Koreas nuclear ambitions from their infancy. It pleases Beijing that Pyongyangs nukes are pointed not west, but east, at Americas shores. No matter where we live, we must take North Korea seriously. Bible prophecies speak of a soon-coming nuclear winter. In the Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24, Jesus Christ warned that world conditions would be so bad immedi- ately before His Second Coming that unless He intervened, there should no fesh be saved. By continuing to sponsor North Koreas bel- ligerence, China is accelerating the fulfllment of this prophecy. Why china refuses to Deal With north Korea THE TRUMPET WEEKLY December 11, 2010 7 The economy is entering the ugly quadrant of cyclestagfation where credit-pumping leaks into speculation and price spirals, even as growth slows. The froth is going into property. Experts argue heatedly over wheth- er or not China has managed to outdo Americas subprime bubble, or even match the Tokyo frenzy of late 1980s. The imF straddles the two. China is trying to keep the game going as if nothing has changed, but cannot do so. It dares not raise rates fast enough to let air out of the bubble because this would expose the bad debts of the banking system. The regime is stymied. Albert Edwards from Socit General said the oecds leading indica- tors are signaling a downturn for Asias big fve (Japan, Korea, China, India, and Indonesia). I remain convinced we are witnessing a bubble of epic proportions which will burstcatching investors as unawares as the bursting of the Asian bubbles of the mid-1990s. Ignore these indicators at your peril, he said. The sons of Mao insist that they have studied the Japanese debacle closely and will not repeat the error. And I can sell you an ocean-front property in Chengdu. africa/latin aMerica T he ivory Coast continued to slide toward unrest or even civil war this week as protests continued over the results of its November 28 elections. Both incumbent President Laurent Gbago and his opponent Alassane Ouattara claimed victory after the run of elections. The Ivory Coasts Constitutional Court ruled that Gbago won 51 per- cent of the votes, and Ouattara 49 percent. However, the Independent Electoral Commission says that Ouattara won. The U.S., UN, EU and AU have all called for Gbabo to step down. Somali pirates hijacked a Bangladeshi ship only 300 miles from the coast of India on December 5. The Jahan Moni was 1,300 miles east of Somalia when it was seized. Western efforts to combat Somali piracy have mainly involved patrolling the Gulf of Aden. They have not dealt with the cause of the problem, but rather merely tried to protect a small area from pirates. This means that the problem has not gone awaythe pirates are just spreading out over a much larger area. Haiti was shut down by violent protests this week after preliminary election results were announced on December 7. The nations electoral council announced the two leaders who would go forward to a run-off election in January. Jude Celestinprotg of the current president, Rene Prevaltook one of the spots at the expense of Michel Martelly, a popular singer. In response to the unrest, the electoral council an- nounced it would recount the votes. TIME | December 9 politics Bring new turmoil to Haiti T he longstanding credibility issues of Haitis Provisional Electoral Council (cep) continued on Tuesday, when it announced prelimi- nary election results that gave second placeand a place on a runoff ballot on January 16to President Rene Prevals hand-picked candidate, Jude Celestin. International observer groups maintain that the world is considered a more cor- rupt place now than it was three years ago, a poll suggests. Some 56 percent of people interviewed by Transpar- ency International said their country had become more corrupt. The organization put Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq and India in the most corrupt category, followed by China, Russia and much of the Middle East. Meanwhile, a bbc poll suggests that corruption is the worlds most talked about problem. About one in fve of those polled by the bbc said they had discussed issues relating to corruption with others in the last month, making it the most talked-about concern ahead of climate change, poverty, unemploy- ment and rising food and energy costs. In the Transparency International survey, political parties were regard- ed as the most corrupt institutions, and 50 percent of people believed their government was ineffective at tackling the problem. One in four of those polled said they had paid a bribe in the past yearthe police be- ing the most common recipient. Some 29 percent of bribes went to the po- lice, 20 percent to registry and permit offcials, and 14 percent to members of the judiciary. Religious bodies experienced a sharp rise in people regarding them as corrupt28 percent in 2004 in- creased to 53 percent by 2010. Unfortunately peoples experience with bribery most often involves the police, and this is really worrying, [Robin Hodess, Transparencys policy and research director,] said. Its a fg- ure thats grown in the past few years. Its nearly doubled, in fact, since 2006. Nearly one in three people who had contact with the police around the world had to pay a bribe. By region, people in sub-Saharan Africa were the most likely to have paid a bribe (56 percent). Bribe-tak- ing was least common in EU coun- tries and North America (both 5 per- cent)although these were the two regions seeing the biggest increase in concern about corruption. Analysts blame this rising concern on the global fnancial crisis for under- mining peoples faith in government, banks and economic institutions. World is getting more corrupt
