APRIL 11, 2014

1

THE TRUMPET WEEKLY THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
A P R I L 1 1 , 2 0 1 4
Pity the Palestinians? 2
Putin warns of gas cut 4
Russia decoupling trade from dollar 6
Vote yes or die 7
NSA is reading Americans e-mails after all 9
BY JEREMIAH JACQUES
F
oiiowic . short respite, parts of eastern Ukraine are
once again at the boiling point.
Pro-Russian demonstrators have taken over govern-
ment facilities, and have even declared the formation of a
new peoples republic in the Donetsk region. Activists there
asked Vladimir Putin to send in peacekeeping troops, and
.1o released shocking satellite images on Tuesday showing
that Russia is well-positioned to fulll the request.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government seems to have
restored a degree of stability in Kharkiv, but not in Lugansk
or Donetsk.
Te situation is fraught with tension, and the : million-
ruble question remains the same it has been since Moscow
brought Crimea back to the motherland: Will Mr. Putin go
further, seizing more territory in Ukraine or other parts of
Eastern Europe:
In an interview with theTrumpet.com, Lithuanian
Ambassador to the United States and Mexico ygimantas
Pavilionis said he thinks Putin may not stop grabbing up
Eastern European turf unless the West stands up to him.
Putin is not nished, the ambassador said from his
Washington, D.C., oce
Lithuanian Ambassador:
Putin Is Not Finished
see AMBASSADOR page 12
Lithuanian Ambassador to the United States
and Mexico ygimantas Pavilionis
APRIL 11, 2014
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THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
MIDDLE EAST
Hamas Not a Terror
Group
ARUTZ SHEVA | April 7
T
ui P.iis1ii. Authority, con-
trolled by the Fatah terror group, is
once again trying its hand at uni-
cation with its sister terror group,
Hamas. As a sign of Fatahs goodwill,
Saeb Erekat, the PAs top negotiator
and a senior member of the Palestine
Liberation Organization, called on
Hamas to implement all previous
agreements with Fatah in order to
ght together against Israel.
Hamas and Fatah have been at odds
since :oo,, when Hamas took over the
Gaza Strip, booting out Fatah, which
retreated to Palestinian Authority-
controlled areas of Judea and Samaria.
Centered in Ramallah, Fatah has
sought to regain control of Gazaand
is willing to reconcile with Hamas, if
that is what it takes.
I hereby declare, in the make of
President Mahmoud Abbas and the
directorate of Fatah, that Hamas is
a Palestinian movement, and is not
and never was a terror group, Erekat
added.
Pity the Palestinians?
Norman Podhoretz, WALL STREET
JOURNAL | April 9
P
vovoxiu nv the predictable col-
lapse of the farcical negotiations
forced by Secretary of State John Kerry
on the Palestinians and the Israelis, I
wish to make a confession: I have no
sympathynonefor the Palestin-
ians. Furthermore, I do not believe
they deserve any.
Tis, of course, puts me at daggers
drawn with the enlightened opinion
that goes forth from the familiar tri-
umvirate of the universities, the main-
stream media and the entertainment
industry. For everyone in that world
is so busy weeping over the alleg-
edly incomparable suerings of the
Palestinians that hardly a tear is lef
for the tribulations of other peoples.
And so all-consuming is the universal
rage over the supposedly monumental
injustice that has been done to the
Palestinians that virtually no indigna-
tion is available for any other claimant
to unwarranted mistreatment.
In my unenlightened opinion, this
picture of the Palestinian plight is
nothing short of grotesquely dispro-
portionate. Let me leave aside the
Palestinians who live in Israel as Is-
raeli citizens and who enjoy the same
political rights as Israeli Jews (which is
far more than can be said of Palestin-
ians who live in any Arab country),
and let me concentrate on those living
[in] the West Bank.
