It’s already started. The mainstream is trying it’s level best to create some controversy about immigration. Trump has put Canada on notice, and I can’t help wondering how everybody’s feeling about it. I know Canadians are proud, but I’m pretty sure everywhere is going to be jealous.

The whole world is seeing what’s going on over here, and I can’t imagine they don’t want in. They’re going to see the exuberance of Americans and the nations are taking note. I get the feeling that the “save the planet” movement has taken its course. How can the planet be saved if China and India won’t play ball? Has anybody seen Al Gore lately?

Our heads may explode on January 20th. There are geniuses working to cut waste now. We thought we’d never see it. Everything was so entrenched that it was just the way things worked, and we didn’t know how it would end, but it wouldn’t be pretty. Is it dawning a new day?

The only thing I have to go by is the election of Ronald Reagan after four years of embarrassment. It was like someone turned on the afterburners. Business ramped up in a big way. It’s not nearly as bad now as it was during the Carter years, but it’s a different situation. But no less important.

The way we were going in the Carter years, we wouldn’t have lasted. Ronald Reagan turned things around in a way that has lasted through all these bad presidencies. At least the nation wasn’t completely destroyed yet. There was only so much they could do. But they’ve grown our bureaucracy until we thought it would never be put right. Hang on to your head.

With people as smart as the ones being chosen, it’s going to be fun. Liberal tears are like rain. And no doubt there will be showers in the months ahead. Donald Trump is already President. Decisions are being made, plans taken, and the other nations are taking notice. They can’t take advantage of us anymore. Sometimes it’s been hard to know if a president was even on our side. We don’t have to wonder anymore.

Our job, Dad’s job, was to chronicle the downfall of western civilizations and look toward prophetic fulfillment. But it looks like we’ve been granted a reprieve. Not to be complacent about it, on the contrary. We could see this whole thing go up like a firework if we don’t recognize the opportunity. We’ve been given another chance, and our children should know. We were so beat down by the media, so sure of themselves as they preached one false narrative after another. Notice how everything’s gone quiet?

They now know, if they didn’t before, that Americans are not buying what they’re trying to ram into our brains. We don’t believe in global warming or that we’re in an “existential crisis.” They can try that out on somebody else, it’s already fallen out of favor.

It’s been hard watching society in a mad rush for X-mas. But Santa didn’t save us. God had mercy on us.

Mark

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – December 27, 2024 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The jangle of X-mas is almost over. We can’t wait. Other than the Rose Parade in Pasadena, the beautiful weather, the Rose Bowl game. The whole thing seemed wholesome. All the people we listen to and read are off, and we’ll have to survive without them.  But I’m sure we’ll continue to be entertained.

Isn’t it something? God just bailed us out, and everybody can’t wait to dive right back into paganism.  I guess they don’t know any better, but we’ve been trying to give them a clue all these years.

Everything is in a state of flux in the Middle East. I remember hearing everything they’re saying, and that was longer ago than I care to remember. But the Arabs finally did it. They ran that sneak attack on a music festival, to their everlasting regret. They committed acts we don’t even want to know about, and acted like they’d won a victory. Now they’re either dead or getting pushed further and further back.

After 24 years Bashir Assad is gone from Syria. Word is that he fled to Russia, and it has been reported (the Sun) that he gave the Israelis targeting information in exchange for safe passage. We don’t know if that’s true, but there have been some huge explosions around Baghdad.

The war in Ukraine is terrible, and we’ll probably never know the extent of it.  Funny that that was one of the places where they apparently laundered money.  Who knows what corruption took place.  We don’t even want to know unless some who took advantage get entangled in some of the investigations that are coming. That would be alright.

Hopefully it’s a brighter day for America, now that we’ve got someone who cares. I was told many years ago that it was OK to have someone who was a millionaire in the White House. I think that was when Reagan beat Carter. We don’t need to worry about corruption if somebody’s already rich!  

Did I hear right? Did Nancy Pelosi break a hip? Things just keep getting more interesting. We have the smartest people alive helping with government waste, and we’re through saving the planet. As if it made any difference without the cooperation of India and China. No, we’re about to start drilling for oil! Trump says in his rallies that we’ve got more oil than Russia or Saudi Arabia, and it’s time we stopped buying it from third world countries.

The world is coming to grips with what a Donald Trump Presidency means.  Little Trudeau of Canada hopped a plane to visit Mar-a-Lago. He got told that he could be the governor of the 51^st state. I thought it was a joke, but it’s been said again.  

I hope we don’t buy Greenland or absorb Canada. But, what do I know? Seems to me we’ve got enough trouble already, and God has given us a way out. Let’s not waste it!

Mark

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – December 20, 2024 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

It turns out Nigel Farrage, mastermind of Brexit, is good buddies with Donald Trump. Problems that require money to fix are surmountable with Elon Musk on your side. Suddenly everyone is beating a path to Mar-a- Lago. Nobody wants to be on Trump’s bad side.  Some are probably sorry they came. Can you imagine the humiliation? Joe and Mika? Justin Trudeau? Everybody probably saw Trump’s retort to the worry that Canada won’t be able to pay tariffs. The problem is, he says, that Canada can’t survive the tariffs that are coming. Trump suggested that we buy it and make it the 51^st state. Trudeau was probably sorry he came. Even those that have been sneering every foul accusation in the book now want to be on the winning side. Funny how that works.

The whole world is looking at the success we’re about to have with new leadership, and everybody’s jealous. We’ve finally emerged from decades of mismanagement. It’s been a nightmare since Reagan left the scene. Fortunately he, Reagan, put us in a position to survive several presidencies that had interests higher than ours. What? Our greatest challenge is global warming?  Think again.

The whole world is realizing what’s happened in the United States, and they want in. We’re going to have to hold our heads with both hands as we hear some of the news that will be coming out.

For decades we’ve suffered under the brainchild of experts who say we’ve got a planetary emergency on our hands.  We suffer ridiculous regulations while the real polluters continue polluting.  China and India, you see, are developing nations, so they get a pass.

The idea of “America first” is taking hold, and it is an ideology that goes against all this planetary emergency stuff.  If we’ve got a planetary emergency, doesn’t that include China and India?  Why should the most civilized nations on earth be mandated to “save the planet” while others do what they want?  It’s never made sense, and doesn’t now.  It looks as though we’re about to experience a return to sanity after so many years of accepting the status quo.

We’ve been “saving the planet” for a long time now, and there was no end in sight. Putting America first is a bizarre idea, and it may be that it’s time has come. Immigration has become an American nightmare, but it’s not only here. Europe has been overrun. Our gadgets tell us of horrific crimes being committed by illegal aliens, and we are often treated to scenes we can hardly believe on the border.  Even the northern border is a concern.

Stand by.  We’re going to be finding out some mind-bending details about what our government has been doing without telling us.  We’re also going to be finding out the corruption in government that we knew nothing about. 

Suddenly somebody sees things the way we do.

We’re hearing that the French government has collapsed.  Eastern Europe is in a quandary.  South Korea announced marshal law, only to have a rebellion on their hands.  The Arabs are suing for peace.  It seems like a lot of the world’s problems are about to be solved.  Unless the powers that hold sway between now and January 25^th start WWIII.  

Mark

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – December 6, 2024 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

News of the shooting in a Copenhagen mall has circled the globe.  Maybe if they only had stricter gun laws this wouldn’t have happened.  Do you think somebody intent on killing people is going to care about the gun laws?  Lawful citizens already have to abide all kinds of regulations and federal “checks” to see that they’re in compliance.  Presumably the Copenhagen shooter fell through the cracks.  They’ll definitely need to pass more laws to see that this doesn’t happen again.

Here at home, the Supreme Court is driving the usual suspects crazy.  They struck down New York’s restrictive gun laws and the governor responded by making nearly everywhere someone might go a “gun-free zone.”  Would be shooters can reasonably expect that they’ll get no resistance if they go to one of those.

This morning we woke up to the news of the assassination of Shinzo Abe, former Prime Minster of Japan and by all accounts a great and humble man.  He was murdered by a homemade gun.  Mr. Abe appeared and gave an eloquent speech at Pearl Harbor on the occasion of the 75^th anniversary, expressing grief and sorrow for the attack against the men in the service and their loved ones.  He vowed, on behalf of Japan to never again resort to war, and promised to pursue a policy of peace.  But that doesn’t cover it. He praised the freedom of America and the American people, something apparently abhorrent to our embarrassment of an administration and the mainstream ideology.

Gun laws are extremely strict in Japan, so much so that the average person would never dedicate so much time and trouble to following the stringent regulations.  So this assassin just made them at home.  He claimed he was trying to kill someone else.  Either way, he was a fine man who rose above the visceral hatreds of the past and pledged peaceful cooperation on behalf of the Japanese people.  Donald Trump loved Abe and thought very highly of him.  That alone is enough to send liberals over the top with hatred, but they surely dare not express it right now.  It seems like every world leader you can think of has come out and expressed their profound respect and sorrow.

Also this week we have the resignation of Boris Johnson as the Prime Minister of the U K.  What a disappointment he turned out to be.  We thought he’d be the Donald Trump of England, and then suddenly he was all about climate change and coronavirus restrictions.  Then came the scandals, staples of British entertainment.  When all the ministers who had supported him through those trials resigned, he knew it was over and said so in a very good-natured resignation speech.  Apparently he will remain in office while succession is sorted out.  You don’t suppose EU membership will be revisited?

When you look around the world, the nations that we have counted on to be sane are in a kind of political limbo.  It’s hard to know what comes next in Israel.  Boris is now just a place-holder, Canada has the heavy handed governance of Trudeau, and he’s buddies with Mark Rutte of Holland.  They are both graduates of Klaus Schwab’s WEF.   As we all know, that outfit knows everything about everything, way more than you or me.  Especially when it comes to planetary survival.

We’ve reached the point where quoting the Declaration of Independence is an act of defiance against a government that has declared war on its citizens.  You know the maneuver that temporarily stopped the rising price of gas?  Strategic reserves were reportedly released on the world market and sold to China.  If there were brokers in between, we’ll find out sooner or later.  Probably later.

You’d think there was a five alarm emergency over the Supreme Court’s recent decision on Roe.  There’s gnashing of teeth and all manner of nonsense.  There should be a law!  Make it an executive order!  Several woke institutions want you to know that they’ll pay the travel and whatever other expenses for a woman who has to go out of state to procure “treatment.”  Meanwhile, the true believers are still chasing Supreme Court Justices around.

You’d not know if limited to the mainstream news, the Dutch farmers have mounted a rebellion against EU plans to save the planet.  It seems that they’ve got to cut nitrogen emissions, and that has all kinds of ramifications.  It’s not exactly leading the news, but word is getting out.  Police actually shot at a 16 year old driving a tractor around a roadblock.  The crowds in protest are vast.  It looks like the Dutch farmers have figured it out, and been pushed far enough.  What’s everybody going to eat when the farms are interfering with planet saving measures?  This climate-change farce looks like the bandwagon everyone has to get on, or else.  That, and gay and tranny nonsense, reparations for racism and vaccine mandates.

They think they can repeal the Laws of God if they can just get enough of us to go along.  If the mainstream media can just get most people to accept the logic put forth, then they’ll be happy knowing that rebellion against the Laws of nature is “universal.”  The blurred “pride” logo on network TV and the internet tells us it’s universal, and we’re responding out loud.  Not quite.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 8 July 2022 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Today is the day the mainstream has been dreading.  In actual fact, the abortion issue has been handed back to the states.  The 1973 ruling was invalidated as a matter of law.  The idea that the U. S. Constitution handed some sacred “right” to women was a fantastic reach in the first place.  Finally, nearly 50 years later, it’s been overturned.  Some “crowds” (to be charitable) have been parading, banging drums and chanting in front of the homes of Supreme Court Justices.  Who are these people?  Are they wearing masks outdoors for fear of COVID, or to hide their identities?

If the hard left gets its way, there will be all kinds of mayhem.  Nobody seems interested in prosecuting those trying to influence the decision, a crime though it may be.  They seem to be doing the dirty work we were promised.  Will it set off riots?  Maybe looting and burning?

It’s Trump’s fault, of course.  Him and his ultra-maga supporters.  Biden is mad,  Maxine Waters says they’re going to be out protesting in their thousands, or millions.  “We are going to make sure we fight for the right to control our own bodies.”  (Where was she during the mask mandate?)  They’ll defy the Supreme Court.  How, other than causing a ruckus, we’ll see.

Obama says the court has curtailed our freedoms.  Michelle is heartbroken.  It is a “horrifying decision.”  They’re both calling on people to join protests and give Planned Parenthood support.  The Justice Dept. says it will “use every tool at our disposal to protect reproductive freedom.”  It’s hard to know what that means, but the weeks ahead should give us some idea.   AOC is shown with her mouth wide open, talking about “birthing people” and  chanting with protesters.  I guess this is supposed to let us know she thinks men can get pregnant.  But sure enough, some states are announcing that abortion is illegal, as of today.

World leaders are appalled.  Especially Justin Trudeau of Canada.  He’s horrified and can’t imagine the fear and anger that it will cause.  Even Boris Johnson is bent out of shape.  Just when the whole world was seeing the light and liberalizing laws governing abortion.

It’s the second time this week they’ve seen the court rule against their  beloved philosophy.  First it struck down New York’s gun law.  So they were already ticked.  The abortion ruling though, just might drive them over the edge.  The police caught a guy who said he’d come to “kill Kavanaugh.”  No big deal, according to the mainstream media.  Hardly worth reporting.  But all bets are off as we wait to see how crazy the protesters will get.  This may well justify riots and looting.  Even if the rioters and looters don’t know what they’re mad about.  Riot police are staging outside the Supreme Court, just in case.  But not everybody is down in the dumps.  Some are celebrating.  Trump says to God be the glory.

What ever happened to Ukraine?  It’s not in the news much lately.  The last thing we heard was that we were going to send billions of dollars and more.  Apparently Russia has had to call in troops that were stationed in other hot spots.  Some are worried that this thing may drag on and that other countries may get involved causing an escalation that may get out of control.  We hope they’re wrong.

Meanwhile UN officials are warning of food shortages.  The pope is hinting at resignation.  Maybe he’s done enough damage.  The American economy is reeling from inflation being driven by the  pretend administration’s war on oil.  They want you to know there’s nothing more they can do.  But at least something’s gone right today.    Have a great Sabbath.

Mark

P.S. The new Feast brochures are printed and will be going out with the next letter, probably Monday or Tuesday.

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 24 June 2022 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

BERLIN — On the last Saturday in February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gathered with his top advisers in his vast, glass-walled office and read aloud a speech condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — remarks that would transform his nation’s security and defense policy.

As he queried particular phrases in the draft, his advisers proposed alternatives. Scholz, 63, who has known his nation only at peace, was desperate to avert a third world war, said a senior German official who, like others close to the chancellor, spoke on the condition of anonymity to recount private discussions. Initially, that concern made Scholz reluctant to speak of armaments, above all sending weapons to Ukraine.

But when aides presented the chancellor with the question of arming Ukraine directly or simply releasing German-made weapons purchased by partner nations, a request being weighed the same day, he approved both — assessing that sufficient support existed within his government and party to jettison Germany’s long-standing aversion to exporting weapons into conflict zones.

In the course of the deliberations that day, the chancellor also resolved to make explicit how Germany would develop its arsenal to guard against a widening conflict. The country, whose wars of conquest in the previous century had made the projection of military power verboten, would in effect become the world’s third-largest military spender, not only bolstering NATO deployments but strengthening the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, with procurements including new armed drones and fighter jets.

“He’s aware of what that means,” said an aide involved in the discussions. “That with growing abilities will also come growing demands and expectations.”

The challenge remained to find the words to announce these policies without alarming the public, recalled Scholz advisers. “We are also doing this for us, for our own security,” the chancellor said in the final version of the speech, which he delivered that Sunday to the German parliament. He declared Russia’s invasion three days earlier, on Feb. 24, a “Zeitenwende,” or “turning of an era.”

As over 100,000 rally for Ukraine, Germany announces vast defense spending increase that may upend European security policy

Scholz’s carefully crafted speech signals his approach to taking the reins of government in a crisis — cautious and calculating, constrained by history. The test is whether the same approach can steer his country through a national security transformation and into a more active and confident role on the world stage.

“Scholz sleepwalked into the crisis, seemingly never thinking it would actually happen, but has now brought about Germany’s most significant U-turn since 1989,” said Peter Wittig, a former German ambassador to the United States, referring to the fall of the Berlin Wall. “The chancellor said, ‘Germany needs hard power.’ ”

But decisions made in crisis can be difficult to sustain, Wittig said. Already Berlin is facing intensifying criticism from Ukrainian officials for not doing enough to export arms. And some in Scholz’s party say his security commitments are unrealistic.

In this new era for Germany, marked by the return of land war to Europe, the past casts a long shadow. When Scholz led his Social Democratic Party to victory in last fall’s elections, he inherited the mantle of German chancellors with complex ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Angela Merkel, a fluent Russian speaker raised in Germany’s former communist east, was a frequent interlocutor for Putin, pressing him on issues ranging from migration to human rights. She also steered the Normandy Format talks — among France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia — that helped broker a 2014 cease-fire agreement in the contested Ukrainian region of Donbas.

Scholz, who had been finance minister and vice chancellor in Merkel’s final coalition government, positioned himself as her natural heir. She was among those he consulted in preparing to meet with Putin in February.

Now, Merkel’s legacy is coming under new criticism. The center-right chancellor supported the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, bucking U.S. recommendations and deepening her country’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels. She also favored dialogue with Putin over more forceful measures. She counseled President Barack Obama against sending lethal aid to Ukraine when he sought her advice in 2014 and 2015, according to current and former German diplomats familiar with the conversations.

Germany, urged to ‘stop Putin’s war machine,’ resists embargo on Russian energy

At the same time, Merkel “had no illusions about Putin’s ruthlessness,” said a former German diplomat.

That sets her apart from Gerhard Schröder, the chancellor before her, whose refusal to relinquish board seats on Russian energy companies has made him persona non grata in Scholz’s party, which he twice led to victory, in 1998 and 2002. His deference to Putin has also threatened to discredit Germany’s broader policy of Ostpolitik, the normalization of relations with the East, pioneered by the Social Democrats in the 1970s.

Schröder’s access to strongmen in Eastern Europe and Western Asia has at times proved useful to his government. In 2017, he helped persuade Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to release a detained human rights activist, said Ulrich Brandenburg, a former German ambassador to Russia. But the 77-year-old’s trip last month to Moscow yielded no results, according to German officials, who said he is acting independently. In a speech last month, Schröder spoke of “many mistakes on both sides.”

The legacy of his predecessors is hard for Scholz to escape, said Pavlo Klimkin, a former Ukrainian foreign minister and ambassador to Germany. “Under moral and political pressure, Scholz is clearly trying to exit this friendly mentality to Russia,” Klimkin said.

What you need to know about Olaf Scholz

The chancellor’s mentality already differed from that of his predecessors, his allies say.
Scholz, a onetime vice president of the International Union of Socialist Youth who criticized the “aggressive-imperialist NATO,” increased Germany’s defense budget when he served as finance minister in Merkel’s cabinet. In 2018, his role in selecting a new foreign minister caused blowback in his center-left party when his pick took a tough line on Russia, accusing the Kremlin of defining itself in opposition to the West. Scholz and others faced internal recriminations, associates said, for advocating what one person called a “Europe First” agenda.

Some within Scholz’s party are still skeptical of such an agenda. Ralf Stegner, a Social Democratic lawmaker and member of the foreign affairs committee, said security in Europe is possible only “with Russia, not against Russia.”

Philipp Türmer, deputy chairman of the Social Democratic Party’s youth organization, said a better-equipped military is a necessity. But “abstract aims of military expansion,” including the NATO commitment of spending 2 percent of economic output on defense, “don’t make sense,” said Türmer, who holds the same position at the youth organization, called Jusos, that Scholz once did.

In the short term, “the party will remain united around Scholz and this goal,” said Nils Schmid, a lawmaker and foreign policy spokesman for Scholz’s Social Democrats in parliament. Then, he said, the chancellor will have to “spell out exactly which projects and which purchases are needed.”

The path is uncharted in a country without a national security council or a well-supplied military. Germany’s army chief took to LinkedIn in the early hours of Russia’s invasion to warn that the country’s armed forces were “more or less powerless.”

Power is what Scholz decided his country needed, after diplomacy failed to bring Putin back from the brink.

During his February visit to Moscow, the chancellor accepted sparkling wine from his Russian counterpart. But when Scholz asked the Russian president, “Mr. Putin, can you assure me that once I leave Moscow, that’s not the moment your fighter jets start to invade Ukraine?” Putin gave no answer, according to someone briefed on the conversation.

Scholz says response to Russia will be ‘united and decisive’ if Ukraine is invaded

A week before Russia’s invasion, when the leader of an allied nation asked Scholz on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference what he thought the probability was that Putin would give the order to attack, on a scale from 1 to 10, the chancellor refused to make a prediction, according to a person familiar with the exchange. Scholz also demurred when pressed to counter early Russian hostilities, most notably resisting calls to halt Nord Stream 2 — before reversing course and preventing certification of the controversial project.

Scholz has told associates since his Feb. 27 speech that German power means not only national defense but also economic prosperity and the cultural factors that make Germany an attractive place to live.

A majority of the public backs sending arms to Ukraine, according to recent polling, a reversal from earlier this year during Russia’s military buildup, when surveys showed that most Germans still opposed weapons deliveries.

But public confidence is at a low ebb. Only 19 percent of Germans are optimistic about the near future, the lowest share since 1949, according to a March poll by the Allensbach Institute. “The population is in shock,” wrote the institute’s managing director.

Scholz’s calls with Putin since the invasion have been carefully coordinated with European allies, the United States and Ukraine. “It is the Ukrainians that need to call the shots,” said the senior German official, so no one will “betray them, even accidentally.”

Ukrainian assessments of German leadership are already laced with a sense of betrayal, especially after evidence of civilian massacres emerged from Bucha. Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, said last weekend that Scholz “finally has to take on this leadership role” and advance tougher sanctions.

In Bucha, the scope of Russian barbarity is coming into focus

Norbert Röttgen, a lawmaker from Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, accused Scholz of pursuing a “policy of deliberate halfheartedness.” Scenes from Bucha demand the chancellor make good on his language about a new era, Röttgen said.

“A ‘Zeitenwende’ requires much more than just a defense fund,” said the lawmaker, a former chairman of the foreign affairs committee. “The government has to deliver on its promise that everything fundamentally has changed.”

In a Wednesday appearance before lawmakers, Scholz defended his government’s arms shipments, saying Germany was sending everything it could. He stressed that shipments were being coordinated with NATO, in response to questions about a Ukrainian request for 100 German infantry vehicles. That request was relayed to Scholz and his team by Wladimir Klitschko, the Ukrainian celebrity and former professional boxer, during a visit to Berlin last week, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting. A Ukrainian official declined to comment.

