Justice for Ft.

Hood heroes 2
Dont take your eyes off Jerusalem 3
Germanys fiscal overlord demand 5
Scotland to break up the Union? 8
Shocking government waste 10

the TRUMPET WEEKLY

O C TO B E R 20, 201 2

Britain Readying to Leave Europe

by brad macdonald

ver since Britain joined the European Community in

1973, the Trumpet and its predecessor have forecast that
Britain will one day remove itself fromor be tossed out
ofthe European Union.
Over the last few days, a momentous development that
will hasten this event has occurred.
In short, for the first time in 30 years senior politicians
from Britains major parties are now publicly making
overtly anti-European statements.
The first to do so was Theresa May, Britains home
secretary and a rising star within the Conservative Party.
May attacked the EU on two different occasions and on
two separate issues in just the last week. On Sunday, Phillip
Hammond, Britains
defense secretary and
a fellow Conservative
politician, joined May
in her assault on the
EU by declaring that
its time for a reset
of the Britain-Europe
relationship.
Perhaps the most
significant declaration came from Michael Gove, Britains
education secretary
and also a Conservative Party member.
Mr. Gove revealed
over the weekend that
if a referendum on
Britains membership
in the EU was held
tomorrow, he would
vote for a British
withdrawal.
If youre unfamiliar with British
Anthony Rosenberg/scibak/iStockphoto

politics, its important to note that each of these figures is

a member of the Conservative Party, which is led by Prime
Minister David Cameron. Ever since Cameron took office,
his government has successfully practiced a sweep-it-under-the-rug policy when it came to Britain leaving Europe.
Of course, one of the reasons ignoring and avoiding the
Europe question has been possible is that government leaders have remained aloof on the subject.
Until now.
Peter Oborne, chief political commentator at the Telegraph, wrote an excellent piece explaining this development. The importance of these remarks [from May, Hammond and Gove] cannot be overstated, he wrote.
Although many
people have criticized
Europe, no senior
British politician has actually
dared to advocate
a severance of
relations since
Michael Foot more
than a quarter of
a century ago. Ever
since Mr. Foots humiliation in the 1983
general election, there
has been a consensus among all senior
politicians in all three
main parties that
Britains membership
of the EU, however
irritating in practice,
is a good thing in
principle (emphasis
added throughout).
see leave page 12

middle east

War Over the Nile River

to actively challenge Egypts monopoly on the Nile.

In 2010, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzaar may soon be coming to Ethionia signed an agreement rejecting Egypts claim to the Nile
pia.
and formed a new partnership to redistribute the rivers
In March of 2011, at the height
water more equitably.
of the political revolution in Egypt,
Ethiopias Grand Renaissance Dam is the first test of this
Ethiopia announced that it would
agreementand Egypts resolve. It is scheduled for complesoon start construction on a massive
tion in three years, at which time large amounts of water
hydroelectric dam on the headwaters
will be withheld from the Nile. But perhaps even more imrobert morley
of the Nile River. This is an explosive
portantly from Egypts perspective, if not stopped it could
declaration. Not only will this dam undoubtedly reduce the herald a gold rush of other hydro-electric projects that will
amount of water flowing into Sudan and Egypt for several
inevitably lead to increased agricultural projects within the
years it is an existential threat to Egypt.
region. If Ethiopia succeeds, it will be the end of Egypts
For Egypt, allowing Ethiopia to construct this dam is
control of the Nile. In water-limited Africa, that would be
somewhat like Israel allowing Iran to build a nuclear bomb. an unmitigated disaster for the land of the pharaohs.
Egypt is nothing without the Nile. Almost 100 percent
What will Egypt do?
of Egypts 83 million inhabitants live along the Nile River.
According to intelligence agency Stratfor, Egypts most
It is literally the lifeblood of
likely response will be to
the country. It does more
reactivate and support proxy
than just support agriculture
militant groups hostile to
and industry; it provides
Ethiopia. There are at least
the water necessary to push
a dozen such armed groups
the turbines at Egypts giant
scattered across ethnically
Aswan Dam. This dam, one
divided Ethiopia that are
of the biggest hydroelectric
working to overthrow the
engineering feats of all time,
government or carve out
helped transform modern
independent regions. Egypt
Egypt into a Middle Eastern
could also use its allies in Ersuperpower.
itrea to destabilize Ethiopia.
Egypts giant Aswan Dam spans the Nile River. One of the
Due to colonial-era treaThis is exactly what apbiggest hydroelectric engineering feats of all time, it helped
ties between Egypt, Sudan
pears to be happening.
transform modern Egypt into a Middle Eastern superpower.
and the United Kingdom,
On Monday, Ethiopia
Egypt holds sole authority over the Nile Rivers waterfor- announced that it had seized 500 weapons and thousands
ever. Until recently, this meant that if any upstream nation
of rounds of ammunition being smuggled into the country
(also former British protectorates/colonies at the time)
from Sudan. The seizure comes just a month after six exiled
wanted to use water from any tributary flowing into the
Ethiopian opposition groups announced the formation of
Nile, they had to seek Egyptian approval.
armed movements against the government. According to
But now that may be about to change.
Africa Review, 12 armed opposition groups have recently
Ethiopias Blue Nile River generates approximately 85
taken up arms against the Ethiopian government.
percent of the total water flowing into the Nile. Ethiopia
Ethiopia may quickly be headed for civil warinstigated
contends that it was not a signatory to the 1959 treaty, and
by Egypt!
thus it should not have to abide by a treaty that takes virtuWill Egypt soon topple the Ethiopian government? The
ally 100 percent of its water that flows into the Nile. Thus
Bible says Egypt will be instrumental in bringing a radical
Ethiopia is leading the charge to rewrite the treaties.
political reorientation to Ethiopia. Watch while it happens.
More than leading the chargeit is now the first nation
Follow Robert Morley:
Twitter

Justice for Ft. Hood

Heroes

third anniversary of the massacre of

13 U.S. soldiers at Ft. Hood by Islamic
terrorist, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik
Hasan.
The Obama administration has
refused to acknowledge that the attack
was a terrorist attack. The Defense

Eugene Regis

The trumpet weekly

Caroline Glick | October 18

ovember 5, the day before the U.S.
presidential elections, will be the

OCTOBER 20, 2012

Department has insisted on covering

up the nature of the attack. The reports
it released following the attack failed to
mention Hasans Islamic motivations.
Still today the Defense Department
insists on defining the massacre as a
case of workplace violence.

