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The world: on a winding road to nowhere
The state of the world is visibly deteriorating in front of our eyes. The signs are difficult to ignore. You can watch them on your TV screens and read about them in the headlines. Most people know something awful is happening to their world, but can't put their finger on what it all means.
One of the latest big crises to hit the media is a sinister terrorist plot to blow up passenger jets bound from Britain to the United States, apparently designed to explode in midair or over several major American cities, potentially taking far more lives than 9/11 did.
British authorities, in cooperation with their American counterparts, were able to discover and counter the threat. More than 20 people are in custody. The financial costs to the airlines will undoubtedly prove monumental. A whole range of highly inconvenient, but very necessary, new security measures look inevitable.
Baghdad has been suffering about 1,000 tragic deaths a month on average. Then in July, according to CNN, that figure jumped to 1,700. Next door, some observers believe Iran is only six to 12 months from having the capacity to construct nuclear bombs. North Korea has been firing test missiles, and previous reassurances about the demise of the Taliban in Afghanistan now ring somewhat hollow. As always, several points in Africa are in violent turmoil or civil war.
In many ways it's a world going mad. Nuclear weapons appear on the verge of proliferating on a major scale. According to an Aug. 1 article in the International Herald Tribune, "Over the past few years, Pakistan has been hard at work building a powerful new plutonium reactor that when completed will be able to produce enough fuel to make 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year." Archrival India is also planning to expand its production to similar levels.
The Institute for Science and International Technology (ISIT) is a U.S. think tank that keeps track of nuclear weapons. It reported that "South Asia may be headed for a nuclear arms race that could lead to arsenals growing into hundreds of nuclear weapons, or at a minimum vast stockpiles of military fissile material" (The Guardian, July 25).
We also learn that "Iran is seeking to import large consignments of bomb-making uranium from the African mining area that produced the Hiroshima bomb" (The Sunday Times, Aug. 6).
Are you concerned about the darkening character of current world news? You should be! Why not find out what it all means for you? Request or download our free booklets and (Sources: The Guardian, The Sunday Times [both London], International Herald Tribune.)
China's obscure Middle Eastern activities
China receives little news coverage concerning its activities in the Middle East. As the late Deng Xiaoping once expressed it, "China must hide brightness and nourish obscurity . . . to bide our time and build up our capabilities."
Today Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia all have significant links to China, which are viewed as a counterbalancing factor to American power and influence in the Middle East. For instance, Saudi and Iranian oil exports to China have risen sharply in the last 10 years.
Of much greater concern is a recent report in The Times that "China has sold Iran tanks, planes, artillery. . . and anti-aircraft missiles." It is also Iran's main supplier of unconventional arms and is thought by almost all monitors to be illicitly involved in supplying key elements in Iran's chemical and nuclear weapons programme . . . China has sold nuclear reactors to Algeria, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia" (Aug. 8).
Yet Chinese trade with America is growing by leaps and bounds. Take the case of BNSF, a major railway with outlets to three major seaports. Trains magazine reported that "sixty percent of the railroad's international container traffic involves China . . . Over the past three years business with China has grown 10 percent to 14 percent annually" (Aug. 2006). There seems to be some kind of a contradiction here that we find hard to comprehend.
The West has many enemies, and not all of them are in the Middle East. (Sources: The Times [London], Trains (USA).)
Britain vulnerable to Iranian-sponsored terrorism
Noted British columnist Melanie Phillips has alerted London to the indigenous dangers posed by Hezbollah. She pointed to its Islamic designation as the so-called Army of God, "a military force funded, trained by and answerable to the Islamic Republic of Iran"-a nation pledged to "the destruction of Israel and the genocide of the Jews, as a prelude to destroying the West and infidels everywhere" (The Spectator, Aug. 5).
The Islamic Human Rights Commission [IHRC] in the United Kingdom encourages Muslims in Britain to supply Hezbollah with "financial, logistical and international support" in its attacks on Israel.
And Britain itself is still a target, as recent events at Heathrow Airport have shown. Recently Iran 's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on TV that " England was the founder of this sinister regime"-meaning Israel-and was "an accomplice to all of its crimes" (ibid.)
British Jews may be even more vulnerable than the general public. The Times stated, "The Jewish community in Britain is facing a wave of anti-Semitism as a result of the conflict in Lebanon " (Aug. 8). The Jewish Chronicle referred to it as a "wave of intimidation." Already occurring are abusive telephone messages, hate mail to Jewish organizations and various incidents like the name Hezbollah being painted near one of Glasgow 's synagogues.
The stakes are high for the whole Western world. As British Member of Parliament Michael Gove wrote: "Western failure to support Israel will have global consequences . . . When the West fails to offer an appropriate defence of Israel it succeeds only in undermining its own long-term security" (The Times, Aug. 4).
Melanie Phillips concluded her article with these somber words: "But if Israel were to lose to Iran, it would herald a catastrophe for the entire world." (Sources: The Spectator, The Times, The Jewish Chronicle [all London].)
Fidel Castro's regime eroding?
Cuban President Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power recently to his brother, Raul, when he was hospitalized for surgery. Either President Castro is dying or he is testing the Cuban people to see how well the communist politburo is ensconced. Raul Castro is faithful to his brother Fidel, but most political watchers say he doesn't possess the charisma that Fidel has. That can spell a big difference.
Fidel has ruled Cuba for a surprising 47 years, a long tenure for any leader. The U.S. naval blockade of Soviet ships bringing war munitions to Cuba in the 1960s dampened his brash international threats. His government suffered greatly with the Soviet collapse. Riots followed this signal event.
Are we seeing the end of Fidel's regime and the possibility of a more democratic form of Cuban government? Exiled Cubans in Miami hope so. They have family ties in Cuba and a love for their native land. Cuba would benefit greatly from a free society, both in tourism, fishing, sugar, tobacco and rum, as well citrus, cocoa and nickel.
Equally, the United States would benefit internally and externally, and there would be one less government threatening it.
Hezbollah sets back Israeli ecosystem 50 years
Huge swaths of forests and fields across northern Israel have been scorched by thousands of Hezbollah rocket strikes over the past three weeks, and experts said it would take nature at least 50 years to recover," began an Aug. 2 Associated Press report.
History records the many pathetic ways that nations have wreaked havoc on other nations in the form of wars, pogroms and resulting famines and pandemics. Today the geopolitical scene has changed, and terrorist groups within a nation can and will hijack that nation and then hide among its peaceful citizens to carry out their unreasonable demands. Hell-bent on demanding that everyone believe their way, they have little regard for anyone or anything else.
The report continued: "In all, the rocket fire has destroyed 16,500 acres of forests and grazing fields . . . About 1 million trees were destroyed . . . The destruction of Mount Naftali is all the more painful since it is not a natural forest, but one meticulously planted by man. These mountains were bare when Israel was established back in 1948."
Forest caretaker Yossi Biton lamented: "An entire history has been erased in a single hour. It's like turning heaven into hell." Only God can change the wicked heart (Jeremiah 17:9). This He will do in due time according to His plan. (Source: Associated Press.)
Iraqi sectarian violence leading to civil war?
The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East told Congress . . . that 'Iraq could move toward civil war' if the raging sectarian violence in Baghdad is not stopped. 'I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I have seen it,' Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee" (Associated Press, Aug. 3).
Americans may not appreciate the differences in the various Islamic sects in the Middle East and how their differences not only separate them, but make them mutual enemies. "Shiite and Sunni are going to have to love their children more than they hate each other," said General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who also told the panel, "We do have the possibility of that devolving into civil war" (ibid.).
Many Westerners mistakenly perceive all Muslims to be alike, but they are not. Just as in traditional Christianity, Islam has a variety of beliefs and practices. The two largest sects are the Sunnis and Shiites, yet there are more and all these may be further divided.
As different as the Islamic sects are, they are not denominational, and when the call to prayer goes out, mosques accept all Muslims since their services are very similar. Still, the increased sectarian violence brewing in Iraq now could lead to civil war or be a stepping stone to a future Islamic caliphate, possibly under the prophesied "king of the South" (Daniel 11:40), that could unite Muslims from Indonesia to Morocco. (Source: Associated Press.)
The curse of Internet pornography
The Daily Mail reported that "record numbers of people [in Britain] are downloading pornography from the Internet" (May 29). FT Magazine, from the London Financial Times, stated that "in the US alone 70 per cent of young men log on in search of porn every month" (April 1-2).
The artificial nature of Internet porn threatens the ability of men and women to sustain normal intimate relationships. For example, the average wife is forced to compete with picture-perfect models and porn stars online.
It's not surprising that "more than nine million men-almost 40 percent of the adult male population-logged on to sex websites last year, more than four times as many as the estimated two million in 2,000" (Daily Mail). What is somewhat surprising is "the number of women downloading Internet porn soared 30 percent to 1.4 million" (ibid.).
As FT magazine observed, "When pornography met the Internet the result was as instantly addictive as crack cocaine." Carol Sarler of the Daily Mail rightly called the practice a "dismally seedy epidemic."
Misuse of sex is gradually eating away at the moral roots of our Western societies. If you would like to read something that helps counteract this devastating trend, please request or download our free booklet Marriage and the Family: The Missing Dimension. (Sources: Daily Mail, FT Magazine [both London].)
Seniors need sex ed
Health workers in Britain advocated that pensioners "be given the same sex education as teenagers after statistics indicated that cases of chlamydia among the over-50s had doubled between 2000 and 2005 and cases of genital herpes had tripled" (The Times, July 19). HIV-positive sufferers also increased in the senior age group.
The growth factor in swinging (wife swapping) and illicit sexual behavior on foreign trips is a big contributing factor to the problem. Eighty-year-olds are now visiting clinics for treatment of STDs. A consequential spin-off is a marked increase in the divorce rate among older people with long-established marriages.
Do we think God is ignorant of all these happenings? In due time He will respond, but right now we are mainly reaping the sad consequences of our own actions (Jeremiah 2:19). (Sources: The Times, Daily Mail [both London].)
Friendships waning
An American study of behavioral trends has revealed a marked decline in close friendships among people. The Times stated, "The average circle of close friends or confidants has shrunk over 20 years and many people now turn only to family members to discuss their most intimate concerns."
The reasons for this phenomenon may well be related to such things as working more (some holding down two jobs to make ends meet), overuse of TV and the Internet, and the general decline of morals in society as a whole.
Close friendships and trustworthy confidants are very important to our lives both spiritually and psychologically. Our youth magazine, Vertical Thought (), is publishing a special issue (October-December) on the importance of friendships and how to cultivate them. (Source: The Times.)
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Keywords: Pakistan India nuclear weapons China and the Middle East Britain and Hezbollah Castro, Fidel Cuba Hezbollah Iraq pornography friendship
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