Information Related to "World News Review September/October 1998"
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In Brief...World News Reviewby John R. Schroeder and Cecil E. MaranvilleHottest Month in History Since Records Began "This was the hottest July in the history of the world since modern records have been kept." These are the somber words of no less a personage than American Vice-President Al Gore. Clearly this record heat wave has impacted many parts of the world. In the United States, Dallas, with temperatures right at or in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit for some 20 or more consecutive days, was the center of a very unusual nation-wide heatwave, with many devastating spin-off effects. In tiny Israel the southern portion experienced 118 degrees Fahrenheit. Italy's heatwave has brought forest fires and dangerous increases in smog levels. Even the Russian Arctic has been affected by the heat, although welcome in this case. Some observers blame global warming for the unusually hot weather around the Northern Hemisphere. Among those are Vice-President Gore who stated: "The data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration means world temperature records have been shattered every month since the beginning of the year. When you break the record seven months in a row it is really hard to ignore the fact that something is going on-and that something is global warming" (emphasis ours). But some scientists are not so sure and have blown hot and cold on the threat of global warming, citing conflicting evidence from weather satellites. Whatever the truth of the matter, scorching heat from the sun will be one of the seven vials of punishment poured out on the earth in the future (Revelation 16:8-9). The Daily Mail, August 11 (quotes by Al Gore); The Times August 3 and 13; Daily Telegraph July 31; Newsweek August 3; Jewish Chronicle August 14. Largest Food Airlift in History Operation Life Sudan is being mounted to save the starving. It will provide some 15,000 tons of food per month. But observers fear it will not be enough as varying estimates say that from one to two million or more Southern Sudanese are threatened with starvation after 15 years of civil war. Many thousands have already died. The World Food Program estimates that 1.2 million are in serious danger of starving-four times the figure proffered just two months ago. Sheer size and difficult climactic factors (swampland) seriously hamper aid-transport efforts to the afflicted area. Yet the war between the predominantly Muslim North and the mainly non-Muslim South drags on. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are already riding in microcosm in some areas of the earth. Famine usually follows war. Los Angeles Times, July 13; The Express July 31. The New Terrorism In a chilling review of "the new terrorism," The Economist reported recently on the substantial efforts of the United States government to anticipate and prepare for terrorists using "weapons of mass destruction-the generic term for biological, chemical and nuclear arms." In black humor, the article is titled, "The New Terrorism, Coming Soon To a City Near You." Contrasting the typical new terrorist with previous terrorists, the article summarizes the new as "vague about its long-term aims but utterly ruthless in its short-term intentions." New terrorists have no particular national loyalty and no particular cause other than destruction itself. According to Bruce Hoffman, an American specialist on political violence, "hallmarks of the new terror include 'amorphous religious and millenarian aims' and 'vehemently anti-government forms of populism, reflecting far-fetched conspiracy notions'" (The Economist). The likely main target for the new terrorism-the United States. Illustrative of the mindset of the new terror is the anti-American cry from Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman: "Ruin their economies, burn their companies, destroy their benefits, sink their ships, shoot their aircraft and kill them on the ground, in the air and sea and wherever you find them. Take them, besiege them and cripple them completely. Kill all these infidels wherever you find them. You kill them and Allah will punish them through your hands" ("Clinton Gambles all on Revenge," The Sunday Times-UK). Rahman is the blind cleric who is currently serving time in New York for his role in the bombing of the World Trade Center-an act of the new terror, financed, apparently, by Osama Bin Laden. Two of the preacher's sons are part of Bin Laden's entourage (ibid.). How Bad Is the Russian Economy? The Russian ruble has been devalued in the midst of some stark apocalyptic statements about the state of the economy. For instance: "Russia's financial crisis could spin out of control as banks collapse" wrote Garth Alexander in New York and Mark Franchetti in Moscow" (The Sunday Times,August 16.). The European evaluation is even worse: "Thinking that a rise in fiscal receipts and a trimming of public spending will solve Russia's problems, as the IMF does, is to miss the self-evident point that the Russian economy is bust, plain and simple. All the statistics about economic activity are probably hokum. The foundation stones of a market economy—a legal structure to enforce mutual obligations, corporate responsibility and transparent accounting—are non-existent" (August 17-23). Says American columnist Patrick Buchanan: "It is time for truth. The Russian economy is a corpse. That $15 billion, which comes on top of the $9 billion the IMF has already committed and on top of the scores of billions from Europe and the United States, will never be seen again. Russia is bust. Indeed taking out new loans to pay interest on old loans is a definition of bankruptcy" (The Washington Times, July 20-26). But more than bad economics is at stake here. The world has a very heavy interest in Russian economic stability. The country still has too many nuclear weapons for comfort. And any temptation to sell weapons technology to unstable dictatorships for badly needed cash frightens the West. In terms of Russian economic well being, too much was expected too soon. A nation pays a heavy price for 70 years of communism. The attempted conversion to a free market economy and a full free enterprise system has rocked the nation's social fabric. No wonder Gorbachev wanted to go slower. |
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Related Information:
Other Articles by John Ross Schroeder
Other Articles by Cecil Maranville
Origin of article "World News Review September/October 1998"
Keywords: heat wave Sudan Rahman, Omar Abdel Osama bin Laden Russia
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