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World News and Trends
World News & Trends
Russia rattles nuclear sabers
Lest anyone think the potential nuclear nightmare is over, "Russia is a
great power that possesses a nuclear arsenal," stated Russian President Boris
Yeltsin in response to U.S. criticism to Russia's handling of the current conflict
in separatist-minded Chechnya.
Equally troubling was the fact that Mr. Yeltsin gave his blunt reminder while visiting
communist China to shore up support for his handling of the crackdown in Chechnya.
The Chinese announced their support for Mr. Yeltsin's military actions, which include
the announced intention to pound to rubble cities that house separatist forces.
The next week Russia successfully tested the Topol-M, its next-generation intercontinental
ballistic missile. The rocket, launched from a missile base in northwestern Russia,
streaked across Russia, striking its target on the Kamchatka peninsula 3,400 miles
away.
Lest anyone miss the point, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir declared: "Some
nations and blocs under cover of international organizations are interfering into
affairs of independent states, and trying to speak to them in the language of force.
We are not used to such language, since Russia has a nuclear shield." (Source:
The Associated Press.)
Optimism reigns as 2000 begins
What do Americans expect in the next 50 years? According to a poll by Pew Research
Center, most folks have an optimistic outlook based on faith in technology, science,
medicine and education.
Four out of five Americans think we will probably see cures for cancer and AIDS,
democracy will continue to spread around the world, and Americans will elect a woman
president. Three of four expect a manned landing on Mars.
On the negative side, 56 percent of Americans think overpopulation will be a major
problem, straining food and resources. Similar numbers expect crime rates to increase
and an epidemic worse than AIDS will plague the world.
Almost two out of three think the United States will be victimized by terrorists
using chemical or biological weapons. More than a third think the country will be
involved in a nuclear war within 50 years. About half expect Jesus Christ to return
to earth. (Source: The Associated Press.)
To better understand what Bible prophecy reveals about the coming years, be sure
to request your free copies of the booklets Are We Living in the Time of the End?
and You Can Understand Bible Prophecy. They're available from any of our
offices listed on page 2 or from our Web site at www.gnmagazine.org.
Media a full-time job for children
It's no secret that American children spend a lot of time with TV, computers,
music and video games. But how much time do children tune in to non -- school-related
electronic-media sources? According to a recent study, it's about 51/2 hours a day,
totaling more than 38 hours a week.
"Watching TV, playing video games, listening to music and surfing the Internet
have become a full-time job for the typical American child," concluded Drew
Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which conducted the national study
of media habits of children ages 2 to 18. "This study really underscores the
importance of paying attention to the messages and the information kids are getting
from the media, both good and bad."
The amount of time spent using this type of media varied by age. Those in the 2-to-7
age-group averaged 31/2 hours daily, and the study found that a third of youngsters
of this age have a TV in their bedrooms. For those over 8, media use averaged almost
seven hours a day, and two thirds of this group had a TV in their bedroom.
Not surprisingly, the survey found that the bulk of children's daily media time--an
average of 31/2 hours--was spent watching TV or videos. Listening to music on tapes,
CDs or the radio occupied another hour and a half, and playing video games 20 minutes.
In comparison, children spend an average of 44 minutes in recreational reading and
21 minutes using a computer for fun. About 60 percent of children said their parents
had set no rules about TV viewing.
It's little wonder that families and societies suffer when children are so disconnected
from their parents, when youngsters are fed a steady diet of mental junk food from
the outside influences that so dominate their lives.
To better understand the principles that produce strong and stable families, be sure
to request your free copy of our booklet Making Life Work. It's available
from any of our offices listed on page 2, and you can download it from our Web site
at www.gnmagazine.org. (Sources: Scripps Howard News Service, The Denver Post.)
French schools offer morning-after pills
School administrators' decisions to distribute free condoms and other birth-control
devices in schools have generated controversy in many Western nations. However, a
recent French-government decision to offer teenage girls morning-after pills--designed
to induce spontaneous abortions--shocked many parents.
Under the French government's plan, announced by Deputy Education Minister Segolene
Royal, a socialist, the pills will be available to students through school nurses.
Taken within three to four days after sexual intercourse, the pills cause a fertilized
egg to spontaneously abort by preventing it from implanting in the mother's womb.
Some parents were outraged at this most recent round of government actions that,
from all appearances, condones a dangerously cavalier attitude toward unprotected
sex among teen students. After a fierce national debate, the plan was later scaled
back to allow school nurses to prescribe the drugs only in exceptional cases and
if a doctor or family-planning specialist could not be reached immediately.
Under the plan, parents not only have no say in whether their daughters have access
to the pills, they aren't even notified if their children are given or use them.
Many French teenagers welcomed the original program. "You can't talk to some
parents about these things. Going to the school nurse will be like talking to someone
anonymous," said a 15-year-old girl.
Where is the world headed when national and local governments institute policies
that undermine family cohesion and parental authority? To better understand the factors
and influences at work behind the scenes, be sure to request Are We Living in
the Time of the End? This free booklet is available from any of our offices on
page 2 or from our Web site at www.gnmagazine.org. (Source: The Associated Press.)
