It's not too often that the Grey Wolves make it into mainstream
news circles. The Turkish nationalist (and by all accounts) fascist movement
has often been utilised by the United States – especially during the Cold War.
There are many clear cases of US intelligence collaborating with the group.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/bulgarian-corruption-leads-to-us-russia-clash/
As suggested last year, Bulgarian Prime Minister Borissov has
turned a corner and the US is starting to move against him. They tolerated him
and even utilised him but on critical points (such as energy) he has proven
unreliable. Given the corruption and outside influence within Bulgaria it's
hardly difficult to find scandals to amplify his 'unworthiness' and thus
Washington is beginning a campaign to oust him.
I first encountered Baucham about fifteen years ago. He was
unique because it's unusual find conservative Black voices within Calvinist
circles – in this case Calvinistic Baptist. He came onto the radar (as it were)
alongside the New Calvinist movement but clearly he was not one of them. Like
Paul Washer he seemed to partner with and associate with some Theonomic types
which always gave me occasion to pause, but generally speaking I would have
said he was a pretty solid guy, a good teacher who for most part stood for
Biblical thought and ethics.
While reading an article concerning the latest shake-up associated with Liberty University I was struck by this statement concerning their politically motivated think-tank, The Falkirk Center.
The Falkirk Center spearheaded an
aggressive, no-holds-bared approach to the culture war.
“Bemoaning the rise of leftism is no
longer enough,” its website read. “Although we do,
as Jesus taught, turn the other cheek in our personal relationships, we cannot
abdicate our responsibilities on the cultural battlefield. There is too much at
stake in the clash for the soul of our nation. Bold, unapologetic engagement
and initiative is needed on the part of every conservative American.”
This
only further exemplifies a point I've been trying to make for many years. In
the realm of ethics (which includes economics) the Evangelical movement as a
whole (and the broader category of Christian Sacralism) rejects the teachings
of Christ and in many cases does so knowingly.
https://www.vcyamerica.org/crosstalk/2021/03/03/american-heritage-girls/
This is yet another example of the Accommodationist Triad
(see below) at work within Evangelicalism. Posing as cultural conservatives and
traditionalists, they assume one-time liberal (now Right-wing) arguments in
order to score their political victories. And yet the assumptions they have
embraced represent a fatal compromise of the very conservative values they
claim to uphold. Their arguments are ultimately self-defeating. It's a case of fighting
off an acute poison by the utilisation of a long term cancer.
Romania has been transformed. Once a stalwart member of the
Warsaw Pact, during the post-Cold War epoch Bucharest has become a functional
satrap of the American Empire – even allowing Washington to base missile
systems and troops within its borders.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/croatia-kicks-off-lng-terminal-in-north-adriatic/
Rising from the fragmented war-torn disaster that was
Yugoslavia, Croatia has been attempting to break with any 'Eastern' association
and root itself firmly in the Catholic-Enlightenment West. This is essential to
the Croat identity. Though of the same genetic stock as the Orthodox Serbs and Muslim
Bosniaks, their history has been defined by alliance to the Habsburgs – in
other words to the Latin West.
The Roman Catholic Church was keen to utilise Western
Liberalism in its fight with the government of communist Poland. Backing Solidarity
and the democratic movement, the papacy of John Paul II played a significant
role in the Cold War struggle.
This was a fascinating if unsurprising piece written by one
formerly on the inside of the Dutch Calvinist and Evangelical world. One need
not agree with all of the author's views or conclusions to acknowledge that
Abraham Kuyper's ghost haunts and overshadows the Evangelical edifice that
began to emerge in the post-WWII period. While few know his name or are
familiar with his Stone Lectures at Princeton, his influence is pervasive.*
https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/opinion/the-slow-death-of-schengen/
Already under significant strain due to the immigration
crisis and growing nationalist concerns, the Schengen Area of uninhibited
visa-free travel and trade which began to be implemented in 1995 is under
growing threat – and one greatly exacerbated by the Covid crisis.
