Germany Ready for Change?

The Telegraph wrote on September 10:

“[Scholz] said his country was afflicted by a ‘blight’ of timidity and risk aversion that only an ‘act of national strength’ can heal… the country has been brought down to earth by a gloomy economic reality… ‘The government’s story that green investments will bring a big boom is clearly misleading,’ Ifo head Clemens Fuest told The Telegraph. Climate policies such as a decision to phase out gas heating that was passed… by the German parliament on Friday are ‘of course raising costs and slowing down production’ in the crisis-hit building sector, he added…

“Berlin estimates that it needs to build some 8,600 miles of extra power lines to transport electricity from its new renewable wind and solar sources. But so far, less than 1,200 miles of the new lines have been completed…

“The picture of economic doom and gloom is playing into the hands of the far-Right Alternative for Germany party, which has been surging in polling in recent months. The pro-Russian party says it would tackle high energy prices – one of the core issues facing German industry – by repairing the sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines and buying gas from the Kremlin again. The price they are willing to pay is an end to military support to Ukraine.

“A recent poll from Saxony, one of three states in the former communist east that is going to the polls next year, found that all three parties in Mr Scholz’s coalition may struggle to win even the five per cent necessary to make it into the state legislature. Meanwhile, the AfD is set to win the most seats with 35 per cent of the vote while the CDU would come in second with 29 per cent….”

IF Germany was willing to change, it would have to start at the very top. But the question is, what kind of change? Note the next article. 

Persecution in Germany Continuing

The Ron Paul Institute published on September 12 the following article by C.J. Hopkins (an American author living in Germany. We reported on this development in our Current Events in our Update #1083, dated September 1, 2023):

“So, the Berlin State Prosecutor has launched another criminal investigation of me. Apparently, I’m being charged with reporting on the original investigation of me that the Berlin State Prosecutor launched in June…

“What happened is, the prosecutor visited my blog and read a column I published in July…  which included screenshots of the alleged ‘hate-crime’ Tweets that the original criminal investigation is based on, and that resulted in the Order of Punishment that the Berlin District Court handed down two weeks ago. So, the prosecutor opened a new criminal investigation and sent my attorney an official notice explaining the gravity of the additional charges… I am officially accused of ‘relativizing’ or ‘minimizing’ the crimes of the Nazis … by republishing the two Tweets that I originally tweeted…

“You would have to be a certified moron to believe they ‘minimized,’ or ‘relativized,’ or in any way made light of the crimes of the Nazis. You and I are not certified morons. Neither is the Berlin State Prosecutor. Neither is the District Court of Berlin… They are a blatant pretext to crackdown on dissent… [As was pointed out before in our above-mentioned Update, the allegations against Hopkins of minimizing the crimes of the Nazis are indeed preposterous and laughable.]

“I’m not at all enjoying my introduction to the so-called ‘German legal system.’ It is taking up my time. It is making me angry. It is upsetting my wife, which I do not appreciate. It is costing me a lot of money… The goal of… prosecutions like mine (and those of many other dissidents currently) is (a) to punish us for speaking out against ‘New Normal’ totalitarianism by making our lives as miserable as possible, (b) to make examples of us to discourage others from speaking out, and (c) to intimidate us into shutting… up… They may cloak themselves in the mantle of the law, but their modus operandi is brute force… their message is simple: ‘either do what we say, or we will hurt you.’..

“Never, ever, give in to a bully. The second you do, that bully owns you. What the bully wants, more than whatever he is demanding, more than anything else in the world, is your fear. The bully interprets your fear as respect, because the bully doesn’t understand respect. The bully craves your fear, and your obedience, because they reify the bully’s ‘authority.’ They enable the bully to feel powerful and important. The bully needs to feel ‘powerful’ and ‘important’ because the bully feels weak and unimportant, and afraid…

“Michael Ballweg, the founder and lead organizer of the ‘Querdenken’ movement… just spent nine months in jail. The German authorities have seized his assets, and frozen all his funds, so he is homeless, and bankrupt, and they are prosecuting him for attempted fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion, or, in other words, for launching a protest movement… The most absurd aspect of Michael’s case is the German authorities’ ‘theory of his crimes.’ According to this theory, Michael’s devious scheme was to commit serious fraud by … basically, launching a nationwide protest movement that was certain to get a ton of media attention and incur the wrath of the German authorities…”

These developments in Germany are indeed deeply disturbing. They are reminiscent of persecutions in Germany’s recent past. Hopkins’s comments on a bully are quite insightful. 

Ukraine’s Costly War

On September 9, FPMag wrote the following:

“‘Supporting the USA proxy war in Ukraine is not a necessity. Ending this war is a necessity,’ exclaimed Alona Adamovich, humanitarian team lead providing women’s shelters in the Ukraine war zone…

“Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told Tucker Carlson the way ahead is ‘peace’. The only way to achieve that, PM Orbán said, is ‘call back Trump’…

“All the while, some 40,000 NATO troops are present at Russia’s borders and the Pentagon has called up 8,500 U.S. troops to prepare for ‘shipping out’ to join others… as a plan for 50,000 more is in the works…

“‘All this undeniably proves that Washington, contrary to White House and Pentagon claims, is directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine,’ the RF defence ministry has repeatedly said in the past…

“‘Half a million people have died in Ukraine in the last year,’ said Irish MEP Claire Daly at a EU Parliamentary session with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, while Kiev resorts to conscripting disabled people into the army having lost 400,000 to 500,000 military personnel.”

And the way to peace they do not know…

Many “Able” Men Flee Ukraine

European Conservative wrote on September 9:

“Neither the Austrian, nor the Czech government is willing to bow to Ukraine’s demands and extradite Ukrainian men who have fled the war-torn country…

“David Arakhamia, parliamentary faction leader of Ukraine’s governing party, Servant of the People, said last week that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies should demand the extradition of men of military age who had illegally left Ukraine to escape mobilisation. With the war against Russia costing thousands of lives, the Ukrainian leadership is stepping up its efforts to recruit soldiers… But there are more and more reports of men fleeing the country to avoid military service. 

“President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a general mobilisation after Russia’s invasion in February of last year, and military reservists between the ages of 18 and 60 are eligible for conscription. The number of Ukrainian men who have successfully avoided mobilisation and sought refuge abroad could be in the tens of thousands… What Eurostat’s statistics do tell us is that 17.7% of the 4 million Ukrainians who have been granted temporary protection in the EU since the start of the war are men aged 18-64…

“… there are around 14,000 Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 54 who have been registered as refugees in Austria… 80,000 Ukrainian men of military age may have entered Poland since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the German Interior Ministry has registered more than 200,000 men in the same age group since the start of the war…”

This demand to extradite Ukrainian men seems to be in violation of international law. 

NATO Admits Its Responsibility for the Ukraine War

The Ron Paul Institute wrote on September 11:

“During a speech at the EU Parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg clearly and repeatedly acknowledged that Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine because of fears of NATO expansionism… It would have been so very, very easy to prevent this horrific war…”

Formal Impeachment Inquiry Into Joe Biden

The New York Post wrote on September 12:

“House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday that Republicans plan to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Biden’s alleged involvement while vice president in his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. ‘House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct. Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption,’ McCarthy (R-Calif.) said at the Capitol…”

Fox News added on September 12:

“The speaker said House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., will lead the inquiry in coordination with House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio… ‘Through our investigations, we have found that President Biden did lie to the American people about his own knowledge of his family’s foreign business dealings. Eyewitnesses have testified that the president joined on multiple phone calls and had multiple interactions, dinners resulted in cars and millions of dollars into his sons and his son’s business partners,’ McCarthy said.

“‘We know that bank records show that nearly $20 million in payments were directed to the Biden family members and associates through various Shell companies. The Treasury Department alone has more than 150 transactions involving the Biden family. Another business associates that were flagged as suspicious activity by U.S. banks. Even a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the Biden family. Biden used his official office to coordinate with Hunter Biden’s business partners about Hunter’s role in Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company,’ he continued. 

“‘Finally, despite these serious allegations, it appears that the president’s family has been offered special treatment by Biden’s own administration. Treatment that not otherwise would have received if they were not related to the president,’ McCarthy said. ‘These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption, and they want further investigation by the House of Representatives.’”

The concept, propagated by some, that there is no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden is laughable, in light of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Whether McCarthy will garner enough votes for an impeachment inquiry or an impeachment is a different question. 

At the same time, Hunter Biden was indicted on Thursday on three firearm charges, carrying prison terms (even though it is unlikely that the President’s son, if convicted, will be imprisoned.). He was not charged (so far) with FARA or tax violations. It was pointed out that the indictments are the only alleged criminal violations which do not directly implicate Joe Biden.

The US-Iran Deal 

The Associated Press wrote on September 11, 2023:

“The Biden administration has cleared the way for the release of five American citizens detained in Iran by issuing a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without fear of U.S. sanctions. In addition, as part of the deal, the administration has agreed to release five Iranian citizens held in the United States… Congress was not informed of the waiver decision until Monday…

“The outlines of the deal had been previously announced and the waiver was expected. But the notification marked the first time the administration said it was releasing five Iranian prisoners as part of the deal. The prisoners have not been named. The waiver drew criticism of President Joe Biden from Republicans and others who say the deal will boost the Iranian economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to U.S. troops and Mideast allies.”

The Biden Administration announced that the money will only be used by Iran for “humanitarian” purposes. This has been flatly contradicted by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi who said that the money will be used “wherever we need it,” continuing, “This money belongs to the Iranian people, the Iranian government, so the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide what to do with this money’ (compare Newsmax, dated September 12). 

Besides everything else, the timing is just awful. So is the timing for the next “announcement”:

White House Praises Saudi Arabia

Daily Dot wrote on September 11:

“The White House is facing backlash online after praising Saudi Arabia on the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks… In a tweet on Monday, National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson applauded the foreign regime after it committed tens of billions of dollars towards the Partnership for Global Infrastructure (PGI). The initiative, spearheaded by President Joe Biden, seeks to spur economic growth in low- and middle-income countries with investments in infrastructure.

“But users on X were quick to label the tweet as out-of-touch given the day’s date. ‘Posting on 9/11 and 20 minutes after the first tower fell,’ one user wrote. ‘Just incredible timing.’

“Saudi Arabia has long been accused of helping to fund and assist the 9/11 terror attacks. Of the 19 Al Qaeda members involved in hijacking the four commercial airliners that day, 15 were citizens of Saudi Arabia…

“‘Great tweet for 9/11,’ wrote Chuck Ross, a journalist for the Washington Free Beacon. The tweet comes just three days after Bloomberg reported on allegations from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) that Biden’s Deputy Assistant Brett McGurk was actively working against the interests of the families of 9/11 victims in order to curry favor with Saudi Arabia. The victims’ families for years have attempted to convince Congress to strengthen a law aimed at allowing U.S. citizens to sue foreign governments that funded or aided terrorist attacks…”

More Biden Fairy Tales

Fox News reported on September 11:

“President Biden claimed Monday, without evidence, that he stood at Ground Zero in New York City viewing the damage from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks just one day later, despite records showing he was in Washington, D.C. that day… and gave a speech on the floor of the Senate. Records show the Senate met in the morning, and a classified briefing was held for all senators that afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET…

“Records also show Biden participated in a joint resolution vote condemning the terrorist attacks later that afternoon. Biden was the Democratic manager of the resolution… Biden also contradicted his own claim in his autobiography detailing his actions after the attacks. Biden said in the book that he ‘headed back to the Capitol’ on September 12, and made no mention of visiting Ground Zero that day.”

It looks like, Joe Biden has a very difficult time to tell the truth. 