AIDS epidemic spreads
More than 50 million people have been infected with the AIDS virus, of whom 16.4
million have died, according to a recent United Nations report. In 1999, according
to UN estimates, another 5.6 million people were infected with the AIDS virus. The
2.6 million deaths from the disease in 1999 are the highest annual total since the
disease was recognized almost two decades ago.
Although drug therapies have slowed AIDS death rates in the United States and Europe,
such advances offer little hope in other areas where many such treatments are hopelessly
unaffordable. More than 70 percent of those infected with the virus live in sub-Saharan
Africa. The percentage of the population in the independent states of the former
Soviet Union infected with HIV has doubled in the last two years, primarily from
growing intravenous drug use.
In Africa infections in women outnumber those in men, with six females infected for
every five men carrying the virus. Among teenagers HIV-infected girls outnumber boys
by five or six to one.
"The epidemic is far from over," noted Dr. Peter Piot, executive director
of UNAIDS, the United Nations' AIDS program. "The crisis is actually growing."
(Source: The Los Angeles Times.)
Y2K-bug U.S. repair bill: $100 billion
U.S. companies and governments will have spent a staggering $100 billion to prevent
and repair problems related to the year 2000 (Y2K) technology problem from 1995 through
2001, according to the Commerce Department. That works out to an average of $365
for every man, woman and child.
However, the government also reported that the booming economy was sufficiently strong
and stable that potential failures would not significantly affect the country's $9
trillion gross domestic product. "Any glitches that pop up (in 2000) should
not hurt our economic growth," said Commerce secretary William Daley. "I
am not going to lose any sleep." (Source: The Associated Press.)
AIDS epidemic orphans 11 million
More than 11 million children have been orphaned by the AIDS epidemic since it
was first recognized in 1981, with another two million expected to be orphaned by
the end of 2000, according to a recent United Nations report.
The UN defines an AIDS orphan as a child of 15 or younger who has lost a mother or
both parents to the disease. In some African nations as many as one in 10 children
are AIDS orphans. In comparison, before the AIDS epidemic about 2 percent of children
in poorer countries were orphans.
Some 95 percent of AIDS orphans live in sub-Saharan African nations. In pre-AIDS
days extended-family networks assumed care for orphaned family members. Now, however,
"the traditional African extended family is breaking down under the unprecedented
burden of the pandemic," said the report.
Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, the UN program on AIDS, said that orphans
are "the most forgotten aspect of the AIDS epidemic." Left to themselves,
many roam the streets or end up as child laborers, becoming "prime targets for
gangs, militia and creating more child armies like those that participated in massacres
in Liberia and Sierra Leone in West Africa." (Source: The New York Times.)
Anglo-Americans protesting again
You may remember the protest movements of the late 1960s. Students across the
Western world took to the streets with devastating consequences. These ranged from
loss of life to expensive property damage--not to mention the tragic spectacle witnessed
by audiences everywhere. Protesters' intentions can be peaceful and idealistic, but
rank anarchists integrate themselves into these movements to instigate almost certain
violence.
The primary focus of the latest protests was against global capitalism, with Seattle
and London as the main target sites. The Daily Mail summed up the events of
early December in Britain's capital city:
"Anarchists brought violence and terror to the streets of London for the second
time in six months . . . A demonstration against capitalism exploded into
ferocious attacks on police which forced the closure of Euston station (one of London's
principal railway passenger depots). Police were pelted with bottles, stones and
poles from banners. The mob, many of them masked, surrounded an empty transport police
van . . . (and) looted and overturned it and set it on fire. The crowd
chanted, 'Burn it, burn it' and 'kill the pigs.' "
The scene shifted to Seattle, Washington, where world-trade talks were taking place.
This particular protest movement was tarnished by ugly street violence and vandalism
of buildings as police were forced to use tear gas to bring crowds under control.
Said The Seattle Post Intelligencer: "As the impassioned idealists in
the army of protesters learned on Tuesday, there is nothing pretty about police power
. . . Protesters do what they have to do and police do what they are ordered
to do. And harsh things are certain to happen. What we can all be grateful for is
that police power in this city is wielded by some very decent men and women who refused
to let themselves slip out of control."
The Bible is far from silent about protest movements that get out of hand.
"You shall not follow a crowd to do evil," says Exodus 23:2. No one should
allow himself to be led into wrongdoing by a mob, no matter how just the cause may
seem to be. (Sources: The Seattle Post Intelligencer, The Seattle Times,
The Daily Mail (London), The Sunday Telegraph (London), The Independent
on Sunday (London).)
European Defense Initiative
Support in Europe gathers for the creation of a European rapid-reaction
military task force to deal with peacekeeping emergencies. France and Britain are
the prime movers, but for divergent reasons.
