https://www.euractiv.com/section/defence/news/italian-defence-minister-questions-relevance-of-nato/
Meloni has one face for Brussels and Washington, and another that she has revealed in her history. Has she changed? Has she mediated? Has she learned that it's one thing to campaign as an opposition party and another to actually govern? Maybe. The jury is still out.
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/05/04/how-bob-parry-covered-odessa-fire-that-sparked-a-war/
This is not only a mostly forgotten episode but one crucial to understand the complex of events and motives that led to Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This is not to justify Putin's actions. Rather the story in this case is the need for harsh condemnation of Western media which refused to seriously cover this event (and similar stories) and revisit them during the lead up to Putin's invasion. To this day, the statements of his government have never been taken seriously and when sound bytes are played or recounted out of context the purpose is to suggest he's either insane or simply absurd.
There's so much that could be said right now about events in the Middle East and the conflict between Israel and Iran and the potential for a wider war including the United States and others.
For my part I think about scenarios in which the war could go sideways or the aftermath of a regime collapse.
https://newrepublic.com/post/195266/mike-johnson-donald-trump-defense-corruption
This story from May is already outdated but the substance is still pertinent. In addition to his hypocritical defense of the January 6 protesters (especially when compared to the Trumpite faction's rhetoric concerning Los Angeles), Johnson recently spun the incident involving California Senator Padilla at the Kristi Noem press conference. He put the blame on Padilla and suggested he 'charged' the podium - which is pure rubbish and he knows it. The Senator was thrown to the ground and handcuffed - an incident that reminded me of Charles Sumner getting caned on the Senate floor in 1856. These incidents are all pieces of a puzzle that future historians will point to when commenting on the collapse of America and its pending civil war.
https://churchleaders.com/news/510090-anti-christian-bias-task-force-religious-discrimination.html
This so-called 'Anti-Christian Bias Task Force' is part of Trump's plan to weaponize the Justice Department and his Evangelical allies are eager to cooperate and seek a position of preference and favour in US society and the legal system.
One might wish that Evangelical leaders would be a little more familiar with history. If so, they might raise an eyebrow at the sabre-rattling of politicians and be a little more cynical of their motivations. Make no mistake, many are motivated by nationalist interests vis-a-vis Atlanticism or the EU. Others are simply in line to profit from military expansion and militarism.
https://cne.news/article/1753-giorgia-meloni-woman-mother-and-christian
This article proudly proclaims Meloni's roots and ties to the MSI - the Italian Social Movement, the pro-Mussolini party that was founded in the aftermath of the war. The party would splinter in 1995 with one faction merging into Berlusconi's movement and the rest into smaller parties such as the Lega Nord (just Lega today) and the National Alliance (AN) - the party that Meloni cut her teeth in. Her Brothers of Italy (FdI) emerged from the AN, but the Mussolini-based roots are clear not only terms of political-institutional pedigree but ideology.
https://theaquilareport.com/christians-stop-calling-them-monsters/
This was a bit of a frustrating read. Marion is correct in saying that terms like 'monster' get overused and an appeal can be made to that end regarding the imago dei, however any appeal to Genesis 1 must also take in the fall, the curse, death, and the fear and dread (Genesis 9) that man spreads upon the Earth - points he seemingly does not take into account.
I am hardly alone in following the coverage of the Trump-Musk schism which as of this writing continues to escalate. The media tends to focus on the dynamics of the relationship falling into all the 'bromance' talk of the present generation - a sign of the culture's decadence that has degraded friendship and has a tendency to cast all relationships and interactions into some kind of sexual terms. It's tiresome to say the least.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpPRkyXrBd0
Jeffrey Sachs is something of a rising star when it comes to commentary on Trumpian economics but in particular the question of Russia and American foreign policy. Since the death of Stephen Cohen, Sachs is one of the few voices in academia that commands respect even while positing a counter-Establishment view.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/12/ecuador-president-blackwater-alliance
Ecuador had been part of the so-called Pink Tide of Latin American nations that had turned turned to Left-wing governments during the George Bush era. The term of Rafael Correa (2007-2017) came to symbolize this era for Ecuador. After Correa departed office, his party continued holding power but the shift was underway. By 2021 a conservative (and pro-Washington) president was in power but his tenure was marked by controversy, corruption, and ultimately collapse.