Biden Violated Free Speech

Breitbart wrote on September 8:

“A federal appeals court ruled that the Biden administration likely violated Americans’ First Amendment rights when it worked to censor speech during the COVID-19 pandemic… the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said the White House, surgeon general, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Federal Bureau of Investigation improperly commandeered speech…

“The decision modifies a lower court preliminary injunction which prohibited a wide-ranging group of government officials from coercing social media platforms to take down or limit posts on their websites. While agreeing with much of the lower court’s premises, the new order limits the scope of the restrictions imposed to the groups it found culpable — the White House, surgeon general, CDC, and FBI…”

That the Biden Administration exerted undue pressure on social media outlets to suppress politically inconvenient opinions is without any doubt. That those social media outlets bowed to such pressure is shameful. 

Guilty of Sedition?

The Future of Freedom Foundation wrote on September 6:

“This week, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., sentenced Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, to 22 years in jail for the crime of ‘sedition’ arising out of the January 6 protests at the Capitol. It wasn’t the first time that the judge, Timothy Kelly, meted out a high jail sentence for the sedition offense. Last week, he handed out an 18-year sentence to Ethan Nordean, one of Tarrio’s co-defendants. Last May, another D.C. federal judge, Amit P. Mehta, sentenced leader of the Oath Keepers militia, Stewart Rhodes, to 18 years for the federal crime of ‘sedition.’

“Those high jail sentences… are so ridiculous… The federal crime of ‘sedition’ is akin to the local crime of ‘disorderly conduct.’ It is designed to give federal authorities the ability to severely punish people who have committed no real crime to justify severe punishment…

“How did Kelly arrive at 22 years for Tarrio when the law expressly limits sentences to 20 years? He used some sort of enhancement provision relating to terrorism law, even though Tarrio was convicted of ‘sedition,’ not “’terrorism.’…

“The notion that the January 6 protests were an attempt to overthrow the U.S. government is laughable to the extreme. After all, everyone knows about AR-15s and other assault rifles. Everyone also knows about regular mass killings in the United States. If people are going to attempt a violent overthrow of the federal government, they are going to go into the Capitol with AR-15s or other assault rifles. They are immediately going to start shooting and killing people and taking hostages… They are not going to settle for smashing a few doors and windows, forcing their way past security police, or damaging some desks.

“In fact, it is ironic that the only person who was killed on January 6 was an unarmed protestor. That was Ashli Babbitt, who was shot dead by a Capitol policeman who got scared during the protest. Notwithstanding the fact that he shot an unarmed woman in cold blood, that cop got away scot-free, unlike Tarrio and Nordean, who didn’t kill anyone…

“There is no doubt that on January 6, people were filled with passionate emotions… There is also no doubt that given the heightened emotions, such protests oftentimes get out of hand. That certainly is what happened in the January 6 protests. But to jump from that to the notion that the protestors were attempting to overthrow the U.S. government is so patently ridiculous that it defies credulity…

“It’s one thing to charge January 6 protestors who got out of control with such crimes as trespass, assault, or destruction of government propriety. It’s quite another thing to punish them for sedition…”

The conviction and the length of incarceration are unworthy examples of a country which claims to be “brave and free.” 

The Magic Bullet

The Independent wrote on September 10:

“A former Secret Service agent who was metres away from John F Kennedy when the former president was assassinated in Dallas in 1963 has spoken out to cast fresh doubt on the official findings.

“Paul Landis, 88, who had been assigned to protect first lady Jackie Kennedy, challenged the Warren Commission’s findings that a ‘magic bullet’ had struck and exited the president before hitting then-Texas governor John Connally Jr.

“Mr Landis told the New York Times he recalled hearing several shots ring out in Dealy Plaza as he walked just behind the president’s limousine, and saw the president slump forward after being struck in the head… Investigators claimed [the bullet] passed through Kennedy’s throat, and then somehow hit the former governor’s right shoulder before causing wounds to his back, chest, wrist and thigh.

“It became known as the ‘single bullet’ or ‘magic bullet’ theory, and was relied on by the Warren Commission as evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald had carried out the assassination alone….”

The “magic bullet” theory is so ridiculous. The idea that Oswald acted alone has been dismissed for a long time by many experts as absolutely unbelievable. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on September 11 during a Fox News interview that he is convinced that his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was not killed by just one person, acting alone, and that the concept that his father, Robert F. Kennedy, was killed by just one person must likewise be dismissed. Kennedy stated that the CIA was probably behind both murders. 

Covid Hysteria and New Elections

Newsmax wrote on September 9:

“Former President Donald Trump warned ‘COVID hysteria’ is coming back because ‘there’s an election coming up,’ and Republicans have to step in to stop the tyranny…

“Trump has long believed Democrats ‘used COVID to cheat’ on the 2020 presidential election, including having key battleground states impose mass mail-in ballotingwithout constitutionally required authorization from state legislatures…”

Trump definitely has a point. The connection should be obvious.

“Never Again!”

Brownstone wrote on September 11:

“In a recent piece for the Washington Post, Ramesh Ponnuru wrote that ‘the public is not going to accept restrictive coronavirus mitigation measures again, regardless of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or other public health authorities say.’…

“If there’s an upside to the lockdowns that never, ever made sense… it’s that government has forfeited a great deal of the little credibility it had…

“Much worse than the [arrogant] conceit [of lockdowns] were the lockdowns themselves, that to varying degrees blinded the very people who very much needed to see clearly. Precisely because the arrival of the coronavirus brought with it unknowns, a country with sane leadership would have turned the unknowns into knowns by getting out of the way.”

People say a lot these days that they will never comply again. But the “sheep instinct” of most may paint a very different picture.

Oil Prices Climb

LifeSiteNews wrote on September 9:

“Oil prices shot passed $90/bbl Wednesday after Saudi Arabia and then Russia announced a continuance of production cuts through the end of this year. The BRICS alliance is going to deliver some pain to the Western alliance… 

“Gasoline, energy products, petroleum products, home heating oil, groceries, everything will cost more as the geopolitical battle continues; but we are supposed to pretend we are unaware of the global political dynamic…

“Saudi Arabia said it would extend the voluntary cut of 1 million b/d of for another 3 months, from October until the end of December, well beyond the expectation of just 1 more month…  Russian deputy PM Novak said Russia would also extend its reduction of oil exports until the end of the year, reducing its oil output by 300kb/d in voluntary cuts until December 2023.”

Crazy California Child’s Gender Bill

Breitbart wrote on September 8:

“The California legislature approved a bill this week that would punish parents who do not ‘affirm’ their child’s gender identity… If Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signs the bill, it would require custody judges to consider a parent’s ‘affirmation’ of their child’s gender, as judges consider the ‘health, safety, and welfare of the child’ when making decisions.

“Threatening the standard of ‘health, safety, and welfare’ of a child under the California Family Code can carry penalties under the California Penal Code—prompting parents, activists, and lawmakers to speculate that AB 957 could result in parents being charged with child abuse or neglect for not participating in a child’s transgenderism. 

“In a hearing about the bill, California Sen. Scott Wilk (R) said the bill would force parents to leave the state.  ‘In recent years, we have put government bureaucrats between parents, children, and doctors when it comes to medical care—and now we have this where if a parent does not support the ideology of the government, [children] are going to be taken away from the home,’ Wilk said, adding, ‘if you love your children, you need to flee California.’”

God sees California’s ungodly policies. 

Climate Change Findings Distorted

Fox News wrote on September 9:

“A California scientist admitted that he ‘left out the full truth’ about climate change, blaming it primarily on human causes, to get his study published in a prestigious science journal. [He admitted] that he distorted the findings of his studies to appeal to the editors at Nature and Science magazines, which are prestigious online science journals. 

“‘And the editors of these journals have made it abundantly clear, both by what they publish and what they reject, that they want climate papers that support certain preapproved narratives—even when those narratives come at the expense of broader knowledge for society,’ Brown wrote in The Free Press.”

Joe Biden said in Vietnam during a “confused, bizarre and rambling” press conference, that those who question man-made global warming, are “lying dog-faced pony soldiers,” quoting from a John Wayne movie.

Devastating Earthquake in Morocco

CNN reported on September 10:

“The [6.8] quake, the strongest to hit Morocco in more than 120 years, killed more than [in excess of 2,900] people. Many others remain missing… The difficult access to the vast earthquake-hit area has hampered aid delivery efforts. While emergency camps have been set up in some places, people in other inaccessible areas have been left to fend for themselves…

“Many are exhausted and heartbroken, and emotions are running high… With each passing hour, the chances of anyone being pulled out of the rubble alive are disappearing.”

Devastating Floods in Libya

Deutsche Welle wrote on September 12:

“At least 2,300 people have died in an eastern Libyan city alone [Derna] after a powerful storm caused devastating floods in the area over the weekend… The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) earlier Tuesday reported that around 10,000 people were missing…

“Libya is divided between rival administrations in the west and east… The chaos and split in governance in the oil-rich nation has long left cities with crumbling and inadequate structures.”

It has now been reported that the death toll hit 11,300 and could reach 20,000.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.

The Totalitarian EU State

Express wrote on September 1:

“Arch-Europhile MEP Guy Verhofstadt has been accused of trying to turn the EU into a ‘totalitarian supra-national authority’ with a package of proposals including one which would see member states stripped of their vetoes. Mr Verhofstadt’s ideas are set out in a 116-page draft document which… would introduce qualified majority voting in dozens of areas including defence, taxation and foreign policy. 

“The proposals contained in the dossier… would dramatically enlarge the powers of the European Parliament, and – crucially – prevent members of the EU27 from blocking legislation.”

Even if this proposal were not to be adopted for now, the underlying thinking is alarming.

Scholz Tells Economic Fairy Tales

Bild Online wrote on September 3:

“Chancellor Olaf Scholz… predicted in March… new mega growth. Scholz at the time: ‘Due to the high investments in climate protection, Germany will be able to achieve growth rates for some time, as last happened in the 1950s and 1960s.’ In plain language: the Chancellor promised the Germans a new ‘economic miracle’, expected growth rates as in the post-war period (In 1950 to 1960 an average of 8.2 percent per year). For comparison: Between 2010 and 2020, growth was only 1.2 percent.

“HOW does Scholz arrive at this positive forecast, while economists even warn of a shrinking economy? In response to a question from the Union faction [opposition] in the Bundestag, the traffic light [coalition] has to admit: there are no expectations of an economic miracle… MEANING: The chancellor CANNOT justify his economic promises!

“Union parliamentary group leader and economic politician Jens Spahn (43, CDU) accuses Scholz of [lying to] the citizens with his promise. Spahn to BILD: ‘The chancellor tells economic fairy tales. The traffic light cannot provide any evidence for his claim that there will be growth rates last seen in the 1950s and 1960s. In truth, we are further away than ever from a new economic miracle.'”

In another article regarding power supply, Bild Online wrote on September 3:

“Jens Spahn… to BILD: ‘No one believes in the Chancellor’s perseverance slogans anymore, not even his own party. The losers are millions of industrial workers. They don’t know if their jobs will still be there tomorrow.’”

The days of incompetent Scholz and his pitiful “traffic light” coalition are numbered.

Does Pistorius Have the Courage to Act?

Focus wrote on September 4:

“Boris Pistorius [Germany’s Federal Minister of Defense] achieves fantastic poll numbers reminiscent of those of Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. The big question now is: Will he use this position to act? He has a historic opportunity – but also a lot of resistance.

“Is Boris Pistorius a brave man? There is much to be said for it… Above all, the decision to station a heavy brigade permanently in Lithuania was courageous. The army strongly advised against it – the organizational problems and disruptions to the restructuring of the land forces were too great. Pistorius made the decision anyway. And he was right… especially since it also makes operational sense to have powerful brigades on NATO’s eastern border.

“Organizationally, the implementation of this decision is an enormous challenge for the overly bureaucratic and cumbersome apparatus… Can you even find enough soldiers who are willing to go there for maybe three years? What do you do with the families? In addition: A powerful brigade normally includes well over 4,000 men and women, especially if they are to operate independently.