Jerusalem Is the Focal Point

ast week, the Muslim Brotherhoods

supreme guide Mohammed Badie
called on radical Islamists to use force
against the Zionist oppressors of Jerusalem. This same group of radicals now
runs the nation of Egypt.
Zionists only understand force, Badie said in a public statement published stephen flurry
October 11. Arabs cant achieve justice
through the corridors of the United Nations or through
negotiations, he said. Jerusalem is Islamic and nobody
is entitled to make concessions [on the Holy City].
Keep in mindthis hateful diatribe is coming from the
spiritual adviser of Egypts new president, Mohammad
Morsi.
In ancient times, the king of the south was located
just south of Jerusalem in Egypt. In this end time, it will
comprise a conglomerate of nations much larger and
more powerful than ancient Egypt. And this group of
nations will be located south of the king of the north in
Europe.
Gods Word says there will be a clash in this end time
between the kings of the north and southRoman Catholic
Europe and the nations of Islam! History, in other words,
will repeat itself. The Bible says radical Islam will aggressively push against Europe (Daniel 11:40). The Euro-beast
will then retaliate forcefully against the Islamic pushlike
a whirlwind, it says. After that, the Bible says the European superpower will enter Jerusalem.
He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries:
and the land of Egypt shall not escape (verse 42). Egypt
wont escape because it will be firmly ensconced in the
Iranian camp. This prophecy in Daniel 11 is why we knew,
decades ago, that Egypt would eventually turn to radical
Islam. That has now happened.
Even the major media outlets have awakened to the
sobering reality of an Islamist state in Egypt.
Americas spectacular foreign-policy blunders are leading directly to what Jesus described in Matthew 24:21: For
then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
To advance this fiction, the Defense
Department has refused to award
Purple Hearts to the families of the
soldiers murdered by Hasan, or to
those who were wounded in his attack.
It has refused to compensate the families of those murdered or the survivors
who were incapacitated at the level the
U.S. military compensates the families
of soldiers killed in the line of duty
and soldiers wounded by enemy fire.
This year Congress tried to rectify
this obscenity by including Purple

beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
In verse 15, Jesus told us to heed to prophetic warnings of the Prophet Daniel: When ye therefore shall see
the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him
understand:).
Now compare this verse with Luke 21:20: And when ye
shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know
that the desolation thereof is nigh. Jerusalem is the trigger!
God calls these armies surrounding Jerusalem a desolation because, as it says in Daniel 12:11, it is the abomination that makes desolate. It causes the desolation of many
nations. God is talking about problems like weve never
seen before. It will get so bad that no flesh would be saved
alive were it not for Christs intervention to put a stop to it
(see verse 1 and Matthew 24:21-22).
This is where the events we have been witnessing in
the past few years are leading. We are on a countdown!
There is no turning back! It doesnt matter if America gets
a new president this November. Its not going to roll back
the Islamic winter. Its not going to reset everything in the
Middle East to where staunchly pro-American dictators
hold back the tide of radical Islam.
The dam has broken! America is in full-scale retreat.
It took out Saddam and handed Iraq to Iran. The surge
in Afghanistan has failed. The U.S. left Iranian protestors
isolated during the Green Revolution and then made the
tragic mistake of enabling Islamic uprisings in Egypt and
Libya. And it has totally abandoned Israelthe only Mideast nation, by the way, where there never seems to be any
protests outside the U.S. Embassy.
As Charles Krauthammer recently said, the jihadists in
the region are saying, This is our time. They know this is
their time. The imperialist empire now forming in Europe
also knows that this is its time.
And so, we had better watch Jerusalemclosely! Jerusalem is the powder keg that will set off a world explosion.
From now on, Herbert W. Armstrong wrote back in 1976,
Jerusalem will be the focal point of world happenings.
For more on this subject, make sure to read Jerusalem in
Prophecy.
Follow Stephen Flurry:
Twitter

Heart citations for Ft. Hood casualties

in the Defense Appropriations Act.
Obama said he would veto the bill
(and thus deny the military funding)
if they didnt remove the clause about
the medals. That is how far Obama
is willing to go to keep up this fiction, cover up the existence of enemy
forces within the U.S. military, deny
the threat posed to the U.S. by radical Islam, and in the process, punish
and dishonor American soldiers who
were killed in the line of duty in an
The trumpet weekly

OCTOBER 20, 2012

act of war against the U.S. by a selfproclaimed Soldier of Allah.

There is no precedent in U.S. history for this sort of behavior by an
American president. None. And
think about them, and the commander in chief who refuses for ideological
reasons to recognize what happened
that day, and so dishonors them every
single day.Think about four more
years of this reckless behavior if he is
reelected the day after the third anniversary of the massacre .