Lately, I've been reading a lot of articles at The European Conservative and similar publications, trying to get inside the heads of these people and how they frame history and revise it. This article was no exception to what seems to be an established rule.
I was asked to comment about Josh Buice and the scandal surrounding him. G3 Ministries is one of the big names in New Calvinism - even though I think Buice would want to distance himself from that label.
I caught a few minutes of the Family Life Network's (FLN) news segment the other day and I was struck by how fuzzy the line gets between mis- and disinformation. It's also noteworthy how much the network has shifted to the Right in recent years - though it's nowhere near American Family Radio (AFR) or even local stations like WDCX out of Buffalo, New York - other stations I pick up at times when I'm out and about.
https://cne.news/article/4508-rene-breuel-bringing-the-gospel-and-pizza-to-post-catholic-italy
I all but immediately shut down when I see this now standard Evangelical image - the pop culture guy with the headset and backlighting with a drum kit and other instruments. It's something that could be put in a history book as a typical of the period. For my part, it's something I intuitively reject and even recoil from.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-tells-walmart-eat-tariffs-instead-raising-prices-2025-05-17/
Trump wants Wal-Mart to 'eat' the costs of tariffs and not pass the prices on to consumers. He knows this will cost him politically as the working poor (many of whom support his movement) will be hit the hardest by the price hikes.
While reading coverage of the Romanian election (with the second round slated to take place on 18 May), I was absolutely floored reading this from a pastor in Romania:
The Russian invasion of 80 years ago is not forgotten. "They distorted everything; they raped our mothers, wives, and daughters. They are less than 200 km from my home. Do I, myself, have to kill somebody? Or to watch how my family is destroyed? Will I be able to preach again from the pulpit ever in my life? Or to run away? To leave everything behind? To leave my flock behind? I am not ready for this, I don't have the strength. I am not Dietrich Bonhoeffer... I am just a simple Christian pastor who serves his Lord in Eastern Europe."
How many times in recent weeks and months have I heard BBC programmes covering the election warning about the lessons of history being forgotten and the threat of Right-wing revisionism? And then to find this?
https://www.creators.com/read/judge-napolitano/04/25/taking-easter-seriously-78f98
Napolitano would have us take Easter seriously and then proceeds to make a mockery of it. I found this to be in keeping with most of his commentaries. We would do well to identify these errors and reflect on them. Have they influenced our own thinking? To what degree do they shape the thinking of Christians around us?
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/syria-assad-hts-china-future/
Foreign Policy magazine and The Economist have articles on this topic but due to firewalls there's little point in linking them.
Instead I'm linking this piece from (of all places) The Atlantic Council. It's biased to be sure (and even misleading at points) but given that it's readership is a little more high-brow, it's intelligent and touches on things that an AP story, let alone something from CNN or CBS wouldn't even address.
It's been more than a month since the Signal Group Chat scandal broke. This Politico piece from the end of March is dated but still relevant. Waltz has now been shifted over to UN Ambassador and Hegseth has invited further scandal. Some believe his days are numbered.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MqvIddYMMEk
This video 'short' appeared on the NPR website promoting a podcast. The clip is only about a minute long but the implications are sweeping and eternal. Materialism is a religion and its becoming pervasive in society as its implications are being worked out and applied. It is creating a new world and a new kind of person.
I happened to catch some Newsmax on a recent night and couldn't help but grin listening to the commentators drone on about the surveillance state and how the citizenry shouldn't have to give up so much of its personal data.
Many will have no problem with giving up their data to corporations - who in turn affect and shape state policy and effectively lobby the government.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/16/erik-prince-trump-immigration-enforcement
I suppose this article got little attention in Christian circles because few would find it newsworthy. They support Trump's anti-immigrant agenda and the fact that so-called Christians like Erik Prince would want to promote and profit from it - is not worth talking about. Undoubtedly most of them would do the same if they had the means to do so.