BBC | December 9 THE TRUMPET WEEKLY December 11, 2010 8 Celestin had, in fact, fnished third behind opposition candidate Michel Sweet Micky Martelly. After an election marred by widespread reports of fraud, many Haitians took to the streets to make it clear whom they were believing, and it wasnt the cep. The resulting wrath, especially among Martelly supporters, led to gunfre and left the streets of Port-au-Prince choked by roadblocks and burning tires on Wednesday, while the headquarters of the ruling inite (Unity) Party was set on fre. Preval, widely criticized for his aloof response to Januarys massive earthquake that killed 230,000 people, called for calm; but the unrest shut down the capitals airport. With more than a million Haitians still homeless after the quake, and with a cholera epidemic so far claiming 2,100 more lives, the nation is in no mood to tolerate what many suspect is government-engineered fraud. Since none of the 19 candidates won a 50-percent-plus-one majority in the frst round on November 28, a runoff between Manigat and the No. 2 candidate, either Celestin or Martelly, will be staged in the new year. But on Wednesday, Port-au-Prince was awash with rumors that because of the controversy, the cep may now call for a three-candidate runoffsomething Martelly and his backers rejected as a ploy to keep Celestins candidacy alive in spite of the international observers reports. anglo-aMerica B ritish protesters attacked a car carrying Prince Charles on Thurs- day. The prince and his wife were riding to an evening show when crowds surrounded their Rolls Royce; kicked it; threw bottles, bins and paint on it; and cracked a window on Prince Charless side. The throng was leaving a major protest in Trafalgar Square where they had been denouncing Parliaments 323-302 vote to remove much of its subsidizing of university education. Protesters had bombarded police with fares, sticks, paint balls and other objects and set fre to benches in Parliament Square, the Telegraph reported. The Offce for National Statistics reported Thursday that more than 1 in 10 Britons were born abroad. The number of Europeans who reside in the United Kingdom has increased sevenfold since the expansion of the EU. Africa, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were the other major sources of immigration. The proportion of foreign-born Britons dou- bled to 11 percent, or 7 million people, between 1981 and 2009. England is also one of Europes most congested countries, the report said, with an average of about 400 people per square kilometer. A study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Devel- opment released Tuesday found that students in the United Kingdom and the United States lag behind in tests of math, science and read- ing. Asian nations dominated the top spots, while Britain ranked 16th
in science, 25th in reading and 28th in math. In 2000, it was eighth or higher in all three categories. Despite its affuence, the U.S. ranked only just above the average: 17th in reading, 23rd in science and 32nd in math. Making headlines this week in the United States was the closing of a notorious housing project. Originally an attempt to provide affordable housing for Chicagoans, the 70-acre Cabrini-Green housing project has become an open sore to the city of Chicago and an infamous symbol of failed planning, urban crime and unending murder. The project is scheduled for demolition as another attempt by human government fails to fnd the way to right living. Authorities in Escondido, California, burned a house that was so full of homemade explosives that it could not be entered. The house was rented by an unemployed Serbian-born man and was stuffed with a stockpile of chemicals and substances similar to those used by suicide bombers and insurgents.
STEPHEN FLURRY | COLUMNIST in the wake of the WikiLe- aks scandal, the United States has feverishly worked to downplay the adverse impact of the unauthor- ized release of more than 250,000 classifed State Department documents. After predicting the impact would be fairly modest, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates proclaimed, We are still ... the indispensable nation. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs exuded this same air of superiority during an interview with FoxNews. Were not afraid of one guy with a laptop, he said. Were the United States of America! This infated sense of self-worth, however, does little in the way of fxing the massive amount of damage the leaks have already caused. Besides being a monumental embar- rassment, the security breach has caused serious damage to Americas war-fghting and information-gathering abilities. And the most disturbing development in all of this, as Charles Krauthammer noted, is the helplessness of a superpower that not only cannot protect its own secrets but shows the world that if you violate its secretsmassively, wantonly and maliciouslythere are no consequences. Amazingly, when asked why the United States didnt use Cyber Command in order to prevent the WikiLeaks fasco, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said that while the U.S. had offensive capabilities, it decided it would not have been appropriate to preemptively strike at WikiLeaks. Besides that, Morrell went on to explain, were the United States of America! None of this ad- versely impacts Americas power or prestige. The rest of the world, meanwhile, sees Amer- ica as a former superpower whose strength and prestige is in rapid decline. The pride of Ameri- cas power has already been broken, just as God said it would be (Leviticus 26:19). And noth- ing illustrates this quite like Americas passive response to the WikiLeaks sabotagea blatant act of international espionage aimed directly at the United States; an attack the U.S. might have been able to stop, but chose not to. Its a far cry from the iron-handed approach to foreign affairs that presidents like Theo- dore Roosevelt once employed, when America was on the rise as a prestigious and dominant world power. Speak softly and carry a big stick[and] you will go far, Roosevelt said. As Thomas Bailey wrote in The Art of Diplomacy, Roosevelts proverb means that for diplomatic courtesy to produce tangible results, it has to be backed by a show of real strength. speak loudly and carry a small stick THE TRUMPET WEEKLY December 11, 2010 9 WEEKLY STANDARD | December 7 gitmo recidivism rate soars O ne hundred and ffty former Guantanamo detainees are either confrmed or suspected of reengaging in terrorist or insurgent activities, according to a new intelligence assessment released by the Director of National Intelligences offce on Tuesday. In total, 598 detainees have been transferred out of U.S. custody at Guantanamo. One out of every four, or 25 percent, of these former detainees is now considered a confrmed or suspected recidivist by the U.S. government. The dnis latest assessment is a signifcant increase over previous esti- mates. As recently as February of this year, the Obama administration claimed that none of the detainees it had transferred had returned to ter- rorism. While that may have been true at the time, it was not for long. The dnis new assessment notes that the number of former detainees identifed as reengaged in terrorist or insurgent activity will increase. On average, there is about 2.5 years between when a detainee leaves Gitmo and the U.S. Intelligence Community frst learns that he has reengaged in terrorist or insurgent activities. In other words, it is likely that more detainees who have been trans- ferred since January 2009, and even before, will be added to the dnis recidivist list in the future. PRESSTV | December 7 u.s. state Debts soar A merican states have taken drastic measures, bracing for more cuts, layoffs and tax increases as they collectively owe trillions of dollars in debt. Some of the measures include releasing the prisoners early or laying off police offcers. Some analysts, though, believe the root of the problem is that government employees have traditionally been overpaid. States now do not have enough money to pay for pensions and will be forced to renegotiate retirement benefts of government workers. Unless they can renegotiate these liabilities, because they cant pay them, theyre far too big, you have to look at bankruptcy by state gov- ernments as an alternative, economist Rollin Amore told Press tv. The problem has been kept mostly hidden from the public eye. The fnances of some states and local governments are comparable to the run-up to the subprime mortgage meltdown or that of the debt crisis hitting nations in Europe, analysts say. DER SPIEGEL | December 6 a lot of Blood for little oil C ontrary to what many people believe, the Iraq war provided few advantages for the U.S. oil industry. The diplomatic cables show that, in most cases, it was competitors to the Americans who often did better in the country. Only one U.S. company truly profted: Halliburton. In the end, bidder consortiums led by Frances Total and Chinas cnpc secured contracts. Other companies awarded contracts were from Malaysia, Vietnam, Angola, Norway, Britain and Russia. But there were no U.S. companies. Dude Whines like a liberal the associated Press recently ran an article that should frmly establish the unc [University of North Carolina] system as the most ridiculous system of hire (pun intended) education in the United States of America. According to the AP, Nicole actually spent over $100,000 on an attempted transition from male to female, includ- ing fying to, of all places, Thailand, for sexual reassignment surgery. After spending at whopping $20,000 on facial hair removal Nicole still had a problem: His voice still gave him away as a male (because he was and still is a male). This alleged victim had to endure callers referring to him as sir when he answered the phone. It offended him badly because he wants to be referred to as maam . So what was Nicole to do in order to fnd a solution to the problem of people correctly identifying his actual God-given gender? Despite the deep budget crisis, North Carolina taxpayers pay uncg [University of North Carolina Greensboro] speech pathologists to teach transgender people how to speak like the people of the sex they are trying unsuc- cessfully to become. Does that make sense? Of course it doesnt. Were talking about unc-Gomorrah. The AP quoted the 57-year-old man named Nicole as saying, To me, theres nothing worse than seeing someone dressed as a woman, a beautiful woman then she opens her mouth and she sounds like a sailor. Its very off-putting for people. I agree. In fact, I feel the same way . Nicole took eight private classes at uncg where he learned to redirect his voice through the front of his mouth instead of his throat or chest so that he sounds more like a womanalthough, clearly, he is not. Each semester, speech pathologists at the uncg School of Health and Human Performance take time off from addressing legitimate problems in order to teach about eight or so transgen- der people. The present state of higher education is the future state of our culture. Its prom- ise is that every man has a right to be happy by becoming whatever he wants to become regardless of what he is. If we just put our faith in the gods of diversity they will deliver us from ourselves. And we wont be mistaken for men any longer.