Netanyahu Again
Offers the Golan
Heights to Syria?

the talks with Assad to justify the

stalemate in the negotiations with the
Palestinians and because he viewed
Syria as the weak link in the so called
axis of evil, which also includes Iran,
Daniel Pipes | October 14
Lebanon and Hezbollah.
himon Shiffer reports in Yedioth
Yedioth said U.S. President Barack
Ahronoth that in secret talks in 2010 Obama and Vice President Joe Biden
via U.S. government mediator Frederic were aware of the negotiations, as were
C. Hof, Israels Prime Minister BenSecretary of State Hillary Clinton, Najamin Netanyahu agreed in principle
tional Security Adviser Tom Donilon,
to a full withdrawal from the Golan
Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro and
Heights to the June 4, 1967, lines in
Dennis Ross.
return for the expectation of Bashar
Netanyahus office replied to the
al-Assad cutting ties with Iran, and
Yedioth Ahronoth report that This was
that the nearly completed negotiations one of many initiatives proposed to
ended because of the anti-Assad upris- Israel over the years. Israel has never
ing that began in January 2011.
accepted that proposal. It is an old and
How plausible is this claim? Here
irrelevant proposal. In contrast, the
is a summary of the report published
State Department partially endorsed
by Yedioth Ahronoth: According to
the report: Prior to the eruption of all
American sources, Netanyahu and
of the violence in Syria, there were efBarak agreed to withdraw to the 1967
forts to try to support contacts between
lines in exchange for a comprehenIsrael and Syrian officials. This was part
sive peace deal that would include an
of the mandate of George Mitchell.
Israeli expectation for the severing of
ties between Syria and Iran. However,
TW i n b r i e f
the sources said, the burgeoning deal
n UN plans to send European
did not include an explicit committroops to Syria
ment by Assad to sever ties with the
The new United Nations peace envoy
Islamic Republic.
to Syria is creating plans to send 3,000
The report said the sides did not
peacekeeping troops to Syria. The
agree on a timeline for the Israeli
envoy, Algerian diplomat Lakhdar
withdrawal: Syria wanted the agreeBrahimi, reportedly considers African,
ment to be implemented within one
Britain, American, Russian and Chiand a half to two years, while Israel
asked for more time before pulling out nese forces and soldiers from neighboring Arab countries ill equipped for
of the region.
the job for varying reasons. This leaves
Yedioth quoted a senior American
just one region: Europe. European
official as saying that the negotiations
troops are also seen as being most
were serious and far-reaching and
would have likely ended with an agree- familiar with the region. Brahimis
ment had they not been interrupted by plans tie directly into Bible prophecy.
the uprising against Assad. The official Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry
has predicted that Europe would soon
estimated that Netanyahu resumed

get very involved in Syria. According

to Bible prophecy, Syria will end up
a German ally. Now Europe, including Germany, is the top candidate for
leading a peacekeeping mission to the
country. The Bible also prophesies
that European forces will be invited
in to Israel as peacekeepers. The same
criteria that make European troops
the logical choice for Syria would
commend them equally well to Israel.
The arrival of European peacekeepers
surrounding Jerusalem is a key step
on the road to Christs return.

n Iran shows off naval power

Iranian defense officials said Monday

that Irans speedboats can fire antiship cruise missiles while traveling at
speeds faster than any other missile
boat in the world. Earlier this year,
the Revolutionary Guard Corps said
that Iran had thousands of speedboats
in their navy. All throughout the
world, Iran is the only country which
has speed vessels with the ability of
firing (rockets and missile) at high
speeds, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi
said at the time. The announcement
comes at the same time as Der Speigel
released a report that Iran is considering artificially inducing an environmental disaster in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is considering the option
of artificially producing an enormous
environmental disaster that would
affect the entire region, the Times of
Israel reported. Irans Revolutionary
Guards have developed a secret plan
to intentionally cause an oil tanker to
contaminate the strategically important Strait of Hormuz. Whether or
not Iran actually implements the plan,
clearly it is touting its naval strength
to the world.

europe
France At Risk of
Economic Hurricane
Telegraph | October 15

rance is sliding into a grave economic crisis and risks a full-blown

hurricane as investors flee rocketing tax rates, the countrys business

federation has warned.
The situation is very serious. Some
business leaders are in a state of quasipanic, said Laurence Parisot, head of
employers group medef.
The trumpet weekly

OCTOBER 20, 2012

The pace of bankruptcies has accelerated over the summer. We are

seeing a general loss of confidence
by investors. Large foreign investors
are shunning France altogether. Its
becoming really dramatic.
medef said the threat has risen

Germanys Fiscal Overlord Demand

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph | October 16

ermany has stated its exorbitant price for keeping

The competition tsar is the arch-enforcer of the EU
Greece in the euro and agreeing to mass bond purchas- machine, with powers to launch dawn raids, deploy swat
es by the European Central Bank.
teams, and block mergers on his own authority. The job
There must be an EU currency commissioner with
was the making of Italys Mario Monti a decade ago when
sweeping powers to strike down national budgets; a large
he blocked the GE-Honeywell merger after it had been
step towards fiscal union; and yet another EU treaty.
cleared by Washington.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schuble dropped his bombMr. Schuble poured scorn on counter-proposals by
shell in talks with German journalists on a flight from Asia, EU president Herman van Rompuy, including a first step
and apparently had the blessing of Angela Merkel, the chan- towards debt pooling through joint eurobills. The term
cellor. When I put forward such proposals, you can take it Fiskalunion in Berlin has a specific meaning: more power
as a given that the chancellor agrees, he said.
to police the affairs of debtor states. It does not mean debt
Officials in Brussels reacted with horror. If that is the
mutualization or a joint EU treasury. Germany has so far
demand, they are not going to get it. Nobody in the Counrefused to cross this Rubicon.
cil wants a new treaty right now, said one EU diplomat.
Michael Link, the countrys Europe minister, said Mr.
Weve got the fiscal compact and quite enough fiscal
van Rompuys plans are dead on arrival. When you make
discipline. Not even the Dutch want a commissioner telling proposals that are simply unacceptable for certain memthem how to tax and spend, he said.
bers, this will only give the impression of division. You can
The new demands risk another stormy summit in Brusphrase it any way you like, treasury bills, debt-redempsels on Thursday, pitting Germany against the Latin bloc.
tion funds or eurobonds, this type of debt issuance will
The last summit in June ended with an acrimonious deal in not fly with our government. We have always said this very
the small hours on a banking union that began to unravel
clearly.
within days.
The comment invited a barbed retort from his French
Mr. Schuble said the currency chief should have powers counterpart, Bernard Cazeneuve. Well, for us, it is yes,
similar to those of the EUs competition commissioner, a
just as clearly, he said. Such an open rift between Germany
man feared around the world.
and France on the eve of a summit is rare.
from a storm warning to a hurricane
warning, adding that the Socialist
government of Franois Hollande has
yet to understand the extreme gravity of the crisis.
The immediate bone of contention
is Article 6 of the new tax law, which
raises the top rate of capital gains tax
from 34.5 percent to 62.2 percent. This
compares with 21 percent in Spain,
26.4 percent in Germany and 28 percent in Britain.
Lets be clear, Article 6 is not acceptable, even if modified. We will not
be complicit in a disastrous economic
mistake, Mrs. Parisot told Le Figaro.
Mrs. Parisot said the policies border
on economic illiteracy: The idea of
aligning taxes on capital with those on
wages is a profound economic error.
It is scandalous that the French have
been left in such economic ignorance
for years.
The fear is that a fiscal shock in
2013 will tip the economy into a sharp
downward slide. France needs more
fiscal austerity right now like a hole in