There have been repeated hints made in Western media that Beijing is somehow behind the coup in Myanmar (Burma). While the ruling party (CCP) of China is undoubtedly an evil organisation, I was immediately sceptical of the claims. Once again, just because Xi Jinping is an evil persecutor of the Church does not mean that we as Christians need to hop on to the Western propaganda bandwagon. We need to hold the truth and remember that just because the Chinese government is evil – it does not follow that Western powers like the US or UK are somehow 'good'.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/americas-half-century-war-somalia-comes-end-sort/274956/
I was pleased to see a connection made with the Cold War and
the fact that the US has been involved in the Horn of Africa since that time. Overall
the article is excellent, a concise and yet probing and even poignant summary
of events, and most importantly it provides the larger context that helps to
explain the US role in the region and the cynicism the people of the Somalia
and the larger Horn must feel toward Washington.
https://billmuehlenberg.com/2020/11/22/the-whole-world-is-turning-toward-evil/
Was all well prior to November 2020? Was Paul mistaken when
he characterised this period as a present evil age? Is that only a reality when
certain political parties are in power? Are the Scriptures in error when they
speak of Satan as the god of this world?
This move would have hardly required some kind of great
effort on the part of the Trump administration. Kosovo wears its Islam rather
lightly and while threatened by a growing Salafist movement (one sometimes
utilised by US intelligence) the establishment of relations with Israel is a
win-win from the standpoint of the Tel Aviv and Washington Establishments.
Despite the disinformation campaign waged by the media, Trump never really 'let up' on Russia. In fact in many respects his administration took more actions against Moscow than the Obama administration ever did.
However I expect Biden to be a bit different. Rather than
Obama 2.0, we're more likely to see what a Clinton administration might have
done. The Syria airstrike and the uptick in activity in the Black Sea is only
the beginning. Russia is to endure it even while the United States would hardly
tolerant such actions by either Moscow or Beijing in the Gulf of Mexico, Puget
Sound, or off the coast of California.
This is further evidence of the bureaucratic resistance to
Trump's haphazard drawdown of US troops. The order is given, feet drag, the
process is entangled and ignored – and then another administration comes to
power and slowly reverses the order and its momentum.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210107-the-432-year-old-manual-on-social-distancing
Historical ignorance and the bubble of modern Western life
have created our present state of affairs regarding Covid denial and resistance
to common sense neighbourly measures of arresting the spread.
It is right and just that Rick Snyder faces criminal charges
for his conduct with regard to the water system in Flint, Michigan.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/19/ghislaine-maxwell-court-proceeding-qanon
I found this report to be irritating on many fronts. On the
one hand the QAnon people are delusional, misled, and dangerous. On the other
hand there is most definitely a cover-up with regard to the whole Epstein
affair, including the events surrounding his death. His conduct and longtime
impunity indicate he had friends in high places that were either involved in
his business or knew full well what he was really about. This does not however
give credence to 'Pizzagate' style narratives or the absurdity that Trump was
somehow going to save the children from some kind of globalist elite paedophile
ring.
I remember years ago reading about the US electrical grid and how basically there's the Eastern United States, the West, and then there's Texas which is on a standalone grid.
https://www.persecution.org/2021/01/23/indonesia-appoints-christian-man-national-police-chief/
This is presented as some kind of victory, something to
celebrate. In truth it's tragic, a case of compromise on display. We have a
professed Christian who will now wield the sword of state – and what state? A
state with a horrific and bloody past that the present administration is
unapologetic about, a president who protects the criminals still living
associated with the American-backed genocide of the 1960's.
I heartily recommend this article which takes John Robbins to
task. The protégé of Gordon Clark, Robbins (who died in 2008) and the Trinity
Foundation have long promoted a particularly rabid form of Christian
Capitalism. In addition to his Clarkian projects, Robbins worked for Texas
congressman Ron Paul in the 1970's and 1980's and has connections to the
Heritage Foundation. He combines his Right-wing political and economic theories
with Clark's philosophical-theology labeled under the misnomer of
Scripturalism.
