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.
These were also my thoughts upon reading the Times article. I
was thinking of the Bush years and how they had tried to push that angle – Iran
and al Qaeda – and how it repeatedly came to nothing.
From Putin's standpoint this call to protect Armenia's
Christian legacy is an attempt to recover face. Moscow dropped the ball in
terms of its larger Orthodox narrative. It did not come to the aid of Armenia
and turn back the tide of the Turk. Azerbaijan clearly won this round as
Armenia, defeated and broken was forced to abandon the field and cede large
portions of Artsakh, the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave it had captured in the
1990's.
According to Christian media we are supposed to be excited that at long last after thirty years on the public stage (and as his voice is soon to be silenced due to terminal illness), Rush Limbaugh is at last a Christian. He has a 'personal relationship' with Christ.
What I see watching this video is a sad deceived woman, a
woman who thinks she's serving God but is in fact zealously labouring in
opposition to Him.
It is no great shock to find a platform such as LifeSite celebrating this sort of thing – Christ being promoted and defended by thugs such as Jair Bolsonaro.
LifeSite represents the Dominionist nexus – the new ecumenism
born of Evangelical Dominion theology and sections of traditionalist and
integralist Catholicism. These groups celebrate anything that smacks of
Christians (of almost any stripe) wielding and exercising cultural influence
and political power.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Moldova-is-preparing-for-a-revolution,-Belarus-style-51461.html
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Moldovan-elections-head-for-run-off-51513.html
Sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova remains
poised for the same sort of unrest that has plagued both Ukraine and Belarus.
Indeed, the nation which is more or less Romanian in its ethnicity is divided
between it majority population and a considerable minority of Russians and
other Eastern Slavs.
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/10/26/the-angry-arab-the-us-just-blackmailed-sudan/
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2020/07/trouble-on-nile.html
Sudan, an opponent of Washington for the past thirty years
has been flipped over into the American column. Washington sponsored and
shepherded the creation of South Sudan in 2011, a move that (for a time) cut off the
Beijing-aligned Khartoum regime from its oil resources. As of last year China has returned to a position of dominance in terms of South Sudanese oil. And yet now Washington has
scored another victory in the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir and the bringing of Sudan into alliance
with the West. Divide and conquer in this case worked. And China for its part risks trouble in getting its oil to the coast.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54297372
What a sad testimony. While
I don't doubt that the Obama administration was pushing feminism and sodomy
alongside their humanitarian efforts, one would hope the Africa church would
see the danger of any and all connections to the American Empire and what it
represents.
Though he was forced out over six months ago, the UK's Blair-ite controlled Labour Party has persisted in their conspiracy to destroy Jeremy Corbyn and any hint of his legacy. He's still an MP and apparently there's fear that his wing of the party may come back at some point. And so while he's down, Keir Starmer and those that back him are maneuvering to take Corbyn out of the equation.
Greenwald's departure wasn't all that surprising apart from the fact that he was the key name associated with The Intercept's founding in 2014. The online magazine arose in the wake of the Snowden revelations and yet within a few years it began to decline.
If Trump is so wrong for the Christian Church to embrace, was Biden a viable alternative?
Of course not. As I've repeatedly argued, to politicise and
to vote is to participate in and endorse the system which is in fact evil. In
terms of Providence it serves a purpose and thus we don't oppose the system on
political terms. Calling men to repentance, we warn of the coming Judgment and
we offer hope of life for those who unite with Christ. But our task is not to
challenge the powers that be for they are ordained by God. I couldn't care less
if the president of the United States is a Republican or a Democrat – he's
still the president of the United States and thus represents the American
system.
I am completely open to the notion that elements within the US government would seek to subvert the electoral process. They've done it outside US borders on dozens of occasions and so the thought that it could happen here does not even begin to stretch my imagination.