the head, said sovereign debt strategist Nicholas Spiro.

They dont have any chance of
meeting their growth target of 0.8
percent next year, but that does not in
itself put French debt at risk.
The real danger is contagion if
things turn ugly in Spain.
Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici
has hinted at a shift in policy, saying
there may have to be a reorientation
of the eurozones fiscal strategy. The
people are not going to like Europe if
it cant offer growth, he said.
Mrs. Parisot said business feels
deeply unloved and is in revolt across
the country.

Smash China
German Foreign Policy | October 18

pplauded by the German president and officials of the German

government, the laureate of a prominent German cultural award made
a plea for smashing China to pieces.
The trumpet weekly

OCTOBER 20, 2012

China is a heap of rubbish, he said, it

must be dismembered, insisted the
Chinese author Liao Yiwu, a resident
of Germany, who was awarded the
prestigious Peace Prize of the German
Book Trade last Sunday. His acceptance speech, in which he made a plea
for dismembering his native country,
received hefty applause from German
President Joachim Gauck and other
government officials.
This diplomatic affront occurred only a few days
after the German Foreign Minister and
his Chinese counterpart had signed
a Common Declaration, in which
Berlin declared its intentions to enhance its strategic partnership with
Beijing. On the one hand, this declaration has resulted from the fact that,
because of Chinas economic strength,
Germany, for the time being, needs a
certain form of cooperation, not only
to satisfy the business interests of its
enterprises, but also to get support in
solving the euro crisis. On the other
hand, the applause for Liaos recent
anti-Chinese invectives shows that

Berlin still considers Beijing as its rival

to be combated, on a long-term basis.

of Americasgps. The systems in-orbit

the provision of any financial services
validation satellites are now complete.
to Syrian arms exports. Europes
The successful launch on October 12
ramped up action in the Middle East
enables engineers to run intensive
comes at a time when America is not
TW i n b r i e f
tests on every aspect of Galileo from
only seeking an exit from the region,
n EU strengthens Iran sanctions,
its ground operation centers in Mubut is distracted with the Benghazi
Israel applauds
nich, Germany, and Fucino, Italy, and
massacre and the coming presidential
The European Union levied a new arclear[s] the way for rapid full-scale
elections. Bible prophecy indicates
ray of sanctions on Tehran on Monday. that the current Iran-Europe dispute
deployment of the constellation of
The EU said it was troubled by what
will culminate in a modern-day Euro- the remaining operational satellites,
it called Irans refusal to come clean
according to European Space Agencys
pean crusade against Iran.
on its nuclear program. The measures
director of the Galileo program, Din Europe launches key Galileo
are designed to hit Irans treasury by
dier Faivre. The operational satellites
satellites
banning Iranian natural gas imports.
following this validation phase will
The European Space Agency has sucIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nebelaunched every three months begincessfully launched the third and fourth ning next springuntil 18 of them are
tanyahu praised the EU for toughening its stance. I want to commend the satellites of the Galileo global navigaorbiting space. At that pointprojected
tion satellite system, Europes version
EU for the tough sanctions that were
to be late 2014the system would have
adopted yesterday against
reached initial operational
the greatest threat to peace
capability, ready for initial use.
in our time, he said. Iranian
Full operational capability will
Foreign Ministry spokesbe reached with 12 additional
man Ramin Mehmanparast
satellites by 2018. Galileo will
denounced the new sanctions
be 10 times more accurate
as inhuman and said the
thangps. It will havecivilian
sanctions would only make
and commercial usesbut
Iran stronger. The EU also
as theRegisterwrote, Gali
boosted pressure on Iranian
leo only makes sense in the
A Soyuz rocket carrying a pair of Galileo In-Orbit Validation
ally Syria. New regulations
context of European military
satellites lifts off from Europes Spaceport in Sinnamary,
ban Syrian Arab Airlines
actionand infrastructure se12kilometers from Kourou, French Guiana, on October 12.
from EU airports and prohibit
curity, independent of the U.S.