“Of course, these problems are also an opportunity, a kind of lever to advance the Bundeswehr’s focus on national and alliance defense. Everyone knows that the armed forces are dysfunctional and it is high time to do something about it. Boris Pistorius’ predecessors didn’t have the courage to reform… 

“Now it’s Pistorius’ turn. The conditions for reforms were never better in the days of the Berlin Republic: After the disaster with the weak Christine Lambrecht in times of war, the chancellor cannot afford any further downtime, there are comprehensive commitments to NATO that require quick action and according to public opinion, the Bundeswehr is very well-liked…

“Certainly no defense minister can implement the reforms that are actually necessary on his own… The staff shortage can probably only be solved by introducing a militia system, a mandatory year or the massive expansion of the reservists, which also requires a cabinet decision…

“But the minister can also do a lot of things on his own… many regulations could easily be changed with good will.

“He is by far the most popular politician in Germany—an ace in Olaf Scholz’s hands during these months when the cabinet is struggling. Politically, however, this will only sting if the defense minister follows up his positively received speeches with deeds… The soldiers appreciate their minister beyond measure. However, if he does not use the historic opportunity to advance fundamental issues, the euphoria will be followed by bitter disappointment….”

And so, the concept of mandatory military service is being thrown into the mix.

France at Brink of Civil War?

Modern Diplomacy wrote on September 3:

“A couple of months ago, France was engulfed by an explosive wave of civil unrest… The significance of the situation cannot be overstated: the entire world witnessed the outbreak of anarchy in a major European nation. Street violence took place not just in Paris, but also in various other French cities and the contagion even reached the neighbouring Swiss city of Lausanne. People were beaten, businesses were looted, vehicles were burned and countless acts of vandalism were committed. As law enforcement was overwhelmed by the proportions and intensity of this popular revolt, the French government —unable to respond effectively— was badly shaken by the seismicity of the ensuing political shockwaves…

“In turn, the reaction of everyday citizens showed a combination of disbelief, concern, dismay, outrage and uncertainty. The perception of danger made people think that there is no reliable guarantee that their lives, integrity and property will be respected. Moreover, the fact these events took place shortly before the anniversary of the French Revolution makes things look even more ominous. From a long-range perspective, they could be interpreted as a powerful confirmation that history has fatefully returned to Western Europe… illusions of everlasting peace and harmony are being shattered by reality… 

“Yet, perhaps the most problematic implication of recent events in France is that similar dynamics could gain traction in societies with similar conditions, most notably Britain, Germany and Sweden. Signs of violent interethnic animosities are becoming ‘part and parcel’ of everyday life in such European nations…

“France may already be in a state of low-intensity civil war. So far, it remains to be seen if the clashes remain intermittent or if they will spiral out of control. The undecisive reaction of the French government reflects an unwillingness to confront a difficult situation. Blaming videogames and expect trouble to go away on its own is the equivalent of burying one’s head in the sand…

“Although the latest wave of urban riots in France seems to have subsided, their underlying structural roots remain unchanged. Accordingly, this episode foreshadows the escalation of violence sooner or later. The magnitude of the next crisis will likely be higher both quantitatively and qualitatively… The sinister spectre of civil war is haunting France…”

Macron is not the man who would be able to stop this development. But a charismatic powerful person, called the beast in the Bible, will rise up, and European countries, including Germany and France, will transfer their authority to the beast. He will rule with an iron fist. 

American Nuclear Bombs on British Soil?

Bloomberg wrote on September 5:

“Russia warned Tuesday it will treat any US move to station nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time in 15 years as an ‘escalation’ after media reports indicated plans to deploy the bombs on British soil. ‘If this happens, it will be treated by us as an escalation, which will lead to the exact opposite of achieving the pressing task of removing all US nuclear weapons from Europe,’ Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Tuesday…

“The US Air Force has earmarked $50 million in funding for military housing at a UK air base. The language used to describe the purpose for the increased personnel usually refers to the handling of nuclear weapons, The Guardian reported last week…

“Around 150 US B-61 nuclear gravity bombs are currently stationed in four European countries — Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy — as well as Turkey…”

Ultimately, these weapons will be used AGAINST the USA.

Will NATO Collapse by 2025 Over Ukraine?

Atlantic wrote on September 2:

“Europe and the United States are on the verge of the most momentous conscious uncoupling in international relations in decades. Since 1949, NATO has been the one constant in world security. Initially an alliance among the United States, Canada, and 10 countries in Western Europe, NATO won the Cold War and has since expanded to include almost all of Europe… It… might collapse by 2025.

“The cause of this collapse would be the profound difference in outlook between the Republican Party’s populist wing—which is led by Donald Trump but now clearly makes up the majority of the GOP—and the existential security concerns of much of Europe. The immediate catalyst for the collapse would be the war in Ukraine…

“The past few weeks have revealed that Trump’s pro-Russian, anti-NATO outlook isn’t just a brief interlude in Republican politics; suspicion of American involvement in supporting Ukraine is now the consensus of the party’s populist heart. During last week’s GOP presidential debate, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy… both argued against more aid for Ukraine…

“… the growing sentiment on the American right against supporting Ukraine represents an extraordinary challenge to the future of NATO. European states have been moving in the opposite direction… [This] would split the Atlantic alliance…

“If the United States simply abandons Ukraine a year and a half from now, there is no way whatsoever that Europe could make up for the loss of aid…”

Ultimately, NATO will fall apart, and the animosity between the USA and Europe will continue. 

Zelenskyy to Replace Defense Minister

Thomson/Reuters reported on September 3:

“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday he had decided to replace his defense minister, setting the stage for the biggest shake-up of Ukraine’s defense establishment since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

“In his nightly video address to the nation, Zelenskyy said he would dismiss Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and would ask parliament this week to replace him with Rustem Umerov, head of the country’s main privatization fund…

“The decision comes amid a crackdown on corruption in Ukraine that Zelenskyy has been keen to emphasize. Kyiv has applied to join the European Union and the public has become highly sensitive to corruption as the war rages with no end in sight…

“During the war, Reznikov’s defense ministry lobbied the West to overcome various taboos on supplying powerful military kit to Ukraine, including everything from German-made main battle tanks to HIMARS multiple-launch rockets. Kyiv now looks poised to receive U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets soon…

“His apparent exit appears to bring an end to months of domestic media pressure that began in January when Reznikov’s ministry was accused of buying food at inflated prices. Though he was not personally involved in the food contract, some Ukrainian commentators said he should take political responsibility for what happened.

“Last month, a Ukrainian media outlet accused his ministry of corruption during the procurement of winter coats for the army. Reznikov denied any wrongdoing and repeatedly said he was being targeted by a smear campaign.”

Whether this was a wise decision to fire Reznikov will have to be seen.

COVID Hysteria, Vaccines and Mandates Starting Again!

Daily Express US wrote on September 1:

“With summer coming to an end and a new Covid variant on the loose, some health experts are recommending people begin taking precautions again – starting with mask-wearing… CDC spokesperson Scott Pauley told Daily Express US the CDC recommends that all people are up to date on their vaccines before they travel… 

“An updated vaccine for new strains is expected to be available by the end of September – the CDC recommends everyone receive a booster shot.”

Will we experience a repeat of Biden’s horrible war of the vaccinated against the unvaccinated?

Corona in Spite of Vaccination and Booster Shots

Fox News wrote on September 4:

“First lady Jill Biden has tested positive for COVID-19… President Biden tested negative for the virus… The first lady is double-vaccinated, twice boosted, according to a statement from her communications director last year.”

So, vaccinations and booster shots don’t seem to be “miracle cures” after all.

Biden’s Insane Fearmongering

Fox News wrote on September 5:

“Social media users mocked the news that President Biden will return to masking indoors Tuesday…

“White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre… said: ‘President Biden… will be masking while indoors and around people in alignment with CDC guidance…  the president will remove his mask when sufficiently distant from others indoors and while outside as well.’

“The return to indoor masking ignited backlash online from X users, who complained about the possibility of mask mandates returning. ‘The conspiracy theorists were right again. These loony psychopaths are going to try to bring masks back. Nope. We aren’t playing this time,’ cryptocurrency entrepreneur Bruce Fenton wrote.

“Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich commented, ‘Your regular reminder that masks are garbage against COVID/Wuhan coronavirus and do not work. In fact, they cause harm with lung damage and cancerous materials. Not to mention the massive environmental pollution.’ ‘Biden masking again because he’s been around Jill is such nonsense fearmongering,’ investigative reporter Emily Miller wrote… ‘They never stop. They never quit,’ RealClearInvestigations editor-at-large Benjamin Weingarten posted.”

Biden’s fearmongering is indeed ridiculous, but it is dangerous!

School in Maryland Reinstates Masks

Fox News wrote on September 5:

“An elementary school in a Washington D.C. suburb in Maryland is reinstating school masks for third-graders, after a handful of kids recently tested positive for COVID-19. In a now-viral X post, OutKick founder Clay Travis posted a letter that was allegedly sent to all parents at Rosemary Hills Elementary School in Montgomery County, updating them on updated mask requirements for all students.

“‘A DC area elementary school — Montgomery County, Maryland — is reinstating a mask mandate — N95’s — for third-graders over a few kids testing positive for COVID,’ Travis wrote on X. ‘Here’s the letter. They’re coming with masks for your kids again. Get ready. Read this insanity.’”

Insanity indeed. 

We Will Not Comply Movement

Newsweek wrote on August 31:

“A ‘we will not comply’ movement is slowly formulating across social media, spurred by Donald Trump’s renewed focus on mask mandates and COVID-affiliated lockdowns that he initiated at the pandemic’s inception. Trump, in a video posted Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter, vowed to reject any ‘fearmongering’ of new coronavirus variants and if elected president pledged to cut federal funding for entities like schools and airlines that follow such protocols.

“Trump was the individual who set the original mandates and lockdowns in motion, however, when coronavirus cases escalated exponentially starting in March 2020. At the time, he urged individuals to avoid bars, restaurants and other areas where 10 or more people were gathered in the hope that the virus would dissipate by that summer.

“‘Do not comply’ means your [sic] not going to go to work if your employer requires a mask as part of the “mandate” not law; your [sic] not going to wear one at the Dr, Dentist, restaurant or stores,’ wrote one Facebook user. ‘Imagine if everyone did not comply how that would hurt our government or economy. If every American did not go to work or buy anything at all for one or two days things would get real. We are all slaves to our Government until we stop conforming to the demands and dollar.’

“One X user posted that she would ignore mandates instituted by Trump, President Joe Biden or anyone else. ‘I won’t mask again,’ the user wrote. ‘I don’t care what Trump or Fauci or Birx or Biden or any other governmental agency try and push again. I won’t deal with the anxiety mask wearing brings me again. Not going to cover my daughter’s beautiful face or force her to deal with the frequent painful breakouts again. Nope. For my child, I say, never again.’”

Sadly, Trump was responsible for many of the ridiculous governmental measures or recommendations pertaining to the fight against COVID. Instead of firing incompetent Fauci, he followed his nonsensical advice in far too many instances. Biden, of course, made matters much worse.

Fauci’s Incompetence Exposed

The New York Post wrote on September 3:

“Social media erupted after Dr. Anthony Fauci was confronted by a CNN host with a study showing face masks made little to no difference in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic… ‘Fauci admits that masks don’t work for the public at large but still absurdly claims masks work on an individual basis. More subterfuge,’ Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)… wrote on X, formerly Twitter… 

“‘It’s really hard to assume Fauci’s disastrous “mistakes” were in good faith when he refuses to acknowledge obvious facts that don’t require a PhD to decipher. It looks a lot more like “TRUST THE SCIENCE!” only applies when it suits Fauci’s personal or political narrative,’ former senior White House and US Intelligence Community official Cliff Sims said…

“During the initial onset of the pandemic, he suggested that masks were not providing the type of protection ‘people think it is’ and underscored the severe shortage of masks afflicting health care providers. As mask production ramp up and supply snarls abated, Fauci reversed course and endorsed masking to tamp down the spread… ‘I don’t regret anything I said then because in the context of the time in which I said it, it was correct…’”

Fauci has been preaching this kind of nonsense all along. 