As expected PRI's The World didn't go very deep in covering this story but to be honest I was surprised it was mentioned at all. The programme is informative but not exactly adversarial. The story of Depleted Uranium and its connections to cancer occasionally pops up in the media but the Establishment has made every effort to discount and dismiss the question.
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/04/21/vijay-prashad-brics-industrial-development/
I found Prashad's comments which suggested a comparison between BRICS and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to be timely and worth serious consideration. Western opponents of the NAM always considered it to be unofficially more friendly toward the Eastern Bloc - itself something of a fiction. In this case, the foes of Western Atlanticism are in BRICS and so one could say everyone's cards are on the table. However, it's important to understand why the USSR and China were happy to deal with NAM nations and the West was not. Unlike the United States they did not assume that everyone who wasn't fully on board with them was an enemy. The US has a tendency to cast geopolitics in such terms - stated so bluntly by GW Bush. "You're either with us or against us." - a stance which may or may not drive nations away in the immediate but in the long term it's a position that destroys trust and respect.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/richard-secord-retired-air-force-155848925.html
For those of us who remember the Iran-Contra Scandal and followed and studied the story of American clandestine operations during Vietnam and after - the name Richard Secord is well known. He was the consummate spook, an intelligence operative that was involved in some pretty amazing if sordid stuff.
https://theaquilareport.com/is-america-part-of-christendom/
There seems to be virtually an endless stream of articles like this - trying to tweak definitions or steer the conversation, but always missing the point.
I was in a coffee shop and noticed a copy of the Sunday edition (13 April 2025) of the New York Times. While perusing it, I came across a large ad placed by one Eileen Hamilton. It contains two columns, one reads 'Putin' and the other 'Hitler' meant to tease out analogies and make direct comparisons. It got my attention.
https://julieroys.com/aaron-renn-might-be-right-christians-face-negative-world-but-is-it-new/
After months of hearing on the radio and from podcasts and pulpits about 'the negative world' and Aaron Renn's interpretive paradigm, it's refreshing to discover at least a few voices that recognize his narrative as problematic.
https://www.propublica.org/article/mike-johnson-evangelical-pastor-steve-berger-roommates
Given
Berger's penchant and drive for Dominionist political activism, the
claim that he and Mike Johnson don't discuss policy is not credible.
Also, given that Berger is obviously connected (and this explains the
reason why Johnson stays there), the claim is even less believable.
Such arrangements are strategic - not expressions of generosity or
mere hospitality. And it's not because Berger thinks Johnson is just a great guy.
Though this story dates from February it is still relevant and still a source of concern. Increasingly Western governments are equating anti-Israel and anti-Zionist speech with being pro-Hamas and tantamount to expressing support for that democratically elected political organisation.
Listening to American Family Radio (AFR) in March, I caught a story about Ramadan fast-breaking being held at Windsor Castle. As expected the story was misrepresented. They were invited by Charles - though not without controversy. He is well known as an advocate of inter-religious and ecumenical projects. For some this is controversial as he is officially the 'Defender of the Faith' as head of the Church of England.
I heard one Chinese analyst speak truthfully - the end-game of these tariffs is war. Hopefully a 'deal' can be reached long before then but Trump's moves are a form of warfare - even if the bullets aren't flying yet.
I'm sure many readers have already seen these headlines about Evangelical funding being cut by DOGE - and no doubt many caught the fact that there's something poetic about these developments.
Marcos has committed his country to the path of war, and yet is this really what the people of the Philippines want? Do they understand what it will mean when the US has bases there - when it stages missiles batteries there?
This interview was informative to a point. It was also striking in that it attempted to spin the HTS takeover of Syria. The US Establishment is so ecstatic that Assad is gone, they are willing to spin the situation in order to assuage public fears. While Robert Worth suggested Israel is less than pleased - as demonstrated by their seizure of territory beyond the Golan Heights, and the numerous strikes to cripple that nation's military capability, I still felt like the whole question of Jolani/al-Sharaa was viewed through an Israeli lens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derna_dam_collapses
https://www.declassifieduk.org/why-the-media-arent-telling-the-whole-story-of-libyas-floods/
Since these events took place in 2023, it might as well be ancient history. Apart from those who follow the Middle East, this story was ignored and is by now largely forgotten.