asia
TW i n b r i e f
nChina eyeing Afghanistan

On September 23, Zhou Yongkang, a

top Chinese security official, made a
surprise four-hour visit to Kabul, Afghanistan. His meeting with Afghan
President Hamid Karzai represents
the first high-level visit by a Chinese
official to Afghanistan in 50 years. The
Washington Times called the visit a
clear signal of a policy shift on Beijings part and probably the harbinger
of further engagement to come. Until
now, Beijings approach to Eurasian
states like Afghanistan has been soft,
mostly founded on infrastructure
projects and investment, and promoting Chinese language and culture.
Chinas investment in Afghanistans
natural resources such as oil and copper have allowed Beijing to reap the
JODY AMIET/AFP/Getty Images

benefits of U.S. stabilization efforts

in the country without expending
any Chinese political capital. But, as
Washingtons 2014 withdrawal deadline approaches, watch for Beijing to
take a more active and multifaceted
interest in Afghanistan.

n Japanese PM takes hawkish

turn

Speaking at a naval ceremony on Sunday, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda spouted off some hawkish
rhetoric not previously seen in his
leadership approach. Nodas speech
included a jingoistic phrase used in
a slogan for naval battles during the
early 20th centurys Russo-Japan War,
and included nationalistic slogans that
Japanese naval cadets have recited since
before World War ii. The security
The trumpet weekly

OCTOBER 20, 2012

environment surrounding our nation

has become more difficult than ever
before, Noda told the troops. We
have a neighbor that launches missiles
disguised as satellites and engages in
nuclear development. We are facing
various cases related to territory and
sovereignty, he said, referring to North
Korea, China and South Korea. For
years, U.S. foreign policy has worked to
suppress Japanese militarism, but with
China rising and the U.S. afflicted by
economic and moral disease, Washington appears ready to allow Tokyo to
take on a greater regional security role.
The rising frictions throughout Asia
are largely the result of disputes among
Asian states, but the military might
these nations are amassing will soon be
pooled together and channeled against
Europe.

anglo-america

U.S. Vulnerable to Cyber Pearl Harbor

peaking to business leaders in

instances where intruders have successfully gained
New York City last Thursday, Leon
access to these control systems. We also know that they
Panetta, the U.S. Secretary of Defense,
are seeking to create advanced tools to attack these systems
delivered a dramatic warning about
and cause panic and destruction and even the loss of life.
one of the less publicized dangers
Remember, this is the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
creeping up on America: CyberwarMr. Panetta then delivered a script that would make
fare.
Steven Spielberg salivate: Let me explain how this could
During his speech Mr. Panetta
brad macdonald unfold. An aggressor nation or extremist group could use
drew attention to some recent cyberatthese kinds of cyber tools to gain control of critical switchtacks on U.S. financial institutions. The tactics used by the
es. They could, for example, derail passenger trains or even
attackers werent new, he explained, but the scale and
more dangerous, derail trains loaded with lethal chemicals.
speed with which it happened was unprecedented
They could contaminate the water supply in ma(emphasis added throughout). The potential for cyberatjor cities or shut down the power grid across large
tacks to inflict damage on a large scale is quickly increasparts of the country.
ing, he explained, and a cyberattack perpetrated by nation
The most destructive scenarios involve cyber actors
states or violent extremists groups could be as destructive
launching several attacks on our critical infrastructure
as the terrorist attack on 9/11.
at one time, in combination with a physical attack on our
Mr. Panetta decountry. Attackers
scribed a recent cyber
could also seek to
assault on a Saudi
disable or degrade
Arabian state-run oil
critical military
company that desystems and commustroyed 30,000 computnication networks.
ers. A few days later a
Its an incredsimilarly destructive
ible scenario, one that
and expensive atalmost seems fanciful:
tack occurred against
For the first time in
RasGas, an Qatarhistory, computer geeks
based energy company.
have the meansif not
Just like the attack on Pearl Harbor, a cyber attack will
Imagine the impact an
the motiveto inflict
hit closer to home than many Americans may realize.
attack like that would
catastrophic damage
have on your company
on an entire nation!
or your business, he said.
Mr. Panetta concluded his scenario with a stark and
But the threat posed to U.S. businesses and institutions
dramatic warning, one that hasnt received nearly the atand the people they serve is only half the story. Panetta
tention it commands: The collective result of these kinds
continued: We know that foreign cyber actors are probof attacks could be a cyber pearl harbor; an attack that
ing Americas critical infrastructure networks. They are
would cause physical destruction and the loss of life. In fact,
targeting the computer control systems that operate chemiit would paralyze and shock the nation and create a
cal, electricity and water plants and those that guide transnew, profound sense of vulnerability..
portation throughout this country. We know of specific
Follow Brad Macdonald: Twitter

Europe to Leave
Crippled Britain
Behind?

punishment.
The eurozone has gone through the
brunt of its fiscal squeeze and will be
well on the way to recovery by 2013. The
economic/debt crisis will rotate from
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard,
Continental Europe to the UK, with
Telegraph | October 17
peak austerity hitting the British in
olger Schmieding at the Ger2013/2014 just in time to do maximum
man bank Berenberg tells us this
damage before the Scottish referendum.
morning that Britain is next in line for
Let us call it the German view.

Jamiga/iStockphoto

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OCTOBER 20, 2012

He buys the claim that there has

been very little belt-tightening in the
current fiscal year. Du lieber Himmel.
Net tightening this year is 1.4 percent
of gdp. Any more would be idiotic.
But he is right that more pain is yet
to come, and for that we can thank the
structural deficit of 5.2 percent of gdp
at the top of the cycle left by Gordon
Brown. It was an egregious fiscal bubble,

far worse than anything done by Spain.