Stories surrounding investigations and reforms concerning the
Vatican Bank or IOR continue to appear in the news. There is an appearance of
due diligence as certain corrupt officials are removed but the systemic issues
are never tackled.
https://www.opc.org/nh.html?issue_id=288
I was more than a little disturbed when perusing the January
2021 New Horizons, the magazine of
the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. As I have explained in the past as a former
member of that faction I used to pick a copy every month from the back table of
the auditorium and over the years I still keep tabs on the OPC and some of the
people I used to know within its ranks.
It is tragic to me that this sort of politicising and
division has emerged within Italian Evangelicalism. When I lived in Italy in
the 1990's it seemed (at least to me) that Italian Christianity (by which I
exclude Roman Catholicism) was wonderfully free of political concern. A tiny
minority, there were no contrived narratives of a 'Christian Nation' or any
real concern for politics that I detected. Politics was inherently corrupt, had
nothing to do with the Church, and this was understood. Christians could go
about their lives and focus on Kingdom-related issues. They talked about the
Bible and life in a fallen world. Obsessing over politics and control of
government was not an issue for them.
And yet even then seeds (or more properly tares) had been
planted that were starting to bear fruit.
Glenn Greenwald formerly of The Guardian and The Intercept, the latter of which he helped to found in the aftermath of the Edward Snowden revelations – has gone out on his own. One of the lone voices within anti-Establishment (Left-wing) journalism, he has made enemies by questioning the Russiagate narrative and has at times questioned some of the Left's narratives surrounding Donald Trump.
https://www.opc.org/feature.html?feature_id=504
According to the guidelines provided by the OPC, the pastor
is to be 'free from worldly care and employment'. And yet what this translates
into is that the pastor should make a salary commensurate with that of an upper
middle class professional.
https://apnews.com/article/christianity-capitol-riot-6f13ef0030ad7b5a6f37a1e3b7b4c898
The Christian angle to this story has generated a lot of
discussion. At one time I would have said the 'Evangelical' angle but in recent
years even this is changing. In terms of the socio-political sphere the
Evangelical and Right-wing Catholic lines are increasingly being blurred.
https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2020/living-in-the-world/
The reader of this piece will certainly discover a lot of
interesting history to consider but the article-lecture is flawed in its
premise, its analysis, and thus in its worth.
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/cult-christian-trumpism/
Finally, there is a strong voice emanating from the Reformed
community that is willing to call a spade a spade. But because the voice is
that of Michael Horton and associated with Westminster California, it will be
dismissed and decried by many as yet another manifestation of 'Radical' Two
Kingdoms (R2K) thinking.
While the Istanbul-based Porte is no longer active, the
Erdogan administration in Ankara certainly has a vision of Neo-Ottomanism - the Neo-Porte is you will. On
the back burner for a season, it's back with a vengeance as Turkey attempts to
triangulate its alliances, play its opposition off against one another and
re-assert its unique geographical and cultural role. This is best seen in its
geo-strategic and economic policies within the Middle East, the Caucasus region,
Europe (particularly Germany and the Balkans) and the larger Mediterranean
region.
I hate to admit it but in this case Beijing does have a
point. Actually their statements are rather restrained – Beijing has only
touched upon the tip of the iceberg.
I have so many notes from the past couple of months and so little time that I've given up trying to write separate pieces on them all. Instead I've chosen to bundle a few together – some highlights if you will. There are a couple of things that I keep coming back to especially with regard to December of 2020.
With regard to the events of January 6, I have read and heard nothing but attempts by Christians to distance themselves from these events and place the blame on others.
This represents a further development of what I reported in
2018:
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2018/06/atlantic-breakdown-in-slow-motion.html
http://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2018/04/cracks-in-atlantic-wall.html
Right wing commentators in the United States are focusing on
Europe's 'betrayal' – the fact that Europe is not bowing in every case to
Washington's instructions and desires. This has been a reality since the
fruition of the European Union project in the 1990's. At that time even the
continuation of NATO was an open question.
