January 2002 Vol.5, No. 1 Contents Europe at the Crossroads-What Does It Mean? by John Ross Schroeder Restoration: Going Safely Into the Unknown by Darris McNeely Imagine a World Without the United States by Melvin Rhodes Asking the Tough Question: Has Religion Failed? by Cecil E. Maranville The Biblical Origins of the Arab Peoples by Gary Petty In Brief...World News Review by John Foster, Cecil E. Maranville, Ken Martin and Jim Tuck This Is the Way...How Strong Is Your Tea Bag? by Robin Webber In Brief... World News Review Brushfires Ravage Southeastern Australia Saudi Crown Prince Cautions Islamic Leaders Algeria's Woes In Search of the Next Pope Brushfires Ravage Southeastern Australia "There are many broken-hearted people here," wrote an Australian citizen to a member of our World News and Prophecy staff about the nightmarish brush fires ravishing the New South Wales state in Australia. As we go to press, the fires are well into their third week and constitute the greatest disaster of this type that Australia has seen, according to New South Wales Emergency Services Minister Bob Debus. After 15 days of burning, the fires have destroyed more than 170 homes and a million hectares or 1.235 million acres. Thankfully, there hasn't yet been any loss of human life, although some firefighters have been injured. The destruction is devastating enough in itself, but adding to the grief is the fact that many of the fires have been started by arsonists. As of Jan. 6, 2002, 26 people have been arrested and charged with arson. The public anger is justifiably great, and there is talk of creating a public register of arsonists similar to that for pedophiles. Additionally, a new law requires convicted arsonists to be confronted by the victims of the fires they set and to help regenerate burned out land. More than half of the beautiful Royal National Park has been destroyed in the fires, killing countless animals and injuring hundreds that survived. On the positive side, several types of plant life have already begun to put forth new shoots in the park. Included are the phenomenal banksias, an evergreen shrub or plant whose seeds actually open only in the intense heat of such a fire. The encouraging early growth in the park shows the marvelous capacity for survival that God designed, even in the face of disaster. Approximately 10,000 volunteer firefighters have battled nearly 100 separate fires and are near exhaustion. Many of them were on year-end vacation time when the crisis struck, but the fires may burn for weeks to come. Authorities are appealing to employers of the volunteers to be patient. The 100 fires constituted a front of 1,250 miles around the city of Sydney. Early damage estimates run into the tens of millions of dollars, but that does not include insurance claims. When all of the costs are tallied, claims from the brush fires are expected to add several billion dollars to an already massive $100 billion insurance crisis that threatens to rock the Australian economy. Perhaps the greatest grief is caused by the fact that a large number of the people arrested for arson are youths, ranging in age from 9 to 16! Further, these arsonists have continued to set new fires while firefighters combated those that were already burning. "Why would people want to do this to other people?" cried the young daughter of one of the volunteer firefighters when she saw a televised news report about the destruction. That's a question to which many people would like an answer. Are these young arsonists so detached from a sense of right and wrong that they do not realize the horrible crime they have committed? Are they so inured to the pain of others that they do not care what hurt they have caused? It's chilling to contemplate what has gone wrong in the homes and the society from which these young people have come. God long ago prophesied that "in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves (selfish)...boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty" (2Timothy 3:1-4). These gruesome qualities describe the kind of character that would inflict such wanton evil. Sources: News.com.au, The Sunday Herald Sun, BBC, The Sunday Telegraph, The Australian, Reuters. Saudi Crown Prince Cautions Islamic Leaders Crown Prince Abdullah recently warned senior Saudi Islamic leaders to be careful and avoid provocative remarks in their religious speeches. Prince Abdullah cautioned them to "not be emotional or provoked by others," the official Saudi daily Arab News reported. Abdullah exhorted the religious elite to "weigh each word before saying it." The royal family is closing ranks as it faces trouble on several fronts, but they are cautious to avoid alienating Saudi Arabia's religious elite and increasing opposition to Crown Prince Abdullah's reign. Abdullah became Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler after King Fahd had a stroke in 1995. The royal family has at least momentarily laid aside internal conflict in the face of trouble on various fronts with growing Islamic extremism and Saudi-U.S. relations strained. Still, Abdullah's strategy may alienate one of his key bases of support and undercut his political clout in the long run. This is the first time an effort to rein in the mainstream religious elite has been made as growing concerns over political dissent surface. The warning serves to make it clear that fueling opposition to the regime will not be allowed. As a religious monarchy, Saudi Arabia's government tries to balance the state's cooperation with the secular West with its strict religious society. Complicating the secular versus religious dilemma is a complex web of tribal affiliations and loyalties. Originally divided into warring tribes, Saudi Arabia was united in 1932 by Abdul Aziz al Saud, father of King Fahd, who is officially the current ruler, as well as Prince Abdullah and Prince