The cuts will be especially painful
in Scotland where dependency on government spending is higher (though
that cuts both ways on the Scottish
referendum).
If the euro crisis fades over the
course of 2013, as we expect, the
contrast between a UK reeling under
additional austerity and a eurozone
which has already emerged from its
own adjustment crisis could strengthen the hand of those in Scotland who
want their nation to be an independent part of the European family
rather than a part of the UK.
The biggest risk could be a market
perception that, after a British divorce,
a rump UK could turn even more
anti-EU than the UK is now. Even the
slightest perceived threat that a rump
UK might eventually leave the European Union or could opt out of some
major rules and institutions affecting
the common market for services could
be a major blow for Greater London,
which has successfully turned itself
into the services center for Europe and
depends on guaranteed and fully free
access to its major market.
It would be ironic if, after a possible fading to the euro crisis in 2013,
markets start to discuss the risks to
another union of nations in Europe
the United Kingdom. Fortunately, the
risk still looks contained.
But the claim that Europe is
through the worst is surely courting
fate. Yet this is now the new orthodoxy. French President Franois
Hollande said this morning that the
eurozone is very close to close to
overcoming the emu crisis.

Scotland Historic
Independence Vote
Telegraph | October 15

cotland set up a historic independence referendum on Monday after

its leader and Britains prime minister
finalized arrangements for a vote that
could lead to the demise of its threecenturies-old union with England.
Scotlands drive for sovereignty, led
by its nationalist leader Alex Salmond,

50 Years After Cuba

Missile Crisis

echoes separatist moves by other

European regions such as Catalonia
and Flanders which feel they could
prosper as separate entities inside the
Christian Science Monitor |
European Union.
October 14
Signed in the Scottish capital Edhis week marks the 50th anniverinburgh, the referendum agreement
sary of the beginning of the tense
allows Scotland to ask its people in
standoff. And while the politics of
a 2014 vote whether their homeland
the Cold War have little relevance for
should become an independent counU.S.-Latin American relations today,
try or stay within the UK.
in some ways the U.S. finds itself in
Its a historic day for Scotland, a
the very position that set the stage for
visibly excited Salmond said after
conflict in the first place, says Philip
signing the deal with Prime Minister
Brenner, a historian of the missile criDavid Cameron. Do I think we can
sis at American University. With U.S.
win this campaign? Yes, I do.
influence waning in the region, Latin
One of the most contentious issues
America is forging ahead with its own
at stake is the ownership of an estimated 20 billion barrels of recoverable agenda.
What the U.S. feared the most in
oil and gas reserves beneath the UK1962 has come to pass, says Brenner
controlled part of the North Sea.
. We were concerned about our
Britain is also worried about the
sphere of influence that we had taken
future of its nuclear submarine fleet
for granted. [Today] we cannot
based in Scotland as Salmond says
dominate this region anymore. They
there would be no place for nuclear
do not look to us for leadership. Counarms on Scotlands soil after indetries look within the region, and to
pendence. Moving the fleet elsewhere
some extent to Cuba still.
would be costly and time-consuming.
At the same time, over the past
Cameron, who did not address
decade the global economy shifted,
reporters alongside Salmond, opposes
with Latin America no longer looking
Scotlands push for independence but
just north to the U.S. for leadership
agrees it is up to its people to deterand investment, but to India, China
mine their future in a vote.
and Russia. China surpassed the U.S.
Many Scots are unconvinced. A
as Brazils biggest trading partner in
Comres poll for itv News found only
2009.
34 percent supported independence
Most of these relationships are
and 55 percent agreed that Scotlands
economic in nature among emerging
economy would suffer as an indepeneconomies. If Russia, for example, once
dent country.
eyed Cuba to buoy its political project
To convince doubters, Salmond is
close to the American border, today it
banking on his skill as an orator to
is inking energy deals and selling arms
tap into a centuries-old rivalry with
in Latin America because it finds willEngland and show that independence
ing partners and purchasers there.
would allow his country to pursue a
The flurry of investment in counmore distinct left-leaning agenda than
tries ranging from Venezuela to
its southern neighbor.
He has also won a major concession Bolivia helps to further undermine U.S.
from London to allow Scotland to low- global dominance in the region, a scenario that many leaders welcome today.
er the voting age to 16 from Britains
Chief among them is Mr.Chvez, who
countrywide 18a coup for Salmond
just won another six-year term in ofwho believes that young people are
fice, and his allies including President
more likely to vote in favor of indeEvo Morales in Bolivia and President
pendence.
Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua.
Nationalists have timed the 2014
Indeed, the anniversary of the
referendum to coincide with the 700th
Cuban missile crisis will likely provide
anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn when Scottish forces led by Robert an opportunity for the extreme left
the Bruce defeated English invaders. in Latin Americato express support

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OCTOBER 20, 2012

Welfare Spending Jumps 32 Percent in Four Years

Washington Times | October 18

elfare spending has grown substantially over the

past four years, reaching $746 billion in 2011or more
than Social Security, basic defense spending or any other
single chunk of the federal governmentaccording to a
new memo by the Congressional Research Service.
The steady rise in welfare spending, which covers more
than 80 programs primarily designed to help low-income
Americans, got a big boost from the 2009 stimulus and
has grown, albeit somewhat more slowly, in 2010 and 2011.
One reason is that more people are qualifying in the weak
economy, but the federal government also has broadened
eligibility so that more people qualify for programs.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, who requested the Congressional
Research Service report, said it underscores a fundamental
shift in welfare, moving away from a Band-Aid and toward
a more permanent crutch.