The article is co-written by an official affiliated with the
Pristina government – which is (functionally) an arm of the US State
Department. Kosovo has been called the Fifty-First state by more than a few
commentators.
The US has (since the Obama administration) openly declared
China to be an enemy, thus it should hardly surprise anyone that Beijing has
responded and the MSS (the Chinese intelligence agency) has invested
significant intelligence gathering assets within the United States itself.
When the reports broke on the morning of 25 December I was at first afraid that it was another Oklahoma City Bombing – another terroristic act perpetrated by a Right-wing activist – or worse, some kind of Trumpite-Christian fanatic. In some respects I'm surprised that more of such things haven't happened but then again, there are still many in those circles that seem to think Trump is somehow going to 'pull this one out' and retain the presidency. (I wrote this before the 6 January incident)
https://eurasianet.org/covid-and-the-new-debt-dynamics-of-kyrgyzstan-and-tajikistan
https://www.centralasianews.net/news/267339395/uzbekistan-attracts-usd-66-billion-fdi-in-2020
Articles such as these represent a signal to Western investment
– particularly the EU, that there is a need to infuse cash (and thus influence)
into the region. A failure to do so will lead to Beijing's increased power and
presence in the Central Asian and Eurasian theatres.
I cannot be sure what the true nature of this story is but
given the way it's being framed by RFE/RL and the involvement of outlets such
as Bellingcat I am led to believe that it is something of a false expose',
serving as a means of cover-up.
What about US blacklist – a list of firms with ties to the US
military? It would be the size of a metropolitan phonebook. This kind of
article is fundamentally deceitful and meant to prey on either those governed
merely by passions or the ignorant.
The Swiss are famous for their neutrality and yet the nation
is also unique among its European neighbours in that it is armed to the teeth and
virtually every male citizen is required to do military service. The fact that
the nation's posture is strictly defensive is a point some would celebrate and
even those who in many cases would frown on the idea of conscription, see in
the Swiss situation a wholly different creature.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/12/11/france-augmented-soldiers/
Once these technologies are developed they won't stay static
and they won't be contained. At the very least they'll be sold on the black
market. And even if Western 'liberal democratic' governments decide to formally
reject the technology in terms of an official capacity, it is certain that they
will develop them and use them via proxies.
The news here has to be contrasted with the June 2020 Evangelical
Focus article which cast the situation in an air of optimism. Apparently the
situation isn't quite as hopeful as it seemed even six months ago.
Radio Free Europe is a well known front for US intelligence agencies and thus its news is to be taken with a grain of salt. In many ways it seems like the growing mission of the news-site is rooted in an Anti-Moscow/Anti-Putin campaign. That said, one can also learn something from the way in which it covers stories. Additionally, even taking into account a degree of 'spin' there is nevertheless a lot of helpful and interesting information.
In 2016 it was reported that 81% of Evangelicals voted for Trump. This figure has proven controversial as the Trumpites see it as embarrassingly low – an indication that Trump isn't properly supported among their Right-wing movement.
To actual political
conservatives (whose numbers grow fewer by the day) as opposed to Trumpites who
are merely Right-wing advocates, the 81% statistic was also an embarrassment but
for a different reason – it was a mark of shame and cause for alarm as Trump
was in many ways the antithesis of what Moral Majority-type Christian
politicking was supposed to be about. It was sign their movement had gone off
the rails.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/opinion/covid-19-is-putting-italys-populists-to-bed/
The Covid crisis has in more than one instance boosted the
standing and profile of Right-wing politicians as their core supporters are in
many cases Covid-deniers and sceptics.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/12/09/russia-naval-base-sudan/
Given that the US government has already demonstrated
considerable influence over the new government in Khartoum, this naval base
agreement with Russia was something of a surprise. When considers the
overwhelming pressure the US has put on its allies regarding Huawei and 5G
networks, surely Washington could have come up with enough pressures,
incentives, and even threats to dissuade the Sudanese government from cutting a
deal like this. So what happened?