Sultan. Abdullah, known for his personal piety, relies on support from the country's religious elite as leverage in countering his rivals - the faction of the royal family led by King Fahd and Prince Sultan. Abdullah hoped to reduce what was perceived as Washington's inordinate influence over Saudi foreign and domestic policy, a perception stemming partly from the basing of several thousand U.S. soldiers on Saudi soil. The U.S. war in Afghanistan has revived the debate over Riyadh's close cooperation with Washington. Immediately before the launching of air strikes, several Saudi clerics condemned the anticipated U.S. actions and criticized the royal family for working with the United States. In his speech Nov. 14, Abdullah said, "We are now passing through critical days, and our duty requires that we be mindful," the Associated Press reported. For the usually cautious Saudi leadership, the recent statements are a glaring admission of troubled times. Abdullah's effort to moderate the situation could backfire and have devastating consequences for his legitimacy among his own supporters, especially the country's more religiously hard-line factions. Once he weathers the current situation, the crown prince may find his political clout eroded and his position as the country's heir apparent in jeopardy. Sources: Stratfor, WorldNetDaily, AP. Algeria's Woes While the rest of the world wasn't watching, well over 600 Algerians are known to have died in recent floods, and thousands of others have lost their homes. In the capital alone, more than 500 bodies were pulled from the mass of mud, collapsed buildings and mangled motor cars left by the storm. Officials said it was a freak of nature that sent a wall of water rolling down the steep, narrow streets of the slum district of Bab al-Oued. The torrential rainfall was indeed the heaviest recorded in 20 years after two years of drought. Yet the residents of Algiers have reason to complain. The police failed to stop cars approaching danger zones despite signs of rising water. Hundreds of stranded motorists and bus passengers were flushed into chutes that carried some for miles, all the way to the sea. Storm drains in the valleys of the capital were known to have been intentionally blocked up in 1997 to prevent Islamic extremists (then engaged in a gory bombing campaign) from using them as hideouts. Residents also complained that the government's rescue efforts were so scarce that they had to dig out victims bare-handed. Not surprisingly, scattered riots broke out two days after the flooding, with angry crowds marching on the center of the city. But the anger goes beyond those directly affected by the floods, because many are very bitter against the government over past actions. In 1992 the army stopped an election which would have brought about a moderate Islamic government. An estimated 150,000 have been killed, most of them civilians. The past year, however, has seen embarrassingly credible revelations of army involvement in past massacres. It has also seen a surge in popular unrest. Around 100 people have been killed in spontaneous rioting across the country, often in protests against police brutality. Ironically, this disintegration of central control comes at a time when the country's economic prospects are at last improving. Private investment, particularly in oil and gas but also in telecoms, transport and, soon, in power distribution, is beginning to reshape the economy. In Search of the Next Pope The maneuvering for the next pope is in full but silent swing during what Pope John Paul II, now 81, calls the "twilight years" of his papacy. The Polish pope's election over 23 years ago broke with a tradition of Italians for nearly 500 years, and opened the way for a surprise pope from the Third World. The chances of that have improved since John Paul elevated 44 new members to the College of Cardinals, from which a future non-Italian pope could be elected. Though Italian cardinals are still the largest contingent, no cardinal has sufficient support. Latin Americans are the largest geographic bloc after the Europeans, and they minister to about 500 million Catholics. The church is expanding fast in Africa and Asia. The most closely watched cardinals are six from different countries and cultures, who share certain attributes. All are multilingual men of the world, all hold high-profile posts at home or at the Vatican, and all are of the Third World. One example is the primate of Mexico, Cardinal Norbero Rivera Carrera. He is athletic, 59, of Tepehuene Indian ancestry and lives in his native state of Durango. He gained a reputation as a strict conservative at a time of liberal theology and doctrine. He has spoken out against Mexico's elite for corruption and failure to help the nation's poor. He could be the next to sit in the seat now occupied by John Paul II. Another is Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, 68, born in eastern Eziowelle. His older brother recounts that as a youth, he excelled academically and entered the seminary at 15. Arinze gained notoriety during the Biafran civil war in the late 1960s and early 1970s when he was forced, overnight, to transform missionary schools under his charge into camps for starving refugees. He has also served for two decades at the Vatican as a key figure in arranging interfaith dialogue among Catholics, Muslims and Hindus. Among the others being watched are cardinals from Vietnam, Colombia, Honduras and Cuba. John Paul's papacy saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of terrorism in the world. The next pope will likely be thrust into a world with equally diverse problems. wnp Source: AP.Contributors: John Foster, Cecil E. Maranville, Ken Martin and Jim Tuck Send any comments / changes regarding this page to webmaster@churchofgodtwincities.org © 2002-2022 United Church of God, an International Association