Assassinating Trump?

Business Insider wrote on September 2:

“Tucker Carlson… claimed that the political establishment is plotting to assassinate former President Donald Trump… ‘They have decided — permanent Washington, both parties have decided — that there’s something about Trump that’s so threatening to them, they just can’t have him,’ he said.

“Carlson had, in fact, asked Trump if he feared being killed in an interview last week, to which the former president responded: ‘They’re savage animals. They’re people that are sick.’… While Trump has never made such an assertion, he often describes himself as the victim of a ‘witch-hunt’…”

John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy were assassinated; and Ronald Reagan barely survived an assassination attempt. In fact, four sitting presidents have been killed: Abraham Lincoln (1865, by John Wilkes Booth), James A. Garfield (1881, by Charles J. Guiteau), William McKinley (1901, by Leon Czolgosz), and John F. Kennedy (1963, by Lee Harvey Oswald). As far as we can see, only one person was assassinated while running for the office of the Presidency, and that was Robert Kennedy. In addition to the assignation attempt on Ronald Reagan, another assassination attempt was made on former president Theodore Roosevelt (1912, by John Flammang Schrank). 

Will Trump Go to Prison?

The Independent wrote on August 31:

“Trump faces four criminal indictments in three separate jurisdictions. Nearly 100 felony criminal charges are leveled against the former president who remains the… favourite to win the 2024 Republican primary… Between his 91 felony counts, Mr Trump faces a total of roughly seven centuries in total jail time, spread between dozens of various charges of differing seriousness…

“The first indictment to drop against the former president… deals with conduct committed the furthest in the past. Donald Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, a felony under New York state law… Mr Trump’s accusation is largely victimless, and as such a judge is not likely to sentence him to anything more than fines or, at the most, probation and community service were he to be convicted by a jury…

“After exploding into the public eye last year with an FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago, the allegations spelled out in this [second] indictment… [accuse him] of mishandling classified information in an egregious manner… Convictions of willful and/or reckless retention of classified information frequently result in prison sentences of several years or more…

“The Department of Justice’s most recent [third] indictment charging Mr Trump with crimes was related to the 2020 election… There are two basic parts of this case which should concern the ex-president; the possibility that he will be convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiring against Americans’ right to vote in free elections, and the possibility that he will be convicted of directly attempting to block the certification of the election via summoning a mob to attack the Capitol.

“The real battle in [regard to the first allegation] will be for prosecutors to prove that the Trump team’s efforts went beyond legal challenges to the election results… [Regarding the second allegation,] Mr Trump and his allies have fiercely denied since the attack itself that the mob of Trump supporters… was directed by the president himself…

“Should he be convicted of either, however, he faces steep maximum prison sentences for each count… 

“The most recent [fourth] indictment to drop, Fulton County’s case against Mr Trump in Georgia is unique in that it also involves the only charges to carry minimum prison terms… A RICO charge will undoubtedly be the hardest for prosecutor Fani Willis and her team to prove… Should that fail, however, Mr Trump also faces 12 other felony counts, all of which carry the potential for incarceration…

“In the end, it’s quite possible that the answer to the question of whether Mr Trump will ever see the inside of a cell comes down to not whether he will be convicted, but whether jailing a former president is even feasible. Should he win the general election next year, an entirely new layer of complexity is added to the mix…”

Apart from the perception of many Americans that these are all trumped-up charges, the idea that an elected President could be officiating, while imprisoned, is preposterous. 

Trump Barred From Office?

Raw Story wrote on September 4:

“Trump on Monday claimed that ‘almost all legal scholars’ have agreed that the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution ‘has no legal basis or standing relative to the upcoming 2024 Presidential Election.’

“The former president’s comments come the same day as former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner joined the ranks of several other legal experts,  including retired Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe and former conservative federal judge Michael Luttig, in arguing that former President Donald Trump is automatically disqualified from running for office again under the plain text of the 14th Amendment’s prohibition on aiding insurrection. 

“‘Like Election Interference, it is just another “trick” being used by the Radical Left Communists, Marxists, and Fascists, to again steal an Election that their candidate, the WORST, MOST INCOMPETENT, & MOST CORRUPT President in U.S. history, is incapable of winning in a Free and Fair Election,’ Trump wrote.”

Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty?

22 Years Prison Sentence for Proud Boy

Deutsche Welle wrote on September 5:

“Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys militia, was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Tuesday in Washington… it is… the stiffest penalty handed out so far for the 2021 attack on the US Capitol… Despite agreeing that Tarrio’s actions did not fall under the most traditional definitions of ‘terrorism,’ US District Judge Timothy Kelly said the adjustment should apply, as prosecutors had wanted.

“Tarrio was not in Washington on January 6 but was accused and convicted of directing the assault on the Capitol by members of the Proud Boys.

“Tarrio and three others were convicted of seditious conspiracy in May for their roles in the failed attempt to stop the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over Republican Donald Trump… The other three men received jail terms of between 10 and 18 years last week. Tarrio’s sentencing was delayed as the judge was ill.”

The defense has announced that it will appeal “on both the merits of the case and the sentence imposed.” These are indeed ridiculous sentences, which are clearly politically motivated, while violent criminals are either not prosecuted at all or receiving a light sentence. 

Biden Keeps Telling “Stories”

The Washington Post wrote on August 31:

“Biden’s propensity to exaggerate or embellish tales about his life led to doubts about his truthfulness… Biden has continued a tradition of embellishing his personal tales in ways that cannot be verified or are directly refuted by contemporary accounts…

“At least six times as president, mostly recently in comments to Hurricane Idalia victims Wednesday, Biden has exaggerated the extent of a fire that occurred at his house in 2004…

“At least 10 times as president…, Biden has told a heartwarming but implausible story about an Amtrak conductor named Angelo Negri who congratulated him for traveling more on Amtrak than he had on Air Force planes as vice president…

“Three times this year — and at least seven times since 2014 — Biden has told a version… of a story about words his father supposedly spoke after a teenage Biden saw two well-dressed men in suits kiss each other in downtown Wilmington in the early 1960s… Biden depicts a scene that would have been unusual six decades ago. He describes this exchange with his father usually as taking place in 1961. But back then, gay men generally did not kiss in public…

“Four times… Biden has suggested he was arrested for standing on the porch with a Black couple who were subject to demonstrations… the story did not add up. There was a protest of a Black couple who had purchased a house in an all-White area, but it was a neighborhood many miles from the Biden home…

“Campaigning for president in 2020, Biden three times claimed he was arrested in South Africa for trying to see Nelson Mandela, who at the time was imprisoned on Robben Island, near Cape Town. When we determined that was false, he amended his statement to say he was ‘stopped’ at the airport while traveling with a congressional delegation — though others on the delegation said that did not happen…

“Biden recalled how his Uncle Frank fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II and was awarded the Purple Heart but never received it. He said that after he became vice president in 2009, he arranged to present the medal to his uncle with the rest of the family in attendance. But his uncle, Frank H. Biden, died in 1999, a decade before Biden became vice president…

“Twice this year, most recently in the Milwaukee speech, Biden has claimed his grandfather, an oil company executive, ‘died in the same hospital’ just before Biden himself was born there… But Biden’s paternal grandfather, Joseph H. Biden, died at Johns Hopkins Hospital on Sept. 26, 1941…  Biden was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Scranton, Pa., on Nov. 20, 1942, 14 months later. His maternal grandfather, Ambrose Finnegan, did die at St. Mary’s — but in 1957, nearly 15 years later.”

If one keeps repeating a fabricated story long enough, he might even begin to believe it himself.

The Lie of Bidenomics 

Fox News wrote on August 29:

“In the midst of President Biden’s campaign to sell ‘Bidenomics’ to American voters [the false claim that his economic measures are working], Vice President Kamala Harris made a curious admission. Speaking about the costs of getting an abortion…, she stated that ‘[m]ost Americans are a $400 unexpected expense away from bankruptcy.’ Of course…, it wasn’t exactly true. But you have to give her credit for raising a counter-narrative the Biden administration is otherwise choosing to ignore. The fact is that American families are in trouble, deep trouble, and it’s far more significant than any Bidenomics spin can conceal.

“Harris’s point comes from a recent Morning Consult survey which found that in the third quarter of this year only 46% of Americans could cover a $400 unexpected expense without going into debt. That’s not the same as being $400 away from bankruptcy, but it’s still really bad. It shows how expenses as commonplace as a surprise car repair or a medical bill are forcing many American families into debt – at a time when interest rates are disturbingly high…

“The Lending Club’s Paycheck-to-Paycheck Report for June confirms the Morning Consult survey. It found that a majority of Americans (54%) were living paycheck to paycheck. That includes 53% of consumers who earn $50,000 to $100,000 per year. So, this problem extends well beyond lower-income families, although it certainly hits you harder the less you have. But what about personal savings? Americans received a lot of cash from the government during the pandemic. In fact, when Biden took office, Americans had $2.3 trillion in personal savings. That number shot up to $5.7 trillion following Biden’s March 2021 ironically named ‘American Rescue Plan.’ But by June of this year, a mere 27 months later, personal saving had dropped by nearly $5 trillion to a much diminished $862 billion. 

“Again, it isn’t just lower-income Americans who have watched their savings diminish. According to a Bloomberg analysis, the average middle-class household has lost over $33,000 in real wealth in just the past year. The situation is so bad that Americans are even draining their 401(k) plans to cover expenses… 36% more people drained their retirement accounts to make ends [meet] in the second quarter of 2023 as compared to the same period last year.

“So, where did all that money go?…

“The Bureau of Labor Statistic publishes the Consumer Price Index (CPI) each month, a common measure of inflation. CPI takes a basket of commonly purchased goods and services and prices them on a monthly basis. In January 2021, when Biden took office, that basket cost about $261.50. In July of this year, the same basket cost $305.70. That’s a huge 16,9% increase in only two and a half years…  Exacerbating the problem, wage growth has failed to keep pace with inflation – increasing only 13% since Biden took office (versus nearly 17% for inflation). When you’re living paycheck to paycheck, as most Americans are, that kind of disparity hurts. 

“So, with savings increasingly depleted and wages failing to keep up with increased living expenses, many Americans are resorting to their credit cards in an effort to make ends meet. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in the second quarter of this year,  credit card debt rose to $1 trillion–the highest number ever. And that amount of credit card debt is a huge problem with 51% of Americans unable to pay off their entire balance each month – so they let it revolve to the next month at an average budget killing interest rate of nearly 15% [or 22%, depending on the source]…”

“Bidenomics” is clearly not working. The utter incompetence of Biden and his administration is obvious in this regard as well.

Americans Aren’t Sold on Joe Biden’s Handling of the Economy 

1945 wrote on September 5:

“A Wall Street Journal poll, taken between August 24 and 30, found that just 37 percent of registered voters ‘somewhat’ or ‘strongly’ approved of Biden’s handling of the economy. By contrast, a majority of the same group, 59 percent, said they disapproved of how the [president] has tackled the economy…

“The Wall Street Journal post also found that nearly three in four voters believe that inflation ‘is headed in the wrong direction,’ while 63 percent said they ‘somewhat’ or ‘strongly’ disapproved of the president’s record on inflation and climbing prices.”

Who are those people who “strongly” approve of Biden’s failed handling of the economy????