In Syria, untold thousands of fellow
Arabs are starving, while according
to the United Nations ocial on the
I
v Iv. drags its feet in ongoing nuclear talks, the EU is
OK with that. Such was the essence of EU Foreign Policy
Chief Catherine Ashtons recent statements at the outset of
current negotiations over a nuclear deal. In exchange for
lifing sanctions on Iranwhich Europe and the United
States have already doneIran is required by July :o to
agree on long-term limitations to its nuclear work. But Ash-
ton said the EU will take the time that is necessary to get
this to be the right agreement. In other words, Europe is
prepared for Iran to drag the negotiations past the deadline.
It is possible that Europes sof stance is fueled by naivete,
but it could also be a calculated tactic. Either way, the result
may prove instrumental in deploying a German-led Euro-
pean army on the world stage.
To get a clearer idea of Europes position in these talks,
project forward to this time next year, and consider a
very likely scenario: Suppose that for most of :o:, the six
powers negotiating the nuclear deal with Iran have oered
concession afer concession in hopes of convincing Iran
not to develop nuclear weapons. During this time, Iran
has continuously given lip service to its shared hope for
a diplomatic agreement. Sanctions have remained scaled
back, and, using its space program as a cover for ballistic
missile work, Iran has made great strides toward perfecting
its nuclear weapons delivery system. Finally, Iran invents
some grievance as a pretext for withdrawing from negotia-
tions, and kicks UN inspectors out of the country. Iran
then returns to enriching uranium using those centrifuges
that never stopped spinning. Iran conducts a successful
nuclear weapons test, and announces that it has success-
fully integrated this weapon with its ballistic missile tech-
nology. Te worlds tiny nuclear club suddenly has another
very volatile member.
With southern Europe in range of Irans nuclear-armed
ballistic missiles, the EU stares into the face of a grim
new threat. Iranians would appear to have achieved their
goal of becoming the Middle Easts undisputed regional
hegemon. But would Germany and the EU really accept
that outcome: In this highly probable geopolitical scenario,
a German-led European military alliance would nd itself
positioned as the only power on Earth possessing all three
requirements needed to reverse the Iranian threat: capabil-
ity, incentive and will.
Whether wittingly or not, Europe may be setting itself
up for a spectacular betrayal by Iran. When that happens,
with America out of the picture and with a fanatical regime
aiming nukes at the Continent, Europe would suddenly feel
an urgent need to take military action.
Is Iran Setting Itself Up for an Attack?
Don Jacques | April 9
APRIL 11, 2014
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THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
scene in South Sudan, ,., million
people, amounting to one third of the
population, are now facing imminent
death by starvation. And the Pales-
tinians: True, when they wish to go
from the West Bank into Israel proper,
they are forced to stop at checkpoints
and subjected to searches for suicide
vests or other weapons in the terrorist
arsenal. Once, when she was secretary
of state, Condoleezza Rice bemoaned
the great inconvenience and humili-
ation inicted by such things on the
poor Palestinians. Yet she had noth-
ing to say about Palestinians dying of
starvation on the West Bank, for the
simple reason that there were none to
be found.
Nor did anyone starve to death in
Gaza when it too was under Israeli oc-
cupation. And despite propaganda to
the contrary, neither is anyone facing
the same fate in Gaza today because of
the blockade the Israelis have set up to
prevent clandestine shipments of arms
intended for use against them.
Speaking of Gaza, it can serve as a
case study of the extent to which the
plight of the Palestinians has been
self-inicted. Tus when every last
Israeli was pulled out of Gaza in :oo,,
some well-wishers expected that the
Palestinians, now in complete control,
would dedicate themselves to turning
it into a free and prosperous country.
Instead, they turned it into a haven for
terrorism and a base for ring rockets
into Israel.
Meanwhile little or nothing of
the billions in aid being poured
into Gazasome of it from wealthy
American Jewish donorswent to
improving the living conditions of the
general populace.
