Information Related to "World News and Trends - Sep/Oct 2004"
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North Korean missiles capable of reaching America?
Unconfirmed reports have been circulating for several years suggesting that North Korea might be developing an intercontinental missile, most likely to be launched from a decommissioned Soviet submarine obtained from Russia. According to The Guardian, "North Korea is deploying a new missile which may be able to strike the US mainland, a report in Jane's Defence Weekly says today" (Aug. 4).
North Korea was included in U.S. President Bush's "axis of evil" along with Iraq and Iran. British writer Simon Winchester, a visitor to the East Asian country, stated: "North Korea isn't just anti-American; it's anti everyone" ( The Times, May 15).
The Wall Street Journal Europe warned that "If North Korea . . . goes openly and promiscuously nuclear, dangers soar on two fronts. Asian neighbors that now focus on stopping proliferation might promptly reverse course and join the trend. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan all could embark on nuclear programs in self-defense . . .
"The far larger danger is that North Korea would develop a cash-and-carry arms program, selling to rogue states and terrorists alike in its desperation to feed itself" (Aug. 11). (Sources: The Guardian, The Times [both London], The Wall Street Journal Europe.)
Growing evidence of Iran's hostile intentions
World Net Daily published a report saying that Iran will have nuclear weapons by 2008, indicating that international inspections have delayed the nation's nuclear capability by two years. The report "suggested that Israel may conduct an attack on Iran's nuclear facility to prevent Tehran from attaining a nuclear weapon" (July 30).
The London Observer reported that on July 31 Iran said it had "restarted the building of uranium enrichment centrifuges which the United States says are part of a bid to develop an atomic bomb" (Aug. 1).
Buried inside the special bipartisan congres-sional report on Iraq is the assertion that "it is not Iraq that has links with terrorists, but Iran" ( The Sunday Times, July 25). This feature article stated further that "ever since the 1979 revolution that deposed the Shah and put Ayatollah Khomeini in power, part of Iran has dreamed of conquering the world with its version of Islam."
Furthermore, a Sunday Telegraph correspondent in Iraq reported that "Iraqi border officials have admitted that buses full of Iranians routinely enter the country without passports or other official identification, despite Baghdad's attempts to clamp down on terrorist infiltration" (Aug. 1).
According to noted Daily Mail columnist Ann Leslie, who visited Iran in late spring, it is "a state whose official policy is the total destruction of Israel" (May 22). All this information is especially significant because Iran sits atop one of the largest oil reserves on the earth. Understandably the United States has not had any official diplomatic relations with Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution when student revolutionaries held American hostages for well over a year.
While growing evidence "vindicates President Bush's decision to name the mullahs as charter members of the ‘axis of evil'" (Wall Street Journal Europe, Aug. 2), there is growing pressure from Britain and certain American voices to reopen a meaningful diplomatic dialogue with Iran.
While the intentions may be good, how is constructive dialogue possible given the growing evidence of Iran's hostility to the West? (Sources: The Observer, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail [all London], World Net Daily.)
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American concerns grow over Syrian military aims
The Sunday Times reported that "investigators tracking the spread of nuclear technology and know-how through the clandestine sales network of the Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan believe that Syria might have acquired centrifuges that can purify uranium for use in nuclear bombs" (July 4).
He is known to have in times past assisted North Korea, Iran and Libya in acquiring nuclear components on the weapons black market. Danielle Pletka, a spokesperson for the American Enterprise Institute who is well briefed on the Mideast nuclear situation, said that "the United States government has consistently outlined our concerns with regard to Syria's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. We are very interested to learn the scope of the A Q Khan network, but we are not in a position to say with certainty that Syria has centrifuges" ( The Sunday Times, July 4).
Also, Steven Cooke of the Council of Foreign Relations stated that "it's no secret the Syrians have historically sought an answer to Israel's overwhelming conventional superiority and have an active biological and chemical weapons programme. If they could acquire a nuclear option, it would shift the strategic situation in the region" (ibid.).
All this information (including the article about Iran above) makes columnist Gerald Seib's comments all the more interesting. In his piece "While US Politics Focuses Elsewhere, Atomic Threat Stews," he says: "If Iran keeps moving toward a nuclear weapon, Israel may launch a pre-emptive strike to stop it . . . If Iran crosses the finish line anyway, Egypt and Saudi Arabia . . . may decide they also need nuclear arms" ( Wall Street Journal Europe, Aug. 11). The same could apply to Syria.
The Middle East is a very unstable area in an uncertain world. One can see why so much of end-time biblical prophecy is focused on this part of the globe. To understand the real significance behind today's dangerous developments, request or download our free booklets The Middle East in Bible Prophecy and Are We Living in the Time of the End? All of these events and trends add to the solid indicators that we are living in what the Bible calls the latter days. (Sources: The Sunday Times [London], The Wall Street Journal Europe.)
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Violence in the home across Europe
"In Europe right now the statistics of male violence against female partners are terrible. For European women aged 16-44, violence in the home is the primary cause of injury and death, more lethal than road accidents and cancer. Between 25% and 50% of women are victims of this violence. In Portugal 52.8% of women say that they have been violently treated by their husbands or partners. In Germany almost 300 women a year are killed by men with whom they used to live" ( Monde Diplomatique, July issue).
This assessment has been documented by many credible sources. One important observation: "The fact that this violence happens in the home of the victim has always been a pretext for authorities to wash their hands and declare that it is a private domestic matter. Such an attitude is a collective refusal to help people in danger" (ibid.). (Source: Monde Diplomatique, France.)
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Fireworks on the Rock of Gibraltar
A recent celebration of 300 years of British rule on Gibraltar fanned the flames of ownership claims to the Rock. Fireworks were a significant aspect of the celebrations, followed by a revisitation of the respective territorial issues by both British and Spanish politicians. Spain was deeply offended by U.K. participation in the local celebrations.
The 30-year rule on information in the British national archives made possible the recent revelation that former Prime Minister Edward Heath's Tory government was willing to cede the colony to Spain back in 1973, the year Britain joined the European Economic Community—now called the European Union. The then ambassador of Britain to Madrid said of the Rock: "We cannot go on defending this historical and geographical anomaly. Colonial anachronisms have been cleared up over most of the world. Gibraltar is the only one left in Europe" ( The Daily Telegraph, Aug. 3).
The then head of the Foreign Office's Southern European Department said at the time: "We hope that within 10 years the European Community will become a political and defence union. When that time comes Gibraltar will be neither British nor Spanish. It will be European" (ibid.).
To understand the real significance behind the conflicting territorial claims and Gibraltar's vital role in British history, please request or download our free booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy. (Source: The Daily Telegraph [London].)
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Could mad cow disease be incubating in thousands more?
An Aug. 5 Associated Press release reports that scientists have found evidence indicating that the human form of mad cow disease might be infecting a wider group of people than previously thought possible.
Research in The Lancet medical journal reported an infection in one person of what appears to be a human form of mad cow disease known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Apparently more people than previously thought could be incubating the disease, brought on by eating processed beef products from cattle infected with mad cow disease (medically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy). Although cattle are screened for the infection before their meat enters the food supply, the frightening part of this discovery is that scientists have no idea how many additional people might be infected with mad cow disease.
Speculative projections range from 10 or more to hundreds of thousands. No one knows the incubation period, how many people might be vulnerable, how the disease spreads and whether it can be passed on. There is no known test to diagnose the disease, no treatment and no cure. (Source: Associated Press.)
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Are people evil, and if so, why?
Two alleged acts of wife killing (the Scott Peterson and Mark Hacking cases) have dominated America's evening newscasts. Why do such things happen? Are people evil, and if so, why?
Modern pluralistic thinking assumes human beings are basically good. The 1960s American TV comedian Flip Wilson parodied the notion of human nature gone awry with his famous line, "The devil made me do it!" But is there some truth to his line?
Jesus Christ, speaking to His apostles, said, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:11).
The prophet Jeremiah tells us that "the [human] heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick" (Jeremiah 17:9, New American Standard Bible). The fact is that Satan the devil is "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4) and that "the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (1 John 5:19). Scripture also refers to him as "the tempter" (see Matthew 4:3).
The devil has a powerful influence on humankind to do evil, although human beings still have a choice and can do good. If you'd like to learn more, request or download our free booklet Is There Really a Devil?
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Forty years of "do as you please"
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, acutely aware of the need to counter out-of-control crime and disorder in scattered areas of the United Kingdom, blamed the permissive 1960s for today's collapsing values.
According to The Daily Telegraph, "he said that while the decade had brought about a breakthrough in terms of freedom of expression and lifestyle, it failed to convey the concept that with freedom came responsibility. A society of different lifestyles spawned a group of young people who were brought up without parental discipline, without proper role models and without any sense of responsibility toward others" (July 20). Regrettably, this overall societal trend has continued right on into the 21st century and is very much with us to this day.
Our free booklets Making Life Work and The Ten Commandments address the issue of the moral collapse of Western society and show how to counteract it in our personal lives. (Source: The Daily Telegraph [London].)
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Are terrorists fulfilling prophecy?
Could terrorist threats and actions against Europe help fulfill end-time prophecies? In recent months terrorists have made increasing threats against several European nations, telling them to end their alignment with America in the war on terror or face dire consequences.
The March 11 Madrid train bombings showed that such threats can have an impact. The murder of almost 200 passengers precipitated the election of new leadership in Spain. Yet the terrorists may be playing with fire—literally and figuratively. The European continent is poised to become another superpower, a United States of Europe.
The Bible shows that at the time of the end a "king of the South" (from the Muslim/Arab world) will attack the "king of the North" (leader of a European-centered power), instigating a massive invasion of the Middle East (see Daniel 11:40-45). Muslim terrorists threatening Europe may well be playing into the stepwise progression of God's divine prophecies of the end time. To learn more, request or download our free booklet The Middle East in Bible Prophecy.
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Keywords: North Korea Iran Syria Gibraltar mad cow disease king of the south
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