Funding the Government Being Threatened

The New York Post wrote on September 1:

“Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)… told constituents: ‘I’ve already decided I will not vote to fund the government unless we have passed an impeachment inquiry on Joe Biden.’ She also conditioned her vote on withdrawing US defense funding for Ukraine, cutting out federal spending for new COVID-19 vaccines and ending ‘Biden’s weaponization of government.’ That includes moving to ‘rein in the FBI,’ defunding special counsel Jack Smith, who has twice indicted former President Donald Trump, and firing Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, Greene added…

“Congress has until Sept. 30 to avoid a partial shutdown by passing legislation to fully fund the government. The Senate is scheduled to return from its August recess Tuesday, while the House is due back the following week…

“NBC News reported Friday that the White House is preparing a legal war room for the president’s expected impeachment inquiry, helmed by dozens of lawyers, aides and communications staff…”

The Daily Mail added on September 1:

“[Greene] is not the only Republican to have threatened to block funding.  Earlier in the week Rep. James Comer… [said] an impeachment inquiry [was] ‘imminent’… 

“In the meantime, the federal government is hurtling towards its funding deadline. The White House is looking for a stopgap measure to keep things ticking over. A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget said: ‘It is clear that a short-term continuing resolution will be needed next month.’”

Dire prospects indeed.

Will the GOP Impeach Joe Biden? 

1945 wrote on September 5:

“Elected Republicans are the most skittish group of powerful people imaginable. Here they have one half of one of the three branches of the federal government, and they are afraid to use whatever power they have against their political foes. 

“In this case, despite all their perpetual talk about the corruption of President Joe Biden and his wayward son, Hunter; irrespective of the… evidence they’ve compiled after years of investigations into the Biden Family, the leadership of the House Republicans acts as though they don’t have enough to impeach President Joe Biden. 

“Hilariously, when the political shoe was on the other foot, with the Democrats not having the relevant power that they needed to successfully impeach—and remove then-President Donald J. Trump— that never stopped the Democrats. That’s because the Democrats have gumption, whereas the Republicans are perennially afraid of making mistakes…

“Under House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)… it has now become unbearable… [He insists] that it’s still premature to impeach Joe Biden. He makes such statements, even after the Republican-led House Oversight Committee recently received the sworn testimony of two senior IRS whistleblowers alleging that the Department of Justice (DOJ) purposefully slow-walked their investigation into Hunter Biden’s finances out of fear that they’d be forced to also investigate Joe Biden’s finances. 

“McCarthy pretends like his investigators in the House have not received sworn testimony from one of Hunter Biden’s closest business associates, Devon Archer, who admitted under oath that then-Vice-President Joe Biden was intimately involved with Hunter Biden’s allegedly illicit international influence-peddling scheme from the outset of Hunter Biden’s efforts…

“The House investigators have already proven that every member of the Biden Family received huge payouts from Hunter Biden’s firm…

“Furthermore, a series of text messages between Hunter Biden and a Chinese businessman… was uncovered… showing Hunter threatening the Chinese businessman with political reprisals unless the businessman paid Hunter Biden an exorbitant amount of money. 

“The specific threat entailed Hunter texting the Chinese businessman that he was sitting next to his father, Joe Biden, and relaying the threats from his father to the Chinese businessman by text…

“An impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden is still undesirable, as that should have happened earlier in the Spring. We should be onto a full-blown impeachment by now… Impeaching Biden, much as the Democrats showed by impeaching Trump on inflated charges in 2019, may not lead to Biden’s removal from office (that requires a majority in the Senate that the Republicans simply lack). But, as the Democrats proved in 2019, an impeachment will galvanize their base going into a contentious presidential election…”

Not to forget Joe Biden’s admission of successfully coercing or blackmailing Ukraine to fire the prosecutor investigating the corrupt company Hunter Biden was working for. 

The Hill wrote on September 5:

“Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is tiptoeing through a political minefield as he weighs whether to open an official impeachment inquiry into President Biden… Trump… is exerting public pressure to pursue impeachment without a long inquiry. So are voters in the GOP base, Republicans say…  Some GOP members, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Ralph Norman (S.C.), have also pushed to quickly open an impeachment inquiry. Republicans have told The Hill that they are getting many phone calls and town hall questions asking when they will take the step toward impeachment…

“While McCarthy argues that taking a step to open an inquiry is distinct from the House actually impeaching Biden, it would be politically unthinkable to not follow through on an inquiry with a vote on impeachment articles…”

Pressure on McCarthy

Newsmax wrote on September 5:

“In a statement issued on Tuesday, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., predicted forthcoming efforts to compel House votes on impeachment [of Biden], while delivering a warning to Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif… ‘if Speaker McCarthy stands in our way, he may not have the job long,’ Gaetz said.

“Amid the electoral complexities that unfolded during McCarthy’s election saga in January, he strategically decided to decrease the threshold required to initiate a ‘motion to vacate the chair’ [which] is a parliamentary maneuver available to ordinary lawmakers to remove the speaker of the House of Representatives. 

“Under former GOP rules, this process could have been initiated only by a majority of House Republicans. McCarthy, intent on locking down his speakership, ultimately agreed to permit a single member to initiate such a vote.”

Apart from the fact that many Republicans don’t seem to have much backbone, one reason for not wanting to impeach Biden could be that in the unlikely event of Biden’s removal from office, Kamala Harris, viewed by many as totally incompetent, would take his place.  

Biden’s Disastrous Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Fox News and The Associated Press wrote on September 5: 

“U.S. military equipment abandoned in Afghanistan has made its way to militant groups in other countries through the Taliban, Pakistan alleged Monday, [saying] terror groups in the country are now using American equipment, including night vision goggles and firearms, in their operations…

“The U.S. abandoned approximately $7 billion worth of military equipment in Afghanistan following President Biden’s withdrawal from the country in 2021… The equipment included guns, ammunition and helicopters, among other things.

“More than 40,000 of the 96,000 military vehicles given to Afghan authorities were abandoned, including 12,000 Humvees. Just under three-quarters of the 427,300 weapons provided to the Afghan forces were left behind along with less than 1,537,000 ‘specialty munitions’ and small arms ammo…

“Pakistan’s claims come just days after the second anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden hailed the operation as ‘one of the largest airlifts in history’…

“The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan left hundreds of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies in the country under the rule of the Taliban, which swiftly retook control of Afghanistan as American forces prepared their exit.”

Attempting to defend Biden’s incompetent withdrawal is just beyond belief. 

How the Government “Flags” Us

The Rutherford Institute wrote on August 29:

“Consider just a small sampling of the ways in which the government is weaponizing its 360 degree surveillance technologies to flag you as a threat to national security, whether or not you’ve done anything wrong.

“Flagging you as a danger based on your feelings…  Flagging you as a danger based on your phone and movements… Flagging you as a danger based on your DNA…  Flagging you as a danger based on your face… Flagging you as a danger based on your behavior… Flagging you as a danger based on your spending and consumer activities… Flagging you as a danger based on your public activities…   Flagging you as a danger based on your social media activities… Flagging you as a danger based on your social network…  Flagging you as a danger based on your car…  Flagging you as a danger based on your political views… 

“Now the government wants us to believe that we have nothing to fear from these mass spying programs as long as we’ve done nothing wrong. Don’t believe it. The government’s definition of a ‘bad’ guy is extraordinarily broad, and it results in the warrantless surveillance of innocent, law-abiding Americans on a staggering scale… the police state wants us silent, servile and compliant.”

Nothing in regard to man’s mis-rule and leaders’ oppression of “subjects” will substantially change until Christ comes back and makes an end with ALL human governments. 

Canada—a Laughing Stock

The Telegraph wrote on August 31:

“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been a mediocre, ineffective leader since coming to power in 2015. Every time you believe he’s reached the lowest depths of political incompetence, he finds a new way to sink even further into the muck. As fate would have it, the most unserious government in Canadian history has reached another new low. 

“Global Affairs Canada adjusted its international travel advisory this week to warn the LGBTQ+ community against supposed discrimination they may face in the United States…

“This impetuous decision likely came as a result of U.S. states passing limits or bans with respect to medical treatment for underaged children identifying as transgender, or on the teaching of sexual orientation in schools…

“Does anyone seriously believe most LGBTQ+ Canadians will now be scared to visit the happiest place on earth, Walt Disney World, because Florida decided its schools can’t teach about gender identity and support parental rights in education?…

“The U.S. and [the] rest of the world have taken notice of Canada’s rapid decline as a serious, relevant international player during Trudeau’s unserious, irrelevant leadership. They hope it will change when the next Canadian election is held. Many Canadians feel the exact same way.”

Trudeau continues to ruin his country. His authoritarian and dictatorial style, coupled with extreme left-wing Woke nonsense and a persecution of religious minorities who opposed his COVID lockdown, have been noted. Also view the next article.

“The Decline and Fall of Canada”

The Telegraph published on September 5 the following article by Dr. Jordan Peterson:

“In my case, a court has upheld an order from the College of Psychologists of Ontario that I undergo social media training or lose my licence to practice a profession I have served for most of my adult life. My transgressions? Two tweets criticizing Justin Trudeau; one criticising his former chief of staff, who resigned in the aftermath of scandal some years ago; one ironically commenting on the identity of a city councillor in Ottawa, who in my view acted in a particularly unforgivable manner during the famous trucker convoy protest; and one objecting to the actions of the physicians performing mastectomies on perfectly healthy women – often minors –  alongside a criticism of a famous actress who received such ‘treatment’ and then advertised its benefits to her unwitting fans. 

“In conjunction… I expressed doubts… about the validity of the idiotic models that economists stack carelessly upon the doom-mongering climate predictions… which will harm millions…

“[There] are many ‘regulated professions’ in Western countries, including Canada; professions whose conduct is held to be crucial to the public interest, and whose practitioners must therefore uphold certain standards to protect the public… In Canada, as elsewhere, these professional colleges, with authority delegated from the government, limited their actions to situations of obvious professional misconduct.

“In the last few years, however, such bodies… have been weaponised by the same ideological radicals of the Left that have infiltrated and undermined higher education, media, judiciary, law, science and government. Any radical anywhere can submit the kind of complaint that can bring a professional’s life to a halt, and can increasingly rely on these captured colleges and other professional regulatory bodies to uphold and pursue their vexatious, vengeful, petty, spiteful and ideological motivated ‘complaints.’…

“I appealed the decision of my professional college. But the court has rejected my appeal, ruling that although I had my Charter rights – my constitutional right to freedom of speech – the professional regulatory body essentially has indefinite sway over the determination of what limits they felt fit to impose in their professional context, in whatever retroactive manner they felt fit to impose them…

“Canadians now need to wake up to the fact that the right to freedom of speech in Canada is subject to limitations placed by any level of government, for any reason. I know perfectly well that many professionals in Canada are cowed to the point where they are forced to lie; they tell me so repeatedly in private. And when professionals have to lie, they can no longer do their job properly, and the public suffers. I know, too, that this is increasingly true across the West. Hence the increasing international interest in the dangerous social experiment taking place in Canada, as we ride the forefront of the wave of woke lunacy threatening to swamp the entire Western world…

“I will fight this idiocy all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. I have instructed my lawyers, in the aftermath of the rejection of my appeal, to inform the College that I will not comply with their forced re-education mandate, and to proceed with the disciplinary hearing they have promised will occur…

“But I know few people are in a position to conduct such a fight: I have the resources necessary to wage a multi-year court battle, ruinously expensive (tens of thousands of dollars a month) though it is. I also have the means of communication at hand to publicise exactly what is going on. I do so on the behalf of those who are unable to do so…”

Deluge on Burning Man Festival Divine Retribution?

Benzinga wrote on September 4: 

“… a severe deluge at the annual Burning Man festival has been described as an act of divine retribution by leading Republicans… The Burning Man festival, traditionally held in Black Rock City, Nevada, faced an unprecedented level of rainfall this year, leading to muddy conditions and stranding thousands of festival-goers.

“The extreme weather conditions resulted in the tragic loss of one life and caused the event’s closing ceremony to be postponed. However, the situation took a political turn when key figures suggested a religious angle to the calamity. 

“Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)… suggested that the unfortunate incident at the festival was a divine sign, stating, ‘God has a way of making sure everyone knows who God is.’ She also insinuated that festival attendees were misguided into blaming climate change for the disaster.

“Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) expressed a similar sentiment… attributing the floods to ‘God’s judgment’ and challenging the moral correctness of the festival’s unconventional activities. Andrew Torba, founder of Gab, a far-right social platform, and Jeff Clark, a former assistant attorney general, joined the chorus with similar views, with Clark labeling the festival a ‘neopagan ritual.’”

Daily Mail added on September 5:

“Burning Man has descended into chaos as fed-up revelers snapped and fought during the mass exodus from the washout festival… It came as the grand finale – the burning of ‘the man’ – finally got underway a day late on Monday night, with the wooden statue lit for the dwindling crowd who’d stayed…

“A half-inch of rain fell on Friday, turning the site into a quagmire, and attendees were ordered not to leave because the exit roads were impassable… People were being urged to delay their departure until Tuesday if possible.

“Disruptions are part of the event’s recent history: Dust storms forced organizers to temporarily close entrances to the festival in 2018, and the event was twice canceled altogether during the pandemic…”

According to Wikipedia, “Burning Man began as a bonfire ritual on the summer solstice. Sculptor Mary Grauberger, a friend of Larry Harvey’s girlfriend, Janet Lohr, held solstice bonfire gatherings on Baker Beach for several years prior to 1986, some of which Harvey attended. When Grauberger stopped organizing it, Harvey ‘picked up the torch’, with Grauberger’s permission, and ran with it. He and Jerry James built the first wooden effigy on the afternoon of June 21, 1986, cobbled together using scrap wood, to be torched later that evening. 

“On June 22, 1986, Larry Harvey, Jerry James, and a few friends met on Baker Beach in San Francisco and burned an 8 feet (2.4 m) tall wooden man as well as a smaller wooden dog. Harvey later described his inspiration for burning these effigies as a spontaneous act of ‘radical self-expression’. In 1987, the Man grew to 15 feet (4.6 m) tall, and by 1988, it had grown to 30 feet (9.1 m). 

“By 1988, Larry Harvey formally named the summer solstice ritual ‘Burning Man’ by titling flyers for the happening as such. This was apparently done to ward off references to ‘wicker man,’ the reputed Celtic pagan practice of burning live sacrifices in human-shaped wicker cages…”

Still, the parallels are undeniable. Why would anyone want to participate in such obscure pagan and ungodly customs?

Majority of Church of England Priests Support Premarital Sex and Gay Marriage

The Daily Caller wrote on August 30:

“The Church of England’s (CofE) liberal drift continues as a new survey shows that a [majority] of priests now support abandoning traditional Christian sexual ethics.

“A survey by the Times found that 62.6 percent of priests believe the church should relax its teaching that all premarital sex is sinful. A smaller majority (53.4 percent) voiced their support for same-sex marriage. The Church of England currently allows marriages only between men and women, though the General Synod — the CofE’s legislative body — voted in February to offer blessings to civilly married same-sex couples.”

The Bible condemns premarital sex and gay marriage. 

Children Change Their Gender

The Washington Examiner wrote on September 2:

“Thousands of children have undergone gender transition surgeries in recent years, following a trend that has ‘increased significantly,’ according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study identified 48,019 Americans of all ages who had undergone some form of gender dysphoria-related surgery in the United States between 2016 and 2019.

“Nearly 4,000 of those were between the ages of 12 and 18. The reasoning for including 18-year-olds, the age of adulthood, in the younger cohort was not explained, so it is unclear by the study how many who are legally children were given the surgeries.

“However, a recent Vanderbilt University study found that 489 children between the ages of 12 and 17, with a median age of 16, had gotten their breasts removed in a double mastectomy in 2019 alone. ‘…it’s been happening to thousands of kids and it’s continuing to grow,’ Terry Schilling, president of American Principles Project, told the Washington Examiner. ‘The reality is that trans is not a civil rights movement. It’s an industry that’s mutilating and sterilizing the next generation of Americans for profits.’

“Surgeries in the JAMA article went beyond mastectomies and breast implants and included genital transition and facial reconstruction… ‘The fact that they are asking children to consent to something that they clearly can’t understand and will change lives irrevocably is extremely unfortunate…’, Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of the Do No Harm medical advocacy group, told the Washington Examiner…

“People who have destransitioned… cite deep regret for their adolescent surgeries and drugs and point to heavy coercion on the part of doctors, who many critics say are trapping children in a lifetime of medical procedures and drugs at personal monetary gain….”

The horrible propaganda and unjustifiable encouragement of medical “experts,” with the brainless support of the mass media, leading to horrific decisions by uninformed children and teens, are appalling examples of a deceived world having gone terribly wrong.  

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.

Georgia’s Indictment Started with Fake News

Breitbart wrote on August 18:

“The fake news was reporting that Trump had told Georgia officials, by telephone, to fabricate votes.

“In early January 2020… Trump was reported to have told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to ‘find’ the votes he needed to win. Actually, what Trump said was: ‘I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state’ (emphasis added)… Trump was speaking in the context of believing he had already won the state…

“As George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley has noted: ‘… it seems more likely that Trump was swatting back claims that there was no value to a statewide recount by pointing out that he wouldn’t have to find a statistically high number of votes to change the outcome of the election. It is telling that many politicians and pundits refuse to even acknowledge that obvious alternate meaning.’

“The term ‘find’ is also used colloquially, and often, in the context of counting votes. Political analysts on television routinely say that a candidate needs to ‘find’ votes in one area or another, having already been cast, as results are reported by local precincts.”

It is just appalling to see how the left-wing mass media—also being described as fake news—influences the governments on federal and state levels… and vice versa. Of course, Georgia’s left-wing biased prosecutor Fani Willis jumped on just about anything she could think of in order to accomplish her declared goal of “getting Trump.”

Trump Cancels Press Conference on Indictment in Georgia

Breitbart wrote on August 18:

“Trump will no longer hold a media conference… to address his fourth indictment…

“‘Rather than releasing the Report on the Rigged & Stolen Georgia 2020 Presidential Election on Monday, my lawyers would prefer putting this, I believe, Irrefutable & Overwhelming evidence of Election Fraud & Irregularities in formal Legal Filings as we fight to dismiss this disgraceful Indictment,’ Trump wrote…”

As we predicted, these criminal indictments by Jack Smith and now by Fani Willis have opened a pandora’s box in that the carefully avoided discussions by the mass media of possible voter fraud and a rigged election in 2020 are now being attempted to be finally litigated in the courts, as this was for the most part NOT done before. The often-repeated claim by the mass media that many courts have decided on the merits that there was no voter fraud is absolutely false.

Schiff in Prison for a Millennium 

American Insider wrote on August 20:

“‘Remember the Russian hoax and the Mueller investigation?’ Senator Graham asked rhetorically. ‘Donald Trump is being charged with a criminal act for telling people to watch a network show about the election.’ ‘If that becomes a crime Adam Schiff will be in jail for 1,000 years!’ he continued. ‘How many times did Schiff go on MSNBC and CNN and tell us Donald Trump was a Russian agent?’…

“The blatant lies of Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff were recently exposed with the release of the bombshell ‘Durham Report.’ Schiff spread false information to Americans by repeatedly claiming President Trump’s 2016 campaign was coordinated with Russia to influence the election…”

A funny suggestion by Graham. Although satirical, it shows the blatant hypocrisy of Schiff and others regarding their condemnation of Trump.

CNN: Biden Was Wrong, Trump Was Right

Fox News wrote on August 19:

“CNN host and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper admitted that former President Donald Trump ‘was right’ when he accused then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden of accepting large amounts of foreign money during the 2020 presidential debates…

“Tapper also declared that Biden ‘was wrong’ during the match-ups between the two candidates three years ago, when the then-Democratic nominee denied Trump’s allegations that his son made ‘a fortune in Ukraine, in China, in Moscow and various other places.’ At the time Biden flatly rejected the claim, saying, ‘None of that is true.’…”

Even though Tapper seemed to suggest that Joe Biden might not have known better—a rather ridiculous assumption—CNN keeps shooting at Biden by finally admitting what has been known to be the truth for many years.  

Biden Lies and Lies…

The Editorial Board of the New York Post wrote on August 20:

“President Joe Biden is in the middle of a victory tour over his supposed economic successes — but the numbers keep showing his arguments for Bidenomics are pure disinformation. ‘It’s working,’ he crowed Tuesday to an audience in Milwaukee on a re-election campaign tour stop. Not, it’s not.

“…Average Americans are spending $709 more per month on everyday goods and services like food than they were two years ago. That’s an eye-watering $8,508 yearly bump. 

“Indeed, inflation since Biden took office totals 15%. Focus on daily essentials (like food, power bills, mortgages), and prices are up almost 25%…

“Biden’s lies on the economy are nothing new. Witness his February claim that ‘We created more new jobs in two years than any president did in their entire term.’ No: Those were jobs lost to COVID policy overreactions that came back during the long and tepid employment recovery he oversaw. 

“Seems the overall Biden strategy here just to lie and lie and lie as liberal [journalists] seal-clap, and figure everyday voters will buy it. Huge mistake: Every trip to buy milk or fill the tank proves what a disaster Bidenomics has been…”

The tragedy is, even though many Americans suffer economically and otherwise, they do not seem to be able or willing to connect the dots. Something else is happening in Germany; note the following articles.

Germans Dissatisfied

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 18:

“If you think Germany is efficient and decisive, you probably don’t live here. From unreliable passenger rail to long waits for public services, too few appointment slots to see doctors and not enough room in preschools, German institutions seem increasingly unable to meet the everyday needs of the population they serve. 

“That hasn’t gone unnoticed by the general public. Just 27% of people in Germany have the sense the state is able to fulfill its responsibilities…

“Germans are looking for leadership…”

It currently does not exist in Germany. But things will change…

Germany’s Decline

Daily Mail wrote on August 18:

“German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, en route to Australasia on a week-long, high-profile mission to enhance her country’s status in the Indo-Pacific region, was left stranded in Abu Dhabi when her government A340 Airbus broke down during a refuelling stop in the Gulf. Attempts to continue her journey were aborted twice, minutes after take-off. She abandoned her diplomatic mission and returned to Berlin on a commercial flight…

“That broken-down official jet, opined Der Spiegel, the country’s leading news magazine, ‘fits with everything you’ve been hearing about the country lately’, capturing the pervasive sense of gloom that grips Germany these days — and with good reason.

“The economy, now in recession, has declined for three consecutive quarters. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) thinks Germany will be the only major economy to shrink this year… The country is gripped by a variety of woes signalling long-term decline, most of which can be traced to Angela Merkel’s 16 years as German Chancellor…

“Germany’s mighty car industry has its back to the wall, especially since it has no special advantages when it comes to building electric vehicles (EVs) and Berlin has inflicted such high costs on it. The combined market value of the country’s legendary carmakers — BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen and Porsche — is now barely 50 per cent of Elon Musk’s Tesla. Chinese-manufactured EVs are eating away Germany’s once huge share of the car market…

“Government bureaucracy is mired in the analogue age, which makes it inefficient, and even its fabled railways no longer run on time. Indeed, some run so late that Switzerland often stops German trains at the border so they don’t mess up the immaculate time-keeping of its own train services.

“There are a lot of ways to ruin a nation… Merkel and her successors seem to have discovered most of them….”

Sadly, this seems to be very true. And so, Germans are crying out for change and decisive leadership.

The Success Story of Germany’s AfD

The left-wing radical Washington Post wrote on August 18:

“Maximilian Krah, the newly elected top candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany for the European elections, doesn’t believe in watering down political messages to win centrist votes… he has described Pride Month as ‘disgusting,’ is a proponent of deporting immigrants and peppers his speech with allusions [to] white supremacist conspiracy theories [Not really, see his statements and explanations below.]. ‘We have become clearer in what we want and what we think,’ the 46-year-old rising star of the far right said of his party, known by its German acronym AfD. ‘We have more of the Trumpian style of communication.’

