Information Related to "World News & Trends Sept. 2009"
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As Iran moves inexorably toward constructing nuclear weapons, Israel grows ever more concerned about Iranian intentions. According to London Financial Times columnist Philip Stephens: "No one watches events in Iran more closely than Israel. Tehran has long been the abiding preoccupation, some would say obsession, of political discourse in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem" ("Israel Struggles to Adapt to a Changing Picture of Iran," July 3, 2009).
The United States finds itself drifting somewhere in the middle-at times confusing Israel with ambiguous announcements from administration leaders. Recent declarations from leading figures in Washington, D.C., have seriously worried Israel's leaders.
For example: "The US would extend its 'defence umbrella' across the Middle East to defend its allies against a nuclear-armed Iran, Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, said yesterday [July 21] ... Mrs Clinton, speaking at a meeting of [Asian] foreign ministers ... said that acquiring nuclear weapons would not make Iran more secure" (Richard Parry, "Clinton Says US Would Arm Its Allies Against a Nuclear Iran," The Times, July 22, 2009, emphasis added throughout).
Such declarations tend to cause Israel to believe that America is going soft on the stark possibility of a nuclear Iran.
The Wall Street Journal's report from Jerusalem stated that "a simmering dispute between the U.S. and Israel over Iran's nuclear program burst into the open on Monday [July 27], as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on a visit to Israel, called for continued diplomatic engagement with Tehran, while Israeli officials repeatedly warned of a possible military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities" (Yochi Dreazen, "U.S., Israel Split on Iran," July 28, 2009).
Earlier in July, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden "signaled that the Obama administration would not stand in the way if Israel chose to attack Iran's nuclear facilities ... 'Look, Israel can determine for itself-it's a sovereign nation-what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else,' [Biden told ABC's This Week in an interview broadcast Sunday July 5]. He added that this was the case, 'whether we agree or not' with the Israeli view" ("Biden: Israel Can Chart Own Course on Iran," USA Today, July 7, 2009).
Meanwhile, "the head of Mossad, Israel's overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran's nuclear sites" (Uzi Mahnaimi and Sarah Baxter, "Saudis Give Nod to Israeli Raid on Iran," The Sunday Times, July 5, 2009).
Recent internal events in Iran temporarily complicated the possibility of any Israeli air strikes. For a while it looked as if more reasonable Iranian voices, opposed to the fanaticism of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, might moderate the country's approach to Israel, America and Britain. But the massive popular reaction to this seriously questionable election result has since been ruthlessly crushed by the Iranian government.
Subsequently the recently chosen, more moderate Iranian vice-president was forced to resign. At the same time, as reported in Scotland on Sunday, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards stated, "If the Zionist regime [Israel] attacks Iran, we will surely strike its nuclear facilities with our missile capabilities" (Parisa Hafezi and Ali Akbar Dareini, "Hardliners Tighten Their Grip on Iran," July 26, 2009).
Finally, according to the Scotland on Sunday article, "Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for about 40 per cent of globally traded oil." If this threat is actually carried out, it's hard to see how the West would not take immediate military action.
The Middle East is a powder keg that threatens to explode at almost any time. Hostile attitudes and violent events in this troubled region are impacting the entire world. You need to understand where these continual Middle Eastern conflicts-"wars and rumors of war"-are taking us. Request or download our free booklet The Middle East in Bible Prophecy. (Sources: The Times [London], Scotland on Sunday, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal.)
In meeting recently with Asian foreign ministers, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "spoke of unconfirmed reports of co-operation between Asia's two most stubborn dictatorships, Burma and North Korea...She warned of the dangers posed by a relationship between the two governments" ("Clinton Says US Would Arm Its Allies Against a Nuclear Iran," The Times, July 22, 2009). The unspoken fear is that North Korea might share some of its nuclear secrets with Burma.
Remember that we are dealing with a North Korea that already has nuclear arms. In late May, North Korea tested an atomic weapon apparently as powerful as the one dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
These rogue dictatorships are testing the will of the West to resist their provocative efforts. The nuclear club is expanding, and no one knows the identity of the next member. (Sources: The Times, The Guardian [both London], The Wall Street Journal.)
Travelers to Southeast Asia run the risk of contracting malaria, a miserable disease that is becoming resistant to available drugs. The anti-malaria drug Artemisinin is becoming less and less effective in treating the disease. This could be incredibly devastating to dozens of countries and millions of people.
As Bloomberg News reports: "Malaria is becoming resistant to the most powerful drugs available in Southeast Asia, as the World Health Organization races to stop the spread of the strain that could be 'disastrous' for global malaria control" (Simeon Bennett, "Malaria Strain Resists Drugs, May Threaten Millions, Study Says," July 30, 2009).
The same article continues: "Treatments derived from artemisinin, the basis of the most effective anti-malaria drugs, took almost twice as long to clear the parasites that cause the disease in patients in western Cambodia as in patients in northwestern Thailand, according to a study published ... in the [July 30, 2009] New England Journal of Medicine.