Overall, welfare spending as measured by obligations

has grown from $563 billion in fiscal 2008 to $746 billion in
fiscal 2011, or a jump of 32 percent.
By far the biggest item on the list is Medicaid, the
federal-state health program for the poor, which at $296
billion in federal spending made up 40 percent of all lowincome assistance in 2011. That total was up $82 billion
from 2008.
Several programs to funnel cash to the poor also ranked
high. Led by the Earned Income Tax Credit, Supplemental Security Income and the Additional Child Tax Credit,
direct cash aid accounts for about a fifth of all welfare.
Mr. Sessions staff on the Budget Committee calculated
that states contributed another $283 billion to low-income
assistancechiefly through Medicaid. Combined, that
means the federal and state governments spent $1.03 trillion on welfare programs.

amERIcanS
REcEIvInG FooDStampS

avERaGE BEnEFIt
pER amERIcan

(mILLIonS)

46.7

2012
40.3

2002

$134
$102

2008

26.5

2006

(PROJECTED)

2010

28.2

2008

$140

2012

(TO DATE)

2010

2004

(montHLy, $USD)

$95

2006

23.8

2004

19.1

2002
SOURCE: USDA

$86
$80
SOURCE: USDA

for Cuba, says Johns Hopkins Latin

American expert Riordan Roett. They
will be in solidarity about the survival
of the Castro brothers, Mr.Roett says.
That kind of defianceshowing
respect for a nation that for so long
the U.S. has considered a thorn in
its sidewould have been unthinkable 50 years ago. Before the Cuban
missile crisis, after the failed Bay of
Pigs invasion, the U.S. pressured Latin
American countries to suspend Cubas

membership from the Organization

of American States(oas). At the same
time, Cuba signed onto the nonaligned movement, and Brenner says
it was that move that the U.S. feared
other countries in Latin America
might follow. At the time, U.S. thinking on the movement was, you are
with us or you are against us.
The politics surrounding Cuba at
the oas highlights the declining influence of the U.S. in the region.Fifty

TW/Luis Prado from The Noun Project

The trumpet weekly

OCTOBER 20, 2012

years ago, the U.S. advocated Cubas

suspension and was successful; but
during the groups summit in April,
leaders across political spectrums said
they would question attending another
summit without Cuba at the table.
This comes from [Colombian
President Juan Manuel] Santos, our
most loyal ally in the region, says
Brenner. Cuba was once the pariah
state; it is now a linchpin for all the
other countries.

Reflections on a Battlefield

bombs fell.
t jarred me, the way those hulking
A short walk away is the Pacific War Memorial Murelics of war stood starkly against
seum. There I stared at the black-and-white portraits of the
the tropical foliage. Demolished,
officers who had orchestrated the offensives and compockmarked concretesurrounded
manded the troops. They seemed like superior men. Seriby beautiful, lush green plants. This is
ous, manly, steely, intelligentmen of character, men who
Corregidor, island of antithesis.
inspired men. I felt small.
This small island fortress in the
I tried to comprehend this conflicted past: noble and
Philippines was the scene of some of
brutal, crucial and futile, eternal and long-gone. These
joel hilliker
the most dramatic scenes of World
ruins impressed me with what men did here, yet I could
War ii. It simultaneously symbolizes bravery and betrayal,
not escape the whole truth: Like every battlefield, this was
humanity and hatred, strength and savagery.
just another horrid chapter in human war-making, another
Gazing across the scene, I was bombarded by these incon- place where high rhetoric clashes with the low things hugruous images and emotions. But the biggest collision in my
man beings do to each other.
mind was between the epic past and the uncertain present.
These ruins are oddly relevant to the present. Their holAfter it captured the island from Spain in 1898, the
lowed hulks evoke the decline of America. As Moses prophUnited States built a major military outpost on Corregidor. esied long ago, the pride of its power has been broken, and
The Rock bristled with
lies in rubble; only the
guns and mortars, a total
faades remain. Three
of 23 separate batteries.
generations after what
One of its massive guns
proved to be Americas
required an unbelievable
last unequivocal military
33 soldiers to discharge.
victory, the U.S. presMost of these impresence in the Philippines is
sive installations are still
only an echo. Americas
there. But now they are
reputation is mortally
skeletons bearing the
wounded; its ambition
garish scars of the horhas shrunk. Its unprecrors they endured.
edentedly superior miliOf those enormous
tary is oddly impotent
barracks filled with solagainst the most pitiful
diers, only empty conof threats.
crete shells remain, inI walked beyond the
terlaced with rebar that
memorial
museum to
Two impressive guns stand out against battle-worn concrete.
holds sagging chunks of
a rotunda. There I saw
staircases and walls aloft
words chiseled in stone
in twisted formations. Gaping holes and mounds of rubble
that finally reminded me of hope: Sleep my sons, your
mutely testify of the furious Japanese aerial bombardment. duty done for freedoms light has come. Sleep in the siThe ruins still reverberate with the voices of the
lent depths of the sea, or in your bed of hallowed sod, until
soldiers who occupied these structures, who manned
you hear at dawn the low, clear reveille of God.
these munitions. Every blast hole brings to mind the men
They will not have to wait for that dawn much longer.
whose bodies were also blasted and battered when the
Follow Joel Hilliker: Twitter

How the Government

Wasted Your Money
This Year
Kevin Glass, Townhall.com |
October 16
enator Tom Coburn released
the Wastebook 2012 today detailing the 100 most egregious wastes of
taxpayer money. The 200-page report
details waste in all manner of federal
spendingfrom multi-billion dollar

programs all the way down to a $300

grant to a small-town library for a Star
Wars-themed event. Its emblematic
of the waste found everywhere in the
federal budget.
Coburn details a $27 million U.S.
Agency for International Development program for pottery classes in
Morocco. The program, which has a
questionable premise in the first place,
was doomed due to incompetence and
mismanagement. Translators with a
questionable grasp of English were

TW

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10

OCTOBER 20, 2012

hired and used materials unavailable

to Moroccans. The inspector general
concluded that the program was ineffective and poorly implemented.
While the viral video of an Obama
supporter claiming to have received
a free phone may stretch credibility,
the truth is more real than you think.
There is in fact a federal program
aimed at providing free or reducedprice cell phone service. The cell
phone program, called Lifeline, has
exploded in recent years. The Lifeline

program now costs taxpayers $1.5 billion annually and subsidizes the cell
phone service of 16.5 million Americansand a survey found that almost
10 percent of all enrollees should not
even be eligible for the program.
The National Science Foundation
spent $30,000 to fund a study done
by the University of Washington and
Cornell Universitys to measure gaydarthe ability of people to identify
sexual orientation merely by appearance. The researchers confirmed that
gaydar exists, writing that participants were about 60 percent accurate
when attempting to identify sexual
orientation by appearance.
More from the report: Food stamps
for the deceased: The black liquor
loophole . Bridge to Nowhere 2 .
Millions for vineyards .
Coburn turns his sharpest guns
on his colleagues in the U.S. Senate
and U.S. House of Representatives.