“Far-right experts say his recent election as lead candidate to represent the party in the 2024 European Parliament elections was just another sign of the AfD’s increasing radicalization [How his election to the European Parliament is a sign of his party’s increasing realization is difficult to fathom.]. But while the party is becoming unpalatable as a partner even to some of Europe’s most radical right-wing populists, it is attracting a record number of German voters. In recent months the AfD has surged to become the second strongest political force in the country after the opposition Christian Democrats, polling at around 21 percent, ahead of all members of the country’s liberal governing coalition…

“While other European far-right parties… have toned down and turned their focus to courting more centrist conservatives, the AfD stands apart. ‘The experts and pundits always tell us that if you want to have better election results, you have to give up your positions, you should become a more centrist style party,’ said Krah, who has eight children by three women… ‘We are not the kind of singer that asks what your audience wants and then sings a song,’ he said… ‘We have a clear ideology.’

“At the European Union level, even Hungarian populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban last year said he was ‘forced to sacrifice relations with the AfD on the altar of good international relations’ while far-right Italian politician Matteo Salvini has indicated he’s looking for more centrist allies… At the summit in Magdeburg over weekends in late July and early August, 600 candidates vied to represent the party and adopt an election program that branded the European Union a ‘failed project.’ Guest speakers included Bulgarian right-wing extremist Kostadin Kostadinov, who fondly referred to the alliance between Germany and Romania during both world wars and called for Germany to take ‘its rightful place as a great power, and not only in Europe.’..

“The party has so far failed to overturn a decision by the agency to put it under surveillance, with a Cologne court ruling in March last year that there were ‘sufficient indications of anti-constitutional endeavors within the party’ to justify its monitoring…

“Krah rejects the notion that the party is becoming more extreme or that he’s to the right of it… The idea that immigrants are replacing ethnic Germans is ‘a description’ of the situation rather than a conspiracy theory, said Krah, who also doesn’t see an issue with saying that Germany should reclaim its rightful place in the world. ‘Germany is a country in a crisis, and it’s not just an economic crisis. It’s also an identity crisis,’ he said. ‘It’s a crisis where Germans forgot to be proud of their own fathers and grandfathers. Mothers and grandmothers.’…

“The AfD’s record-high position in the polls comes amid brimming dissatisfaction with Germany’s ruling three-party coalition, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats… [In addition to Germany’s mishandling of the Covid pandemic and Germany’s shaky economy,] Krah puts the party’s success down to the population’s distain for liberal policies on climate, gender and LGBT issues, immigration and the war in Ukraine, saying established political parties have no answer to real issues German face… the party’s increased success makes it difficult for others to make viable political coalitions without them…  ‘The right wing is on rise,’ [Krah] said. ‘And that’s Europe wide.’”

The left-wing narrative in the article cannot hide the fact that, reading between the lines, many of the positions of the AfD, as described herein, are not unreasonable. They also seem to indicate the beginning of the fulfillment of prophecy.

AfD Politician Convicted of “Incitement”!

Deutsche Welle reported on August 18:

“A court in the German city of Munich on Friday convicted a politician from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party over remarks comparing a coronavirus vaccination campaign with Nazi-era anti-Jewish pogroms.

“Florian Jäger, who served as a member of Germany’s national parliament, the Bundestag, posted a video on his Facebook page in 2021. In it, he claimed that the German government’s COVID measures were comparable with the November pogrom terror campaign against German Jews in 1938…

“The court ruled that the comments in question amounted to incitement and sentenced Jäger to pay a fine of €2,700 ($2,930)…

“If the Holocaust is degraded to an arbitrary object of comparison for measures that are perceived as unwelcome, then the protection of Jewish people from anti-Semitic attacks, would also be dragged down,’ [the prosecutor] said.

“Jäger is currently the chairman for the AfD in the district Fürstenfeldbruck. He has one week to appeal the decision.”

An absolutely ridiculous decision. By no stretch of the imagination was the Holocaust “degraded” and neither was the “protection of Jews from anti-Semitic attacks” endangered. The comparison between Germany’s unconstitutional measures of “fighting” the Corona pandemic and Germany’s terror campaign against Jews amounted to just the opposite. But the German legal system does not want to hear this. No wonder the AfD rises in popularity with such nonsensical and blatantly false allegations and “findings” against it.

F-16 Jets for Ukraine Without Immediate Benefit!

The Wall Street Journal wrote on August 18:

“Washington has cleared the way for the Netherlands [and Denmark] to deliver F-16 jets to Ukraine…

“The announcement comes amid growing concerns that Ukraine’s counteroffensive has stalled, with Kyiv’s forces having so far failed to punch through fortified Russian lines. One U.S. official said an intelligence assessment concluded it was unlikely that the Ukrainians would reach Melitopol, their presumed objective near the Sea of Azov, during their current counteroffensive…

“Western officials caution it will take time to train Ukrainian pilots and deliver the aircraft. Ukrainians won’t have the aircraft until well into 2024, and perhaps not until the middle or latter part of next year, they said. Only eight Ukrainian pilots are currently deemed to meet the language requirements to immediately begin training…

“Ukrainian officials have complained about the slow pace of the projected delivery schedule and argued that Washington has dragged its feet…  Gen. James Hecker, the top U.S. Air Force commander for forces in Africa and Europe,… warned it could be [four or five] years before Ukraine would make full use of the jets…”

Washington’s blessing for the plane donations to Ukraine and the training of Ukrainian pilots are needed because the aircrafts are made in the United States.

America’s Friends Alienated and America’s Enemies Emboldened

The Telegraph wrote on August 20:

“[In 2021], the Americans handed to the Taliban one of the most expensive and complete sets of military equipment in the world… the manner of the withdrawal [from Afghanistan] and the weakness it projected have had profound implications. Many experts believe that Vladimir Putin’s long-held desire to annex Ukraine was sparked into action by the ineffectual way in which the US withdrew. Worse is that the axis on which the global order moves has subtly shifted in the resulting period.

“For instance, if you are going to make one big mistake in a region, you had better make sure that every other alliance is in very good working order. The necessary isolation of Russia since its aggression in Ukraine has certainly pushed Russia closer into its own axis, of China and Iran… far from being without clout, and all the more reason to shore up your natural allies. The Biden administration has been exceptionally poor at doing that.

“Israel is generally thought of by outsiders as being almost de facto within the orbit of America. But the fraying of that relationship during the Obama administration (during which Biden was vice president) is undeniable. During that time, Israel inevitably had to keep other lines of friendship open, including with Russia. So Israel has, as a matter of realpolitik, kept itself out of the clear demarcations the rest of America’s allies have held to since the start of the Ukraine crisis.

“Such things happen once you take to hectoring allies, rather than working with them. Until recently, there were few similarities between the Israelis and the Saudis. But Biden has managed to create some… With energy prices soaring last summer due to the fallout of the Ukraine war, Biden personally went to Saudi Arabia and asked them to increase oil production. There was a time when an American leader just needed to pick up the phone. But with midterms looming, Riyadh actually cut production. It was an amazing… sign not only that the Saudis didn’t need to do what the US asked, but could do the opposite if they chose.

“In such a situation, dangerous new alliances form. What has been most striking in the past year has been the audacious efforts by the Chinese to step into the roles once expected of the US. If there was a peace deal to be brokered in the Middle East, it used to be assumed that it would be America that would broker it. No more. 

“When a deal was agreed in March to restore relations between the bitter enemies Iran and Saudi Arabia, it was Beijing that brokered it. Around the same time, it was the Chinese leadership that started touting a ‘peace deal’ to end the war in Ukraine… as the Ukrainian counteroffensive makes slow progress, many nonaligned countries see China at least providing some solution to the conflict. The Americans, meanwhile, just talk the language of taking ‘as long as it takes’. And whatever your views on the Ukraine conflict, it is hard to deny that the line from Washington has changed again and again.

“Munitions that are ruled out one month are passed another month. Tanks and planes are presented as unthinkable to provide one month and provided the next. None of this is helped by the sheer lack of confidence that anybody dealing with the US president himself must feel. 

“Last month, Biden held a meeting at the White House with the Israeli president Isaac Herzog. The hope was that it would reassure Israelis that the relationship was as solid as ever. This came at the same time as Biden was chiding prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his judicial reforms. That in itself is a classic Biden misstep. What business is it of the Americans if the Israeli government chooses to make long overdue changes to its supreme court system?… the belief that the Americans have the right to lecture everyone in the region is built into the system…

“Tehran is once again extorting the US by demanding money for prisoners. Iran has been a rogue state since 1979, but there are few rogue states in the world that America is so constantly and successfully blackmailed by. Expect pallets of cash to be handed over once more, as during the Obama-Biden years, to a regime dancing on the edge of trying to become a nuclear power. 

“For many countries in the region, Saudi Arabia and Israel perhaps most of all, that is the nightmare scenario, an Iran that goes nuclear fast. But then, Iran is in a good position. It has some strong friends… and some weak enemies, including the US…”

An accurate description of America’s shameful and incompetent performance on the world scene.

Saudi Arabia to Take Over the Temple Mount?

Israel News wrote on or about August 20:

“The timing was not accidental when Saudi Arabia announced over the weekend that its ambassador to Jordan will also take on the roles of ambassador to the Palestinian Authority and consul general in eastern Jerusalem…

“Although Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Sunday quickly shot down the idea of a Saudi consulate for the Palestinians in eastern Jerusalem, Saudi and Palestinian officials said, ‘The Saudi move is an indication of the possibility of an agreement to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia soon and is a signal to the entire region.’

“But Saudi and Palestinian officials also said, ‘Saudi Arabia wishes to signal to Jordan that it considers itself entitled to set foot in the al-Aqsa mosque in east Jerusalem, which would make the crown prince and the Al Saud dynasty responsible for the three holy places of Islam: Mecca, Medina and al-Aqsa.’… For several years, Saudi Arabia has been signaling to Jordan that it intends to replace Amman as custodian of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount…

“Dr. Mordechai Kedar… said… ‘When considering the negotiations to bring normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, it is important to remember that the Saudis do not consider the Palestinians to be Arabs… If the Saudis take over the Temple Mount, it will be a huge blow to the Palestinians. Without Al Aqsa, the Palestinians have nothing; no connection to the land, no political claim, no claim to status in Islam…’”

Interesting developments in the Middle East. The Temple Mount and the Al Aqsa mosque keep at the forefront of attention.

China and Russia Collaborate Militarily

Business Insider wrote on August 20:

“China claims it has remained neutral and has repeatedly denied sending military equipment to Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“But The Telegraph’s investigation found that the country has delivered tens of thousands of shipments to Russian military equipment manufacturers… Trade between the two countries is set to exceed $200 billion this year, per the report — setting a new record.”

Russia and Iran Collaborate Militarily

The New York Post wrote on August 20:

“Russia is secretly working on building thousands of drones through a covert partnership with Iran… Engineers are quietly working to construct 6,000 drones by the summer of 2025 via a billion-dollar weapons deal between Moscow and Tehran. The work is being carried out at a facility in Tatarstan, about 500 miles from the Russian capital.

“Leaked documents… show that Russian drone production is heavily reliant on electronic parts from other countries and that Russian engineers have been trying to improve on the Iranian Shahed-136 attack drone, which is able to travel over 1,000 miles. Among the attempted improvements is making the drones able to carry out a swarm attack, in which they autonomously coordinate to strike a common target.”

Russia and India Collaborate Economically and Militarily

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 22:

“Russia, an enemy? Not in India, where Russia has long been viewed as a valued political and economic partner. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the relationship has even picked up additional pace. India has declined to join the West’s sanctions on Moscow, and the country is now importing more crude oil from Russia than ever before…

“Russia has become India’s fourth-largest source of imports in the past year… The economic and political relationship between Russia and India, which are both nuclear powers, is not only based on their mutual interest regarding oil. It also goes back to their long-standing cooperation during the Cold War era.