"The delay in parasite clearance times shows the drugs are losing their power against the disease in Cambodia, the study said. The failure of artemisinin-based treatments would be 'disastrous' for global efforts aimed at curbing the death and disease wrought by the malady."
Malaria strikes about 250 million people each year and kills more than 880,000, making it the third-deadliest infectious disease behind AIDS and tuberculosis.
Most people assume that medical science will shield us from potential epidemics. But the fact is, we are far more vulnerable than we suppose. Jesus Christ warned that in the end time, the human race would increasingly suffer from "pestilences"- plagues and infectious diseases (Matthew 24:7). (Source: Bloomberg News.)
According to the British Daily Mail, the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) "is telling school pupils [mainly teens] they have a 'right' to an enjoyable sex life and that it is good for their health. A Health Service leaflet says experts concentrate too much on the need for safe sex and loving relationships, and not enough on the pleasure it can bring. But family campaigners last night [July 11] condemned the guidance, saying it encouraged underage sex and could increase rates of sexually-transmitted diseases" (Daniel Martin, "Pupils Told They Have a 'Right' to a Good Sex Life," July 12, 2009).
"Steve Slack, director of the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health at NHS Sheffield, ... added that as long as teenagers are fully informed about sex and making decisions free of peer pressure as part of a caring relationship, they have as much right as an adult to a good sex life" (ibid., emphasis added throughout). The tragic results of this type of teaching are manifestly clear: "About 40,000 teenagers become pregnant every year in the UK-the highest level in western Europe. More than half end in abortion" (ibid.).
We should all consider the advice of the late American historians Will and Ariel Durant, which applies both to young people and the adults influencing them. "No one man [or woman], however brilliant or well-informed, can come in one lifetime to such fullness of understanding as to safely judge and dismiss the customs or institutions of his society, for these are the wisdom of generations after centuries of experiment in the laboratory of history.
"A youth boiling with hormones will wonder why he should not give full
freedom to his sexual desires; and if he is unchecked by customs,
morals, laws, he may ruin his life [or hers] before he
matures sufficiently to understand that sex is a river of
fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restraints if it
is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group" (The
Lessons of History, 1968, pp. 35-36).
If you would like help in educating teenagers to the real dangers of premarital and extramarital sex, introduce them to a sound biblical approach with our free booklet Marriage and Family: The Missing Dimension. (Source: Daily Mail [London].)
"Parents will be given barely any say in the content of sex education classes under [British] Government plans to make the subject compulsory for children as young as five" (Laura Clark, "Parents 'Will Have No Say' Over Sex Education in Schools," Daily Mail, July 20, 2009).
According to the report, this subject will become mandatory for primary and secondary schools. The article went on to state that "there is a different agenda at work to undermine the role of parents and to tear down moral standards." (Source: Daily Mail [London].)
According to a recent report in The Daily Telegraph, "Knowledge of the Bible is in decline in Britain, with fewer than one in 20 people able to name all Ten Commandments and youngsters viewing the Christian holy book as 'old fashioned,' a survey [from Durham University] said today" (Harpreet Bhal, "Britons Lack Knowledge of Bible: Survey," July 12, 2009).
Brian Brown, a visiting fellow at Durham University's St. John's College, responded with this statement: "We have got to recognise that it (the Bible) is the foundation of our society, upon which our whole culture has been based. To understand it [our culture]...you do need an understanding of the Bible."
If you would like to increase your own knowledge of God's Word, read our free, 12-lesson Bible Study Course? (Source: The Daily Telegraph [London].)
As far back as 2003, a study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis estimated that cell phone use while driving caused 6 percent of all U.S. vehicle crashes and 2,600 deaths each year (David Teater, "How Many More Must Die?" USA Today, July 29, 2009). That's about 50 deaths per week.
Cell phones now outnumber registered vehicles, 270 million to 254 million. Currently, 21 states and the District of Columbia bar the use of cell phones for "novice" drivers-but it has to be quite a trick for police officers to determine who is a novice and who isn't.
David Teater, senior director for transportation initiatives at the National Safety Council, tells his story about the death of his 12-year-old son who was killed by a woman who ran a red light while using a cell phone. "Epidemiological studies show drivers using cell phones are four times more likely to crash. Brain scan studies show that a phone conversation reduces brain activity required for driving by 37%" (ibid.). Drivers plus cell phones can equal a dangerous combination. (Source: USA Today.)
Every year alcohol abuse kills about 5,000 young people under age 21 and is a contributing factor in some 600,000 injuries and 100,000 incidents of sexual assault among young men and women attending college in America. Underage drinking often consists of binges. One university reported that alcohol-related treatment has increased nearly 85 percent during the past three years (John McCardell, "Teach Drinking," The Atlantic, July-August 2009).
If you would like some useful information about how to combat almost any addiction, request or download our free booklet Making Life Work. Also download our free reprint article "Alcoholism". Read several other articles on addictions from The Good News Web site. (Source: The Atlantic.)
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Origin of article "World News & Trends Sept. 2009"
Keywords: nuclear weapons North Korea Iran Israel and Iran E.U. and Israel cyber attacks U.S. religion malaria sex in UK UK religion cell phones teen drinking
European Union - Middle East: