Endtime Magazine Jan-Feb 2013 | Page 28

WORLD REVIEW by Ginger Boerkircher 6TH TRUMPET WATCH US Aircraft Carrier Readies in Case of War The US aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis is a 100,000-ton floating city with a crew of 5,000 and a strike force of 70 jets. It was dispatched four months earlier than planned to bolster the United States Navy’s force in the Strait of Hormuz. Its mission is to keep shipping lanes open in the event that America’s standoff with Iran escalates into a crisis. Syria’s Assad Warns of Apocalyptic War Syrian President Bashar Assad has clarified his stance on the current Syrian crisis created by the West and some regional states and warned them of the apocalyptic consequences of any foreign intervention in Syria. “I think the price of a foreign invasion, if it happened, is going to be more than the whole world can afford,” Assad said. He warned that the domino effect of any military attack on the country “will affect the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific.” Iranian Cameraman Brings CIA Film of Nuclear Sites Hassan Golkhanban, the Iranian president’s personal cameraman, defected from his UN entourage in October after Ahmadinejad gave his UN speech. Gokhanban then gave US intelligence the most complete and updated footage it has ever obtained of the interiors of Iran’s top-secret military facilities and various nuclear installations, including some never revealed to nuclear watchdog inspectors. Russia Warns US on Missile Shield The Obama administration’s “phased adaptive approach” for European missile defense has a goal of deploying sophisticated interceptors in Poland by 2018. But Russia opposes the deployment saying it is a direct threat to its own long-range nuclear forces. Russia has threatened to deploy short-range Iskander ballistic missiles on borders 28 www.endtime.com JAN/FEB 2013 near Poland if the interceptors are fielded and there is no legally binding agreement governing their usage. HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE WATCH Tony Blair Urges EU to Elect a President Tony Blair has called on the European Union to consider carrying out continent-wide elections for a President of Europe. The former Labor prime minister, who has hinted in the past that he would consider taking the job, said an elected president would help voters feel less alienated from Brussels. Berlin: Europe’s New Capital While the German capital of Berlin has deliberately eschewed the trappings of imperial power, the fact is that Berlin is increasingly the de facto capital of the EU, according to a column in the Financial Times. The key decisions in the EU are increasingly being made in Berlin. The most important conversations take place with the German government and the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. This shift in power from Brussels to Berlin has been accelerated by the euro crisis. Referendum on New Britain-EU Deal Prime Minister David Cameron said that a referendum on Britain’s ties with the European Union would be the best way of agreeing on a fresh settlement with the 27-member bloc. “Europe is changing, the euro zone is going to integrate … it is necessary if they are going to save the single currency, bu