Perusing the news, the Lori Laughlin story caught my eye again – something related to her being in prison. Overall I care nothing about the story. I don't know who this actress is and I really don't care either.
I recall the coverage of the story last year. It wasn't
something I was interested in but it was often in the background on BBC while I
was working or in the car.
https://evangelicalfocus.com/life-tech/4871/we-identify-with-a-feminism-with-deep-historical-roots
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Sentiments
This is tragic in so many ways. Would it have ever occurred
to these Spanish Christians to seek out, emulate, and celebrate the 1848 Seneca
Falls Convention apart from American Evangelical influence?
Attorney General William Barr's recent resignation has generated a stir within with Christian-Trumpite circles leading many to wonder if he's a traitor, or even a closet Biden supporter.
This notion is misguided and even a bit silly and it
painfully demonstrates how ill-informed and even ignorant the Trump base is.
How little they understand even about the basic workings of government and why
people do what they do.
It was a rare moment of Trump-era unity as Turkey has become the
pariah state in NATO. Democrats and Republicans, NATO allies and the
Neo-Conservative elements within Washington – everyone could rally around
Pompeo's condemnations of Erdogan.
https://www.vcyamerica.org/crosstalk/2020/11/27/we-will-not-be-silenced-2/
The episode description indicates that America isn't really
bad at all. There's nothing about America that 'we' should be ashamed about.
From the onset the pronoun confusion begins with no
distinction being made between being an American and having a conscientious
mindset about being American versus that of a Christian who has an identity
wholly separate from America and its culture – never mind the fact that the
Christian identity calls us to a different set of ethics and goals. The two
notions are wholly confused and this error dominates the interview as indeed
this theology dominates the American Evangelical world.
The Swedish connection to the story is significant because
though Sweden never joined NATO, it nevertheless played a special role during
the Cold War and the US has long been involved with its defense and
intelligence Establishment. There are still many unanswered questions from the
period including plausible suggestions of CIA involvement in the assassination
of Prime Minister Olof Palme. Only the most credulous accepted the recent
findings of the Swedish government regarding the 1986 assassination.
Media Hypocrisy on Russian Election Interference, Claims Regarding Biden and China, and Some General Comments on the Moral Spectrum of Western News Coverage
In this polarised and increasingly insane social climate it
is important (even critical) for Christians to understand what is happening.
It's affecting the Church and its testimony in the larger culture. Like it or
not we are being identified with one of the political factions involved in the
present conflagration and it would serve us well to be able to explain what is
happening and why we reject the dominant narratives.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/16/opinion/trump-religion-authoritarianism.html
This editorial piece
did not reveal anything new but the authoritarian theme afforded the author
(Katherine Stewart) a means of making a larger point in connection to current
strategies and trends at work within both the GOP and the larger
Christian-Right community.
Stewart is not a
Christian and is in fact hostile to New Testament Christianity – though she may
have never actually encountered it. There is still value in her writings even
if we cannot endorse her assumptions or conclusions. A Christian read of the
essay enables further points to be considered.
There's been a fair bit of news coverage regarding the situation in Ethiopia but as is often the case – little contextualisation. A quick survey will help to explain the nature of the conflict and its potential dangers to the wider region.
All the evidence suggests Israel has just assassinated one of Iran's top nuclear scientists. This is nothing new. Israel has been assassinating Iranian scientists and sabotaging their nuclear operations for years.
But this time is a bit different and this explains why the
story is generating some limited media attention in the West. There's a sense
of building pressure of something in the works. Many commentators believe an
attack is in the offing.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/how-bulgaria-gave-gazprom-the-keys-to-the-balkans/
In the summer of 2020, the boiling cauldron that is Bulgaria
began to spill over. Caught in a struggle between the West (NATO and the EU)
and its historical ally in Moscow, the Balkan nation has been racked by
controversy and intrigue.