“The Soviet Union supplied weapons to India for decades and trained Indian forces in how to use them. India obtained three-fifths of its arms from the USSR between 1955 and 1991… military cooperation between India and Russia remains significant… By contrast, there was a cooler relationship with the United States, which delivered arms to India’s enemy Pakistan…

“‘The Russian-Indian partnership will continue,’ Rajan Menon and Eugene Rumer from the US think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote in September last year. ‘For India, Russia remains an important supplier of weapons…’”

The Kings of the East are coming together, including China, Russia, India and North Korea (see article below).

The Russia-North Korea-Pact

Daily Express US wrote on August 23:

“Russia’s ‘probable secret’ nuclear agreement with North Korea signals a ‘very dangerous development’…

“According to Paul Bracken, professor of management and political science at the Yale School of Management, the alliance between Russia and North Korea is a major cause for concern. He told Daily Express US: ‘We’re seeing new coalitions taking shape right before our eyes…’

“North Korea currently holds a huge stockpile of ballistic missiles… [It] has conducted more than 100 weapons tests since 2022, some involving nuclear-capable missiles designed to strike the US mainland and its allies South Korea and Japan.

“Russia, meanwhile, has the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, with around 6,000 warheads in its arsenal.”

It is alleged that North Korea provides Russia with conventional weapons while Russia provides North Korea with information as to how to build nuclear weapons.

The BRICS Bloc to Enlarge?

Portland Press Herald wrote on August 21:

“The BRICS bloc – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – will use an annual leaders’ summit in Johannesburg this week to begin the process of enlisting more members to bolster its global heft, a push driven mainly by Chinese President Xi Jinping but also backed by Russia and South Africa. There will also be talks on how to accelerate a shift away from the dollar, in part by increasing the use of local currencies in trade between members, which is surging…

“The summit could see the bloc’s first expansion since South Africa was added in 2010. High on the list of potential candidates are Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Egypt. But India wants the process to be gradual. An expanded group would represent about half of global output by 2040… double the share of the Group of Seven, a reversal from the turn of this century. A bigger BRICS would account for almost half of the global population, up from 42% currently…

“Russian President Vladimir Putin is staying away from this year’s summit because he faces a war-crimes arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, of which host South Africa is a member. He will participate remotely. The gathering will give him another opportunity to present his narrative of the Ukraine invasion directly to leaders from the Global South, many of whom have been sympathetic to his accounts in the past. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have been cautious about openly taking Russia’s side in the war, but have also been unwilling to ally with the West in opposing it...”

The Guardian wrote on August 24:

“The Brics group of big emerging economies has announced the admission of six new members, in an attempt to reshape the global world order and provide a counterweight to the US and its allies. From the beginning of next year, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina, the UAE and Ethiopia will join the current five members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – it was announced…

“The decision to admit Iran, also looking for a way to sidestep sanctions, represented a win for Putin and Xi, helping give the group a more anti-western, non-democratic tinge. They prevailed over the more cautious approach of the other members, who prefer to portray the group as non-aligned…”

South Africa—a modern descendant of the House of Israel–appears to be out of place in this group.

Panama Canal Dried Out

On or about August 20, MSN wrote the following:

“In what is being called the ‘world’s worst traffic jam,’ some 200 cargo ships are waiting to pass at the Panama Canal… the area experiences its worst drought in 100 years... the huge backlog has been growing for some time and might not get any better for a few weeks yet. The human-made passageway is famous not only as one of the world’s most impressive feats of engineering but as one of the most important trade routes on Earth.

“The Panama Canal relies on massive amounts of water, the supply of which is shrinking in the current drought…

“Though the flow of ships at the Panama Canal started at about 1,000 vessels when it opened in 1914, that traffic has steadily increased. In the 2022 fiscal year, the passageway was crossed by over 14,200 ships, accounting for some 40% of U.S. container traffic and annually representing $270 billion in cargo…”

Not surprisingly, the current drought is being blamed on “man-made climate change.” Sounding like a parrot, the author mentions climate change eight times in this short article.

More and More Boosters

The Dossier wrote on August 17:

“Pfizer announced Thursday that their new shot, which targets the Eris variant (whatever that is) of… Covid-19, is showing great promise in mice.  And given that Big Pharma heavyweights like Pfizer pretty much control America’s Government Health institutions, we should expect to see FDA authorization for another ‘emergency use’ shot in the coming weeks.

“… this would make for an eighth dose of mRNA in under three years… some… now recommend a booster every two months for the immunocompromised. If you’re not yet immunocompromised, you can take a shot every four months…

“… most Americans have stopped getting mRNA injections, largely because many quietly realized that they have been bamboozled by Big Pharma into taking a shot that does not in fact stop [Corona].”

COVID Mandates Are Coming Back!

Breitbart wrote on August 21:

“COVID mask mandates are returning to Hollywood, with Lionsgate being the first major studio to reinstate masking and daily testing for its Los Angeles office workers… A growing number of colleges and medical institutions throughout the country are also reinstating mask mandates, with the mainstream news media running articles pushing for the return of face coverings…

“The return of mask mandates comes as the Biden administration is ramping up another round of COVID hysteria ahead of 2024, pressuring all Americans to get the latest booster this fall. This had led to growing suspicion that Democrats will not only impose mask mandates but bring back mass lockdowns ahead of the next presidential election, in a repeat of 2020… the new push for Americans to line up for booster shots follows the revelation in January that health officials want to make coronavirus booster vaccinations an annual event.”

This is so appallingly incredible. Please take note of our new member letter, dated August 21, 2023, which addresses this issue in great detail.

A New Virus on the Horizon?

LifeSiteNews wrote on August 19:

“There are strong indications that another alleged ‘virus’ may be released early this Fall and that governments will once again, on the advice of the WHO, declare a health emergency mandating masking, lockdowns and much more and put heavy pressure on the populace to be ‘vaccinated.’ Should this happen and the public again complies, the results are certain to be catastrophic…

“We now know that all the mandates and policies for the last coronavirus alleged ‘pandemic’ were not only useless and medically and scientifically unjustified, they were also devastatingly harmful…

“If another health emergency is declared… will be told another pile of seemingly convincing lies and for many it will be hard to resist the lies and the pressures to comply…

“Dr. Meryl Nass wrote: ‘We can produce vaccines in 100 days and manufacture them in 130 days–but there will be no guarantees that the products will be safe, effective, or adequately manufactured. And we can expect large profits but no consequences for the manufacturers… New biological weapons can be engineered. They can be shared. Maybe that will speed up the development of vaccines and therapeutics. But who really benefits from this scheme? Who pays the price of accidents or deliberate use? Wouldn’t it be better to end so-called gain-of-function research entirely through restrictions on funding and other regulations, rather than encouraging its proliferation?’”

Big Pharma would fight it. And so will be the mass media. Note the next article.

YouTube on the Warpath Again

Rebel News wrote on August 16:

“YouTube will censor content creators that disagree with, or perhaps only question, guidance from the World Health Organization or local health authorities, according to the company’s updated ‘medical misinformation’ policy.

“The change has broad, sweeping implications for content creators. The platform’s previous policy touched on vaccines, abortions and content promoting or glorifying eating disorders but severely ramped up during COVID-19.

“In the new, ambiguously worded update, YouTube says it ‘doesn’t allow content that poses a serious risk of egregious harm by spreading medical misinformation that contradicts local health authorities’ (LHAs) or the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidance about specific health conditions and substances.’…

“Part of the policy means that one cannot make ‘claims that an approved COVID-19 vaccine will cause death, infertility, miscarriage, autism, or contraction of other infectious diseases.’”

This is completely unjustified and constitutes censorship aimed at supporting Big Pharma and suppressing the Truth.

Maui Wildfire Was Preventable!

Breitbart wrote on August 23:

“Evidence suggests the heartbreaking Maui wildfire was preventable… Democrats have become the equivalent of pagan sun worshippers. Nature has become their god. Therefore, in their pagan minds, human beings are nothing more than viruses, a threat to their god. This means that on their list of priorities, we humans come way behind the air, water, plants, animals, and even insects.

“Democrats believe every living thing on the planet is sacred, worthy of respect, requires protection, and is part of the natural world … except human beings, especially Western ones. You see, with our hamburgers and air conditioners and automobiles and plastic coolers, we’re an aberration, a mistake made by nature. We are in the way.

“Hawaii is one of the most left-wing states in the union… Hawaii votes for politicians who put nature above human safety and comfort…

“Firefighters in Maui didn’t run out of water to fight this deadly fire because Maui doesn’t have enough water…  With wildfires ravaging West Maui on Aug. 8, a state water official delayed the release of water that landowners wanted to help protect their property from fires. The water standoff played out over much of the day and the water didn’t come until too late…

“Then there are the pagan nature worshippers who neglected fire control to worship Gaia…

“We see this doom spiral throughout the country in one catastrophic Democrat-run city after another. In Hawaii, it was a totally preventable wildfire. In Chicago, Baltimore, New York, Detroit, Oakland, and San Francisco, it’s totally preventable violent crime, filthy and dangerous streets, hate crimes, addiction, failing schools, and exorbitant home prices…

“It’s a cult so brainwashed its members believe trashed cities and dead children are preferable to mean tweets. The Chief Priests of this cult will, of course, blame Climate Change… To them, Maui’s dead children are a necessary sacrifice to a pagan god that keeps them wealthy and powerful.”

Also note the next article.

Demonic Possession Is Real!

LifeSiteNews wrote on August 21:

“The idea that people can be possessed by malevolent spirits has been the basis of countless books, movies, and TV shows, many of which were, and remain, enormously popular… Despite our fascination with the topic, many people are ambivalent in their feelings about the demonic realm. Some dismiss the whole idea as mythical, assuming that all human wickedness can be explained as symptoms of psychological illness (or maybe politics).

“Others assume that incidents such as the one described in… Matthew 15, where Jesus frees the daughter of a Canaanite woman from possession — are artifacts of the distant past. ‘That was Bible times,’ they’ll say. ‘Such things don’t happen anymore.’

“Yet, the [Catholic] Church insists demons are indeed real, and that they’re as active today as they were in Jesus’ time. They work at the behest of Satan, and their intention is to make bad things happen. Really bad things…

“The Canaanite people (of whom the woman in Matthew’s Gospel was one) worshiped a variety of gods, each of which personified some force of nature. The Bible talks about the shrines, altars, and high places of worship at which the rituals of Canaanite religion were carried out. Those sites dotted the countryside, constant reminders of pagan presence in the land of Israel. The rites practiced there could open the hearts of participants to demonic influence (which may explain the daughter’s problem).

“Nature worship still exists… as Environmentalism… the Environmental Movement has elevated concern for ‘Mother Earth,’ a created thing, over devotion to God who created it… But environmentalism, in the extreme form to which it has mutated, is a false god. And the worshipping of that false god has opened many people’s hearts to demonic influence, prompting numerous evil acts…

“This preoccupation with ‘Mother Earth,’ often to the exclusion of human need and safety, is just the kind of opening after which demons prowl. Another is involvement in the occult.

“Ouija boards, tarot cards, fortune telling, seances, crystals and pyramids, astrology — such devices have long been of great popular interest… they’re specifically intended for contacting a world outside of conscious life. And when people become absorbed in them (which happens more frequently than may be apparent), such practices can come to dominate someone’s thoughts. People can begin to make important decisions on the basis of ‘signs,’ ‘influences,’ and ‘messages’ from the beyond… These too are false gods. And giving oneself over to them can provide an opening to malevolent spirits…

“… in this modern era, we’ve seen evil of such magnitude that psychological illness (or even politics) is not sufficient to explain it.”

Satan is the god and ruler of this world, and he and his demons give their powers to whomever they want. Possession is clearly a fact, and not a thing of the past. Those who want to get in contact with demons—in whatever way—will pay a heavy price.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.