Ukraine presses NATO for immediate aid: ‘Weapons, weapons, weapons’

Despite the decision to send arms into a conflict zone, said a senior German diplomat, “our history doesn’t go away. You will see a careful approach in foreign policy.” The foremost task, according to the diplomat, is to “hold Europe together.”

And that falls to Scholz. “He is the center of power, even in a parliamentary system,” the diplomat said.

Parts of the German media doubt he has what it takes. The chancellor, wrote a columnist in the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung, embodies his country’s problems: “weak in leadership, self-centered and helpless.”

That assessment, say Scholz’s allies, is contradicted by his success in overturning decades of foreign policy consensus in a single weekend, and bringing his three-party coalition government along with him. “He’s proactive and pushy,” said Schmid, the lawmaker and foreign policy spokesman. “He wants to see things implemented.”

At 5 feet and 7 inches, Scholz is not an imposing presence. When he was mayor of Hamburg, from 2011 to 2018, he used to row before cabinet meetings on Alster Lake. Now, he uses an indoor water rower — or else runs two times a week. Despite his serious manner, he has a mischievous, high-pitched laugh, say associates, and aides address him with the informal pronoun “du,” instead of the professional “Sie.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, a longtime advocate of greater European military cooperation, has staked out a more high-profile role rallying the continent behind the Ukrainian cause. Biden went to Warsaw to proclaim a new “battle for democracy.” Scholz is less comfortable standing at a lectern than he is sitting at a conference table. “He’s someone who knows his briefing book,” said the senior German diplomat.

After call with Putin, Macron convinced that ‘the worst is yet to come’ and that Russia wants to take all of Ukraine

That attitude also shapes Scholz’s engagement with fellow leaders. He feels especially aligned with Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said the senior German official, who added, “Olaf Scholz is not the guy who bonds in a way that they’re best buddies and drinking, but I think they all click politically.”

Scholz’s advisers have benefited from strong ties with Biden’s team, said senior officials in Berlin.

Scholz’s closest confidant, Wolfgang Schmidt, the chancellery chief of staff who has the rank of a cabinet minister, speaks regularly to William J. Burns, the CIA director, who was in Berlin last month. Scholz’s chief economic adviser, Jörg Kukies, a former Goldman Sachs banker, works with Daleep Singh, a deputy national security adviser handling sanctions. And foreign policy adviser Jens Plötner consults with Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser.

The chancellor’s advisers hope Biden’s leadership role in responding to Russian aggression might help him win over Trump supporters who crave American strength. And they’re even inclined to help. One adviser mused about Scholz and Macron, who is up for reelection this month, traveling to the United States and reaching out to American voters.

“They could go to where the F-35 is produced,” said the adviser, referring to the combat aircraft, which is made in Fort Worth and which Germany has promised to buy. “And they could say, ‘That’s your leader who made this happen.’ ”

Vanessa Guinan-Bank contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/08/olaf-scholz-germany-russia-ukraine/

The post Embracing military power, Olaf Scholz tries to lead Germany into a new era first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Analysts are starting to wonder aloud whether Putin is winning the war in Ukraine.  We see that some territory has been reclaimed, and a Russian ship blown up near Odessa.  But the refugees are streaming out, and the radio tells us we’ll get 100,000 of them here in the U. S.  It’s hard to know what or who to believe with the news coming constantly.  It’s hard to see Vladimir calling the whole thing off and declaring victory.  But everybody is nervous.  By everybody, we’re talking about all the current and former politicians who were using the country as a corrupt piggy bank.

Justin Trudeau got told off to his face in the Canadian parliament.  It looked like he might have been crying.  Hard to tell with his mask covering most of his face, but he didn’t look happy. He got told off again, called a dictator and asked, politely, to “spare us your presence” at the meetings in Brussels where world leaders have convened to talk about the war in Ukraine.  Too bad Gavin Newsome wasn’t there.

All the airline execs have signed a letter saying the mask mandate on airplanes is a burden upon employees who were never trained as enforcement agents.  Airlines have hospital-grade filtered air on their airplanes, and many of the contentious episodes resulting in passengers being removed from flights and charged with crimes is because stewardesses, uglier than ever, are now barking orders instead of serving drinks.  It’s not about a disease, it’s all about control.

Gas prices are near record levels.  There’s little debate as to why, although we’ve been programmed to blame everything on Putin’s invasion.  The government response has been, not to release the oil companies to drill proven reserves, but to try and buy oil from the likes of Venezuela and producers in the Middle East.  Not to mention drawing down our national reserves.  But they’ve got another idea.  Why not issue government sponsored credit cards that people can use to buy gas?  Inflation?  Anybody?  We certainly wouldn’t want to irritate the squad!