to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

TheU.S. Drought Monitormaintained by usda, the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, indicates that63.55 percentof
the continental United States, which
excludes Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto
Rico, is in drought, which is a decrease from late September.
On September 25, 65.45 percent
of the continental United States was
experiencing drought, which was
thehighest percentage areasince the
start of 2000.
The Drought Monitor attributes the
slight decrease to increased rains in the
South and Eastern United States, as
well as the Great Plains and Midwest.
Brad Rippey, a usda meteoroloCNS News | October 17
gist, wrote that in spite of increased
lmost two thirds of the continenrainfall, more will be needed to,
tal U.S. is still experiencing drought ensure proper crop emergence and
conditions as of October9, according
establishment.

The report chastises Congress for the

high cost of merely being open despite
running one of the least productive
sessions in history. The Senate cast
fewer votes in 2012 thus far than any
year in decades. [M]any high school
student councils have been more
deliberative than the U.S. Senate. The
outrageous and wasteful contents
of this report were made possible by
either the action or lack of action of
Congress, earning it the well-deserved
but unwanted distinction as the biggest waste of taxpayer money in 2012.

Two Thirds of U.S. Still

in Drought

map of drought in America

NOAA/NWS/NCEP/CPC

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11

OCTOBER 20, 2012

leave from page 1

Now, for the first time in nearly 30 years, mainstream and

senior British leaders are speaking out against Europe!
Mr. Goves decision to break with that consensus
would be a moment of first-rate importance even if he
were acting on his own. But he reportedly has the
support of approximately half the Conservative
members of the Cabinet. Indeed there is even reason to
speculate that Mr. Gove, who is a close family friend of the
prime minister, may be acting as an outrider for Mr.Cameron (ibid).
This huge development will rock British politics, and
more significantly, Britains relationship with Europe. It
is clear that the Conservative Party has reached a turning point, wrote Oborne. Mr. Cameron has resolved

to risk detonating the European bomb, in the full

knowledge of the consequences.
Its hard to predict the details of how this will unfold.
However, what is certain is that the addition of senior
mainstream politiciansfrom the Cameron government,
no lessto the anti-EU bandwagon will give it much greater momentum. I reckon the education secretary and his
cabinet supporters are genuinely ready to try to take Britain
out of the European Union, confessed Oborne.
If you havent read it already, its time you read Britain
Was Warned! Momentous events are unfolding in Europe
and Britain, and its vital you understand exactly what is
happening. The Europe question is about to explode in
Britain, and when it does, as Mr. Oborne put it, it could all
be very bloody and horrible.

Britain Turns Away From Europe

for Britain to renegotiate its relationship with the EU or

walk out.
By Richard Palmer
Its not just British ministers that see that Britain and
he British government plans to opt out of 130 EuroEurope are heading for a split. Europes most powerful napean Union laws on crime, justice and policing, Home
tion, Germany, has also come around to the same view.
Secretary Theresa May announced on October 15. The euSpiegel Online reported how German Chancellor Angela
roskeptic Daily Express newspaper heralds the announceMerkel once went out of her way to keep Britain in Eument as Britains First Step to EU Exit.
ropebut not anymore. Merkels hopes for a Europe with
Theyre right. A large segment of the British public
Britain have now been dashed, it wrote. The German
has long been unhappy with Britains place in the EU.
government is convinced that the Euro Group will be the
But for years Britain continued to drift closer to Europe.
core of a new, more deeply integrated Europe. It wrote that
London gave Brussels more and more power over Britain the chancellor has long since come to terms with the fact
and even signed the Lisbon Treaty despite widespread
that there will no longer be a path back to the center of the
opposition.
union for the British.
Then, last December, this drift toward Europe stopped as
This reality doesnt just apply to financial integration.
Prime Minister David Cameron vetoed the fiscal pact. The
Last fall, the British blocked an attempt by the other 26
other EU nations
EU member states to
moved on, leaving
establish a joint headBritain behind.
quarters for military
Now, Britain has
missions, Spiegel
done more than
wrote. Now the plan
simply stop: It has
is to be revived and
reversed direction.
implemented, even
Its opting out of
against Londons rethe crime and justice
sistance, if necessary.
laws marks the
Its not just Britain
first time that any
that the Germans see
European nation has
going it alone. On the
backed away from
one side of the curever closer union.
rent divide is a hard
British Prime Minister David Cameron in front of a sign reading
Even the Financore of countries that
Britain Can Deliver at a convention in Birmingham, England.
cial Times, which
want to work together
called for Britain
more closely, said
to join the euro, endorsed the opt out, in a leader: Any
Spiegel. On the other side are countries like Great Britain,
government, especially a Tory one, has to acknowledge the
Denmark and Sweden, which are essentially condemned
EUs increasingly shaky legitimacy in the UKwhere polls to be spectators if they no longer wish to join the rest. The
suggest a majority want to withdraw from the union altodream of an expanding and more tightly integrated Greater
gether. Against this backdrop, to concede a further loss of
Europe is over.
national controlin such a sensitive area to an unaccountGermany has paused and waited for Britain to come
able courtwould invite a backlash.
along. Now, that wait is over: The Germans have commitThe opt out comes after eight cabinet ministers called
ted to moving on without them.

Getty Images

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OCTOBER 20, 2012