TOWNHALL, MIKE ADAMS | December 8 THE TRUMPET WEEKLY December 11, 2010 10 PRECARIOUS from page 10 and the system goes into cardiac arrest. Twenty-three thousand times the Fed had to jump-start the system. The massiveness of the Federal Reserves bailouts, the frequency, and the recipients of the bailouts all point to a system far more precari- ous than most dare to imagine. Outside of the formal bidding process, only two U.S. oil giants man- aged to secure contracts for other oil feldsExxon and Occidental. No Blood for Oil had been a slogan used by protesters against George W. Bushs invasion of Iraq. Neoconservatives in Washington had always said that the money from Iraqs oil would be used to pay for the war and the reconstruction. But the opposite came true. A lot of blood was spilled, but very little oil fowed for the U.S. With production of 2.5 million barrels of crude oil daily, production in Iraq has returned to close to its prewar levels. Forecasts now suggest it will take 20 years before that production is doubled or tripled, however. The U.S. spent more than $700 billion on Iraq, but now Iraqs oil profts are going to other countries. EXPRESS | December 9 Flood of support for our eu crusade M ore than 100,000 people have signed up to the Daily Expresss crusade for Britain to quit the European Union, it can be revealed today. The newspaper has received a deluge of our special crusade cou- pons calling on David Camerons government to organize an orderly withdrawal from the EU. Support has hit six fgures in just over a week since the historic crusade was launched. It is on course to become the fastest-growing campaign in newspaper history. Last night the colossal surge of support was being viewed as a stark warning to Brussels that Britain has had enough of meddling and an ever growing tax burden. Tory MP Philip Davies, a member of the Better Off Out group of mps, said: This is an absolutely amazing response. It reveals the pent-up frustration among the public that none of the mainstream political par- ties are speaking up for what they believe in. UK Independence Party peer Lord Pearson said: This is a huge level of support from the great British public to the greatest British newspa- per. The strength of feeling shown by Daily Express readers refects the growing support across the country for withdrawal. A survey by pollsters Angus Reid earlier this week showed that 48 percent of voters asked want Britain freed from the yoke of Brussels while 59 percent believe EU membership has damaged the UK. And support among Daily Express readers for withdrawal from the EU is overwhelming, with 99 percent of the tens of thou- sands of callers who rang this newspapers exclusive phone poll backing an exit for Britain. Yet, ultimately, Europe forcing its identity down the throats of the British will reach a stopping point. The Bible indicates that the UK will not remain a part of the Catholic- dominated, German-led EU. At some point, probably over some crisis, Britain will either leave the Union or be kicked out. Trumpet, March 2006 Witness to a Fading Fighting spirit on december 7, Hawaii remembered when 69 years ago hundreds of fghter planes from the Imperial Japanese Navy stunned a sleeping population and military personnel with a massive air attack on Pearl Harbor. Admiral Yamamoto had hoped that a sur- prise attack on Pearl Harbor would break the nations morale. History shows the opposite happened. A sleeping giant was awakened. Looking from the Arizona memorial, you see in the distance the uss Missouri, on which the Japanese unconditionally surrendered to U.S. supremacy. Thats the last time an enemy surrendered to the greatest single nation in history. Oh, how times have changed. Today, 69 years later, an air of weakness emanates from the once great superpower. The results of a long list of wars and skir- mishesKorea, Vietnam, Cuba, Rwanda, Somalia, and today Iraq and Afghanistanall too readily demonstrate that the will to win complete victory by vanquishing the enemy is a phenomenon of Americas past. The pride of the once great superpower is now demon- strably diluted, divided and all but broken (Leviticus 26:19). Madmen with nuclear ambitions and jihadist terrorists wave their fsts with impu- nity at America. Pearl Harbor should have taught us to watch our back and to never again allow en- emy nations to perceive us weak and lacking the will to fght. Today we are left asking the question, would America react the same way as it did 69 years ago if an unprovoked, surprise at- tack struck its citizens and servicemen in an effort to destroy its military capability and weaken morale? Well it happened on September 11 almost a decade ago, and despite all our vaunted, sophisticated technology, we still have not vanquished the real perpetratorsa ragtag bunch compared to the massive hoards that sought to destroy our nation almost 70 years ago. So, how many stopped to remember the seventh of December? The answer is too few, far too few. Then again, America has always been a forgetful nation. We shall yet rue having forgotten the powerful lessons of that fateful day on which a massive enemy attack broke the back of the uss Arizona and laid it to rest at the bottom of Pearl Harbor, there to remain a mute and silent witness to the last time that America truly answered the trumpet call to a battle to win ultimate victory over its enemy. THETRUMPET.COM, GARETH FRASER | December 8