But to ignore this is a mistake. Likewise if one wants to understand what's happening today in Sudan, Ethiopia, and what is brewing in South Sudan, the history needs to be revisited. Contemporary events cannot be understood otherwise.
https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Do-the-Chinese-really-want-Siberia-62318.html
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/3654427-does-china-have-designs-on-siberia/
There is nothing particularly profound or revelatory in this article but it's worth considering and filing away. The issue of resources and the Russian Far East have come up before in history. There were those in Imperial Japan who coveted these lands and had an opportunity to invade from their colony of Manchukuo (the conquered realms of Manchuria) in the 1930's. In fact after the German invasion of the USSR in June of 1941, Stalin hesitated to bring the desperately needed troops from Siberia to the West, as he believed the Japanese would invade - something Berlin was very keen for them to do.
I was recently spending some time with an older man from a nearby town that I've known for many years. I've mentioned him before in other articles. He's one of those old blue-collar types that really has only one religion - America. He worships the flag, troops, firefighters, and law-enforcement. When I first knew him back in the 1990's, he liked Bill Clinton and supported Gore in the 2000 election. He's lax when it comes to morality in terms of things like homosexuality and abortion and yet takes a pretty hardline view when it comes to work ethic, foreign policy, and the like. He's pro-union if that even matters any more.
I was looking at the website of one of Scott Brown's upcoming conferences on Christian Entrepreneurship. It was the usual fare from these Agrarian-Dominionist Theonomic types. I've seen it all before. I decided to look up the background and credentials on the speakers and I noticed one has the last name of Botkin which is well known in those circles. The Botkin girls in particular have generated a great deal of attention.
The battle continues over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The courts in some cases resist the attempts to shut it down - in other cases the courts are facilitating its termination.
This story broke in December 2024 in connection with the fall of the Assad regime. CNN was caught red-handed in a lie. The whole thing was a set-up. One has to wonder how many other such episodes take place? It is certain though that it's getting harder to pull off. Amid all the negatives, it's certainly one of the positives of the Internet Age.
The other day I was working within range of the American Family Radio (AFR) signal and I caught some of Todd Herman's show. He suggested the globalists had taken over American foreign policy and that the United States had been actively involved in the manipulation of Ukrainian politics. He pulled out material and clips from 2014 of Victoria Nuland and others to make his point. It was almost like I was listening to Democracy Now or The Grayzone.
Meloni's policy has mostly been to tack toward the centre, which has given her great credibility and standing within the EU Establishment. But as the article points out, there's still a very ugly Right-wing side to her domestic policy. Politically it's brilliant as it doesn't allow domestic rivals like Matteo Salvini to outflank her, but I think it's also indicative of her true colours and the nature of her political pedigree.
https://www.saintstephenslutheranchurch.org/single-post/2019/08/14/where-does-religion-come-from
Virtually every time I turn on NPR there's an add for the 'Hidden Brain' show - I think it must be quite popular. Just from the clips they play, it's evident to me the show attempts to wrestle with various thought-related conundrums from an entirely materialistic standpoint. It is (needless to say) utterly godless in its approach to knowledge, ethics, existence, meaning, and a host of other questions. You are your brain - humans are just a mass of cells, and the attempt to extrapolate some kind of meaning, purpose, ethics, or hope from this model is an exercise in futility. In other words, the show is a waste of time.
https://www.patriotacademy.com/the-patriot-experience/
I am sorry to report that I have found this filth being promoted on Christian websites. If you click the 'about us' tab you'll find they believe they're promoting a Biblical Worldview.