We hope you’ve seen the woman at the swim meet.  About the large guy in a girl’s swimsuit she said, “I’m a woman, and that’s not a woman.”  Some idiot from a couple rows below says, “What are you, a biologist?”  She says, “No, and I’m not a vet, but I know a dog when I see one.”  Maybe you’ve already seen the exchange, but it’s still funny.  They asked the Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji if she could define what a woman is, and she said she couldn’t, she’s not a biologist.  We don’t need to see how she’ll vote on every issue before the High Court, everything will be totally predictable.

Wouldn’t it be something if the world is plunged into war, and U. S. leadership is utterly compromised from the outset.  You wonder when the information we Americans are finding out will ever be recognized by the mainstream.  They’re supposed to be telling us what is going on, but it looks like they’re the last to know.  Even when nearly everybody (who’s paying attention) knows the answer, the mainstream has never heard the question.

Nobody could write a novel containing all that is afoot in high places. Who’d believe it?  If somebody wrote a true rendition about what’s transpiring in our daily news, it would seem too fictional.  But it’s our reality in 2022.  Maybe some of this nightmare can be turned around, we surely hope so.  On the other hand, it could get worse.  With the U. S. fighting for the Western “values,” and the corruption that has taken place in high places it’s difficult to say who the good guys are.  All this is certainly not the fault of Ukrainian civilians.  It’s not our fault either.  We don’t believe that a man can put on women’s clothes, and presto!  Everyone is at pains to call it a girl, or suffer the wrath of social media, the corporations and the mainstream.  That’s one of the “values” that’s being fought over.  One thing we know for sure, you can’t imbibe too much tribulation without an emotional reaction.  We just don’t know who all we should be mad at.  None of this is going without notice.  May God’s Will be done in His time.  Propaganda means nothing to Him.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 25 March 2022 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post ‘This is terrifying’: What Justin Trudeau is doing in Canada is ‘insane’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

We’re placed on edge by the minute.  There’s about to be a WAR!  Putin has determined to invade Ukraine last Wednesday and the U. S. is talking mighty tough.  There will be sanctions like they’ve never seen.  We’ll bulk up military readiness in the surrounding NATO countries and send more ammo to the Ukrainians.  Most of all we’ll think of nothing else.  Especially not that little criminal court filing that confirms spying against the former President.

That’s just a distraction, we’re told.  The REAL problem is…

There’s a war of information going on at a very critical time in world events.  Everybody demands the final say on what is and isn’t true.  The government and the media are speaking with one voice, no matter what the subject.  Many of us have seen what they’ve been saying and doing for several years now, and have lost trust, if not interest.

Now there’s one incident after another of shelling in Eastern Ukraine, with the culprit in dispute.  Maybe there will be some battles, if not a war, after all.  Or maybe Vladimir has a point.  He doesn’t want missiles within no more than several minutes from the Russian Capitol.  Think Cuban missile crisis.  The media says little if anything about it.

Special Prosecutor Durham has made criminal court indictments against Clinton campaign lawyers which confirm hacking, spying and possibly the planting of false evidence in order to get a big investigation started, which took hold of nearly every three letter agency and led to “serious concerns” on the part of every media outlet.  Crooked says it’s a “distraction.”

Let’s get visceral about the mandates and the lock downs and demand the government “do more” to make sure there is universal compliance.  Just as the illness burns itself out, we have to come down on one side or the other of government authority.

It’s probably wrong of us to notice, but have you ever seen so many fall over unconscious while expressing how great they feel about complying?  Somebody somewhere has to have a sense of humor.  When you see a stand-up funny lady bragging about how many times she’s been vaxed and boosted, and then say, “Jesus loves me more than anybody else,” just before banging her head on the floor and being rushed to the hospital, now that’s FUNNY!  But it’s not the only example.  I don’t know when we’ve seen so many sports competitors collapse on the field, news people keel over, sometimes while advocating for more stringent mandates.  It’s just a coincidence, mind you.

We’ve watched in disbelief the woke dictator of Canada get tough on naysayers.  It’s not going over very well.  He’s invoked emergency powers, and expects the police and the banks to play along,  and they just might.  But is this really about the virus anymore? There will be no defiance!  The government will destroy you!

Meanwhile, there’s been a destructive attack against a Canadian pipeline that wrecked trucks and buildings.  Haven’t heard?  Figures.

But here’s where the rubber meets the road.  A lady in Finland, a religious teacher, apparently asked whether it was a good idea for the government to be involved in a “gay pride” parade.  She included some Bible verses in her e-mail.  Now she faces up to two years in prison, because the verses she quoted are regarded as “hate speech” in Finland.  Notice, the verses she quoted are not being included in any of the reporting.  There’s a reason for that, and it’s surprising that they want to bring this thing to a head.  But now it’s on.  The Word of God strongly condemns homosexuality, both in the New Testament and the Old.  Political correctness wasn’t being practiced at the time of writing, and it’s highly likely that many will find the Biblical language unsettling, to say the least.