That said, I am unconvinced that this has taken place with
regard to the Biden-Trump contest. If Deep State actors had intended this, they
would want to make sure the victory was clear-cut – something that didn't
happen. In fact this tight and long drawn-out race was in many respects the
worse scenario.
https://www.axios.com/trump-firing-wray-haspel-esper-088cbd70-3524-4625-91f1-dbc985767c71.html
There are indications that if Trump stays in office he plans a purge – a move that
will alarm some within the Establishment as it indicates he's prepared to adopt
a completely reckless attitude in his second term. And given the way he's conducted himself over the past four years, that's really saying something.
There is a great hypocrisy at work within Right-wing circles. They profess to believe in the American system of democratic representation and yet clearly they don't actually hold to it. Their actions suggest a strong anti-democratic bias as represented by their attempts to suppress democracy and disenfranchise large segments of the population.
Led by Richard Land a lobbyist, political activist and Dominionist
the Christian Post wants to reach the broadest possible spectrum to make
Christianity something that's not merely detected (having a place at the table)
but a force that's influencing all aspects of culture.
The Christian Post attempts to provide a broad spectrum of
Christian media and news coverage but instead it has degenerated into parody.
The controversy over Hunter Biden is being downplayed in some circles and great exaggerated in others. There is something to the story. Of this there can be no doubt and yet any story released by the Murdoch-affiliated New York Post should always be taken with a grain of salt. Of all his publications and outlets, that one (even though regularly utilised by FOX) is highly dubious and its journalistic standards are sub-par at best.
It comes down to this. Did the Biden's engage in anything
illegal? At this point it doesn't seem to be the case. Are Hunter Biden's
business dealings ethical? Of course not. Is Hunter Biden financially
benefitting from his name and connections to his father? Obviously this is the
case.
Taiwan watchers are nervous as there are some indications that China may act in light of an outbreak of election-related chaos in the United States. The argument is that if the transition of US power is in question and there is civil and economic upheaval, Beijing may decide to make its move against Taiwan.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Protesters-shout-China-out-of-Argentina-51306.html
One would love to know more about the protests and whether or
not money is being spread around. It is in Washington's interest that Latin
America turns away from China and if such unrest happens to topple the
Kirchner-affiliated government of Alberto Fernandez – there will be
celebrations in both the State Department and on Wall Street.
Central Asia is complicated. It's not the Balkans but it's not a region that's easily explained or understood. The current crisis in Kyrgyzstan can be summed as a struggle between two factions – one, the group headed by former president Almazbek Atambayev (2011-2017) who has been in and out of prison and was recently subjected to an assassination attempt.
The rival faction is represented by Sooronbay Jeenbekov who
was president from 2017 until 15 October 2020 when he resigned and was replaced
by Sadyr Japarov whom we will mention again below.
This is partly an internal struggle over control of the
Kyrgyz political order. There's a great deal of corruption and shadowy business
dealings, there are international players and as expected there are questions
surrounding the black market, drugs and organised crime. Kyrgyzstan has emerged
as a key point on the smuggling route between Afghanistan and the Russian
Federation. There is also great mineral wealth which continues to play a part
in the nation's struggles.
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/10/19/socialist-luis-arce-declares-victory-in-bolivia-election/
https://news.yahoo.com/bolivia-election-voters-head-polls-193341929.html
Get ready for it to get ugly in Bolivia. The American backed
2019 coup is being democratically rolled back and the Socialists (MAS) are on
the brink of returning to power.
https://apnews.com/4296b5c0a5b2fe876b89f1c96ba7906c
This AP article ran in our local paper and since it mentioned
Evangelicals it caught my eye. And then I was rather taken aback when I saw the
Evangelical point man they chose to interview was none other than Laszlo
Pasztor.
This is a follow up to the previous piece found here:
http://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-michigan-plot.html
Until the time of Trump any president upon receiving news of
a plot to kidnap a governor and violently take control of state capitol would
have resulted in (at the very least) a personal phone call.
I have been an occasional listener to Iron Sharpens Iron for many years. The show hosted by Chris Arnzen has a sort of quasi-theonomic Calvinistic Baptist flair about it. Arnzen would (I think) deny being a Theonomist but he's strongly influenced by them and his baptistic rendering of theology definitely plays a prominent if unfortunate role in the tone of the show.