As The Economist put it: "The French present these ideas in one way:
as an opportunity to assert itself as a 'separate civilisation' from North America
. . . The British have another view. European and defence forces, they
reckon, will work best for tasks that are endorsed by the American administration,
but fail to arouse enough enthusiasm from Congress to warrant direct American involvement."
Eyebrows have already raised across the Atlantic, and for good reason. The Economist
continues: "Many French politicians and businessmen, however, want to create
not just a defence identity for the European Union, but also a common front against
the English-speaking world" (emphasis added).
Obviously Britain is caught in the middle. One report on the response from the U.S.A.
said: "America is insisting that NATO (which would automatically include U.S.
participation) must be given the 'right of first refusal' to intervene in any humanitarian
crisis in Europe, to block the European Union from launching a military operation
without consulting Washington."
Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, a longtime supporter of strong U.S.-U.K.
relations, came out firmly against the idea. Reported the Times: "Baroness
Thatcher last night fiercely attacked plans for a European defense structure, saying
it would threaten NATO and could help to create a European superstate . . .
She put the drive towards a separate European defence on the same level as the single
European currency. Both were aimed at 'the Utopian venture of creating a single European
superstate to rival America on the world stage.' "
Mrs. Thatcher noted "The creation of a separate European defence, whatever the
qualifications and reassurances, threatens both those conditions, and so poses a
serious long-term danger to NATO's cohesion and effectiveness."
Bible prophecy indicates that in the long run both America and Britain will lose
the battle for these defense priorities. (Sources: The Times (London), The
Daily Mail (London), The Economist.)
Austria and Switzerland move right
Left-of-center governments dominate much of Western and Central Europe. There
are, however, signs of a movement toward the far right in some European states.
Most alarming is the emergence last year of Jörg Haider's Freedom Party as the
second-largest political force in the Austrian legislature. He is known for his alleged
pro-Nazi pronouncements and qualified praise of Hitler. More recently Mr. Haider
has been in London trying to silence alarm bells in the West in reaction to his controversial
statements about the Third Reich. The response in Israel was immediate; Jerusalem
threatened to sever diplomatic relations with Austria.
Three weeks after Austrian voters had boosted the ultraright, neighboring Switzerland
followed suit. Christopher Blocher's extreme Swiss People's Party made huge gains
in the federal elections, which places him in a strong position to play a significant
role in a coalition government. He is known for his highly controversial views about
the Holocaust. The Economist called his party "Switzerland's most potent
political force" and termed this rightward swing "a vigorous shift in the
Swiss mood." (Sources: The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph,
Independent on Sunday, The Daily Mail (all London); The Economist.)
Rape crisis in South Africa
Reports from Johannesburg say a woman is raped every 17 to 28 seconds in South
Africa. According to Interpol, these statistics make South Africa the rape capital
of the world.
Said Time magazine: "In 1998 the official South African rate was 104.1rapes per 100,000 people; in the U.S., the rate was 34.4 per 100,000." However,
rape researchers say only one in 35 rapes in South Africa is reported, which if accurate
renders the situation far more critical than the official figures indicate.
David Jones, reporting from Johannesburg, closes his Daily Mail feature article
with good advice for the government: "For the sake of every South African woman--whatever
her colour--the leaders of this nation, in many ways so potent with promise, must
address their growing humanitarian scandal with considerable urgency."
The Bible takes an even more serious view. ". . . For just as when
a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter" (Deuteronomy 22:26). The context makes it clear that the subject under discussion is rape (verses 25,27). To God, rape is as serious a crime as murder because it destroys something
that can never be replaced. (Sources: The Daily Mail (London), Time.)
Battling over the Ten Commandments
Conservative American churches and political leaders seek to preserve the primacy
of Christianity as well as give children daily reminders of right and wrong. So they
are determined to see the Ten Commandments displayed in schools. Indeed a law (with
almost no chance of passing) is before Congress to make it a requirement.
But civil-liberty groups and non-Christians are just as determined that this practice
come to a halt once and for all. Eventually the Supreme Court will probably rule
on the question. In the meantime, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has begun
legal proceedings in Kentucky against two counties and one school district that already
display the Ten Commandments.
However this question is eventually resolved by the courts, God's law should be taught
to everyone--beginning in the home. To better understand how and why these laws are
the supreme and ideal guide for human behavior, please request our free booklet The
Ten Commandments. (Source: The Guardian (London).)
British Christianity in crisis
Over a 10-year period Anglican and Roman Catholic church-attendance figures are down
in England and Wales. Baptisms and church marriages are also in decline. The Anglican
Church in Hereford is a case in point. Even with some 1,000 parishioners, weekly
attendance averages only about 60.
At the same time, other religions (not including Judaism) have tripled in number.
One in four people in Leicester (a city in the British Midlands) is now a Hindu.
But, countrywide, Islam is the fastest-growing religion.
The implications are troubling. According to The Sunday Telegraph, "Belief in
a personal God has declined from 43 per cent in the 1950s to 31 per cent in the 1990s."
(Sources: The Times, The Sunday Telegraph, Channel 4 TV program, "Tempting Faith"
(all London).)
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