I'm afraid this episode of Fresh Air typifies the increasing divide in American news coverage. No sober thinking person (let alone a Spirit-filled one) can possibly appreciate the manipulative and superficial quality of Right-wing media outlets such as FOX and Newsmax. And yet this episode of Fresh Air (which had every reason and opportunity to be interesting) proved tiresome and I became more fixated on the liberal materialist assumptions of the interviewer and guest than the actual issues being discussed.
This story is fascinating on several levels and yet there's something rotten about it. Even after reading the 43 page indictment, it doesn't add up.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/19/graham-military-action-iran-nuclear-program-00199181
This story has almost been lost in the flurry of events over the past month but the issue is still live and the bomb-loving Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is still pressing for a strike on Iran.
https://calthomas.com/2025/02/whom-to-blame-for-the-crisis/
Unfortunately I must report that Cal Thomas is still producing commentaries and this one appeared in our local newspaper the other day.
It's a case of classic bait-and-switch tactics. He ignores the issues surrounding the Constitutional Crisis and instead ventures down a dishonest rabbit trail of revisionism and spin. In other words, it's classic Cal Thomas.
This piece was written before Trump even took office and yet it has proven prescient - to a point. You won't read or hear about any of this on the FOX channel. Visiting their website is like a trip to fantasy-land - they are completely detached and divorced from the reality that the rest of the world sees and is dealing with.
https://www.christianpost.com/voices/daniel-penny-vigilante-racist-jesus-good-samaritan.html
In the flurry of recent news this story has already been all but forgotten. Daniel Penny received some additional press when (after his acquittal) the then Vice-President-elect JD Vance invited him to a football game.
Contemporary Dominionists are using the Thomistic concept of Ordo Amoris in order to justify their nationalism - which is idolatry. Since Vance made his statements, there have been a rash of articles offering support and praise for both him and the concept - many of them issued from Reformed pens.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/24/trump-pete-hegseth-extremism
Hegseth first appeared on my radar under the first Trump administration as one of the voices defending American war crimes. The post-9/11 world has been a veritable golden age for US Special Forces and the growing lack of restraint coupled with psychopathic behaviour has led to some serious concern within the Pentagon. It's something I wrote about in 2020:
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2020/01/trump-1079-military-schisms-legality-of.html
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/g-s1-48112/john-bolton-greenland-national-security
I've been touching on this lately - but here's another example. The mainstream media (following the DNC) is tacking Right when it comes to economic and foreign policy issues.
https://americanreformer.org/2024/12/what-is-happening-in-germany/
This article typifies the misunderstanding on the part of the American Right with regard to the rise of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, its values, and its political platform.
We all knew that Trump was going to tear NATO apart. After less than a month in office the process has already begun in earnest. I watched coverage of the Vance speech in US media and let's just say they're not covering the real scope and impact of what the vice-president said - let alone the response or the larger context going back to the first Trump administration and before.
In keeping with the Establishment, DNC and media's shift to the Right (on certain issues) the once discredited pariah and pseudo-historian Jonah Goldberg is now mainstream and frequently appears on NPR. His 'liberal fascism' narrative continues to tickle Right-wing ears and though prima facie false, it is conveniently ignored by the Democrats and media who have at this point in time all but embraced the ideology of the Neo-Conservatives and their foreign policy.
This linked article comes from a Turkish news source. As expected this Wikileaks revelation isn't getting a lot of coverage in the West.
Some are happy to see USAID collapse because of it ties to US intelligence operations. The article (in the AKP-aligned news outlet) mentions Soros and yet a closer read of the historical record reveals that far from being some agent of Internationalist Globalism or Socialism, George Soros was one of the American Empire's 'point' men in the 1980's and 1990's in Eastern Europe. As soon as the Berlin Wall came down, the US sought to consolidate power in Eastern Europe and worked with Soros and many others to subvert politics, create political parties, and spread money around to quickly shift the former Warsaw Pact nations into the EU and NATO. It was highly successful and played no small role in today's tensions with Moscow.
The Trump administration has made the news recently with regard to South Africa and White farmers. I've been following the coverage and I must say I've found it frustrating. I think many outlets have more or less answered and/or explained the misleading nature of Trump's charges. A little more context would be helpful but such endeavours take time.