At this point in time a lot of the details are still unknown. Was the plot to storm the capitol building and kidnap the governor the plan of one militia group or multiple groups?
The recent US-motivated Arab peace deals with Israel, the
so-called 'Abraham Agreements' have inadvertently healed old wounds. Hamas
arose in the 1980's in response to Yasser Arafat's compromises – a perceived
sellout that would eventually lead to the Oslo Accords in 1994.
Pardon my cynicism but it's rather convenient that the files
regarding one of the most notorious massacres in Salvadoran Civil War, one
perpetuated by the US trained and backed Atlacatl Battalion have seemingly
disappeared.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/25/huge-fire-breaks-out-at-huawei-facility-in-china
The context for this potentially controversial fire is one of
military drills, cat and mouse confrontations between the Chinese and American
navies in the South China Sea and growing tensions over Taiwan.
Palantir, the Orwellian data-analytic company founded by the
apostate sodomite Peter Thiel continues to flourish and has expanded its
footprint during the Trump era – and it's time to cash in and get plugged into
the mainstream.
For many years I have followed and written about the tensions within the Caucasus and once again they're flaring up but many seem to sense there's something different this time – the potential is there for a greater regional war.
https://www.mnnonline.org/news/dear-mr-pompeo-please-hold-india-accountable-for-its-oppression/
Confusion reigns as the compromised Western Church has no moral
standing. Allying itself with political power, the Evangelical movement and its
allies call upon the likes of Pompeo to use the power of the American Empire to
curtail the anti-Christian policies of Modi's BJP.
Protestia, the newest incarnation of JD Hall's Pulpit and Pen clickbait factory posted a broadside attacking The Gospel Coalition. The 'news' article used this critical 'tweet' from Justin Taylor as a platform to launch their attack:
Interestingly I went looking for the tweet but couldn't find
it. It seems to have been removed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/books/stephen-cohen-dead.html
Stephen Cohen was a solid historian who spent most of his
career focused on the Soviet Union and Russia. His specialisation gave him a
largely unparalleled perspective that proved both unique and critical in the 21st
century as the United States began to take a more aggressive posture vis-à-vis
Russia.
The Mint Press News article wades into confusing waters as
there is some truth in the assertions of racism at work in the narratives of
Christian Nationalism but these realities are vigorously denied by most in that
sector – as is the reality of American imperialism.
There is so much dishonesty at work, the revising and
romanticisation of history and imposed metanarrative that it's very difficult to
get through to the adherents of Christian Nationalism (a variant of
Dominionism) that they have in fact departed from historical truth and
certainly New Testament Christianity.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/opinion/2020-election-voting.html
It surprises me to say that to some extent I agree with former
DNI Coats or rather I agree with his assessment. As a Christian I believe we
ought to pray for the peace of the city. This does not mean we endorse the
city, its agendas, policies, goals, or wars.
On the contrary in many cases we must speak against these
things but we do so from a non-political standpoint. We speak as prophets
bringing a message of doom and hope. We do not seek power as God will judge
those on the outside. We have no interest in their Babel towers or their
Babylons and ultimately we submit to the powers that be and do not resist them
in terms of the sword or the coin.
My concerns are less about the integrity of the American
democratic experiment and the ideals that it ostensibly stands for. Rather my
concerns are purely pragmatic. At this point it time the election has been cast
into doubt and it's hard to imagine a scenario in which there will not be chaos
and considerable blood in the streets.
Despite Trump's near panicked claims to the contrary, the witnesses that testify to have heard him say as much are credible. Trump's selfishness and self-absorption know no bounds. He cannot conceive of anyone believing in anything greater than one's self – let alone believing in it so strongly that they would be willing to sacrifice their lives for it. And thus to the bafflement and irritation of those serving under him, he as president of the United States impugned the memory of fallen soldiers buried on French soil.
More evidence has poured in since the November 2019 coup that
forced Evo Morales from power – and forced him to flee for his life. Contrary
to the assertions of Mike Pompeo and other American officials, the election was
not fraudulent as the Organisation of American States (OAS) now admits.