We don’t know which verse it might have been, but none are mistakable.  They are blatant.  The government in Finland regards it as “hate speech.”  That’s where we are.  The Word of God is hate-speech.  This case will reverberate around the world.  From what we’ve seen mainstream Christianity will probably agree, to their everlasting shame.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 18 February 2022 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has argued that the protests, which have snarled traffic in cities and at the border, did not meet the standard to have invoked the Emergencies Act.

“The Emergencies Act can only be invoked when a situation ‘seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada’ & when the situation ‘cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada,’” it said on Twitter.

“Governments regularly deal with difficult situations, and do so using powers granted to them by democratically elected representatives. Emergency legislation should not be normalized. It threatens our democracy and our civil liberties,” the association added.

Trudeau on Monday invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act, which gives the federal government broad powers to restore order.

It threatened to tow away vehicles to keep essential services running; freeze truckers’ personal and corporate bank accounts; and take further action to strike at their livelihoods and the sources of their financial support.

“Consider yourselves warned,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told the “Freedom Convoy” members.

“If your truck is used in these blockades, your corporate accounts will be frozen. The insurance on your vehicle will be suspended. Send your rigs home,” Freeland added.

Some groups have approved of the measure, calling it “responsible” and “a good strategy,” but others have condemned it as government overreach, Fox News reported.

Lori Williams, a politics professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary told Reuters that “there’s the danger this could create more problems,” adding: “That’s why this has to be done with the cooperation of premiers and if they don’t want help, then the federal government needs to hang back.

“It has to be very targeted, very strategic and very restrained, because these are enormous powers that are being implemented,” she said.

Leah West, an assistant professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, said: “The federal government must consult with provinces and Cabinet must believe the protests rise to the level of a national emergency.

“Can it truly be said the security of Canada is threatened by largely non-violent protests? Certainly, our sovereignty and territorial integrity are not at risk,” she said in a tweet.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault said that imposing the act risks putting “oil on the fire” by further polarizing the population and argued that local authorities in the province have the situation under control.

“I was very clear with the Prime Minister that the federal emergency act must not apply in Quebec. I think we don’t need it. I think that at this moment it would not help the social climate,” Legault told reporters, according to Reuters.

“There’s a lot of pressure right now and I think we have to be careful. So it’s about time we put all Quebecers together. But I can understand that enough is enough in Ottawa. You can protest but you cannot do what they are doing since two weeks,” he said.

In Manitoba, Premier Heather Stefanson said she believed that “the sweeping effects and signals associated with the never-before-used Emergencies Act are not constructive here in Manitoba, where caution must be taken against overreach and unintended negative consequences.

“While the situation is very different in Ontario, this ultimate federal legislation should only be considered on a measured and proportional basis, in locations where it is truly needed,” Stefanson told reporters.

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said: “I’ll support the federal government and any proposals they have to bring law and order back to our province, to make sure we stabilize our businesses and trade around the world as the world is watching us right now, wondering if it’s a stable environment to open up businesses and expand businesses.

“These occupiers, they’re doing the total opposite what they say they’re there to do. They’re hurting hundreds of thousands of families, millions of jobs across the province,” he told reporters.

Goldy Hyder, CEO of the Business Council of Canada told Reuters: “We recognize the gravity of the federal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act. Having called on the federal government to show national leadership, we welcome this as a step toward ending illegal blockades across the country and upholding the rule of law.”

Phil Boyle, associate chair for legal studies at the University of Waterloo called it “an interesting strategic move there to go after the money. That seems appropriate.

“One of the things that worked in Windsor, with the Ambassador Bridge, was the threat of taking away their licenses. If your livelihood depends on license, you’re going to think twice before putting that at risk. So that might very well work with the case of Ottawa,” Boyle told Reuters.

“No doubt there will be some litigation to come of this, considering it’s never been done before… If these emergency measures are targeted within a particular province… Trudeau would only do it if he had the relevant province on board. Maybe that would lessen the potential for litigation,” he said.

“I wonder, how does this Federal emergencies order square with the (Ontario) provincial emergencies order that was just ordered on Friday? I don’t think we’ve ever been in a situation where both the provincial and the federal government have, at the same time, invoked extraordinary emergency measures,” Boyle added.

For more than two weeks, hundreds and sometimes thousands of protesters in trucks and other vehicles have clogged the streets of Ottawa, the capital, and besieged Parliament Hill, railing against vaccine mandates for truckers and other COVID-19 precautions and condemning Trudeau’s Liberal government.

With Post wires

Source: https://nypost.com/2022/02/15/canada-pm-justin-trudeau-slammed-for-invoking-emergency-powers/

The post Canada PM Justin Trudeau slammed for invoking emergency powers to stop protests first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.