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.