As for the monumental injustice
supposedly done to the Palestinians, it
consists largely of losing territory in the
war they themselves provoked in :o,,
and the refusal of their demand that
every inch of it be returned to them by
the Israeli victors in that war.
Te accompanying and equally
great injustice allegedly suered by
the Palestinians is that they have been
denied a state of their own. But this
hardly qualies as unique, given that
dozens of other ethnic groupsthe
Kurds being the most prominentare
in the same boat.
In any event, this injustice is
also self-inicted, since three times
in the past :, years the Palestinians
have refused oers of a state on most
of the territory taken by Israel in :o,
and with Jerusalem as its capital. Tey
have justied these refusals by one
pretext or another, but as anyone will-
ing to look can see, what they truly
want is not a state of their own living
side-by-side with Israel but a state that
replaces Israel altogether.
With this we come to the main
reason I believe that the Palestinians
do not deserve any sympathy, let alone
the astonishing degree of it they do
receive (and not least from many of
my fellow Jews). It is that ever since
the day of Israels birth in :8, they
have never ceased declaring that their
goal is to wipe it o the map. In all
other contexts, this would be called
by its rightful name of genocide and
condemned by all decent people. Yet
here we go topsy-turvy againfor any
and every step Israel takes to defend
itself against so shamelessly evil an
intent, it is the Israelis who are obses-
sively condemned .
Evidence of Rouhanis
Moderate Rule?
HUFFINGTON POST | April 4
M
.v Iv.i. citizens who voted
for the moderate cleric Has-
san Rouhani believed that he would
deliver on his promises in improving
the standards and conditions of hu-
man rights in the Islamic Republic of
Iran.
Nevertheless, every report inde-
pendently conducted by human rights
watch groupsthe United Nations,
Amnesty International as well as the
ocial statistical numbers revealed by
the Iranian governmentindicate
O
ci Uvo a time in a land far, far away, there were two
kingdoms coexisting side by side in unity and harmony.
Tese kingdoms had reconciled their dierences with the
help of another powerful ruler who had relentlessly sent
ambassadors to negotiate peace. Te fruit of these talks was
a land where the subjects lived happily ever afer. Tis is
the fairy tale of the Israeli/Palestinian peace process. How-
ever, in light of recent failures, the most recent mediator for
the quest for peace, United States Secretary of State John
Kerry, has lost hope in this dreamlike tale.
On April , weary from constant battles in boardrooms
across the Middle East, Kerry gravely called for a reality
check. Te peace process, burdened by reality, has brought
Washingtons dreamscape of the Mideast crashing down
to Earth. According to the Wall Street Journal, Kerry said
he has been forced to reevaluate the peace process and the
U.S.s role in it, as Israelis and Palestinians struggle at an
impasse. All in all, Washington seems fed up. Tere are
limits to the amount of time and eort that the U.S. can
spend if the parties themselves are unable to take construc-
tive steps, Kerry said. So what caused Kerry to journey
from a land far, far away back to the realities of the Middle
East: Over the past week, both Israel and the Palestinians
have taken mutually aggravating steps that have distanced
themselves from one another and any hope of a peaceful
resolution. Tis is not the rst time the Mideast fairy-tale
ending has gone up in ames on the pyre of negotiations.
So what will it take to bring about a lasting peace in the
region: As Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in
his booklet Jerusalem in Prophecy: Only Jesus Christ can
and will settle the Jerusalem issue! Man tries repeatedly
to bring lasting peace, but ultimately, it will take the power
of God to solve mans problems and steer all nations in a
direction that leads to peace and happiness forever.
A Middle Eastern Fairy Tale
Callum Wood | April 8
APRIL 11, 2014
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THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
EUROPE
that the condition of human rights has
signicantly worsened in Iran.
Recent reports by Amnesty Inter-
national and UN watch groups have
blasted Iran for the increase in perse-
cution of ethnic and religious minori-
ties, the cracking down on opposition-
al political gures, the mistreatment
of political prisoners, arbitrary deten-
tion and unfair trials.
One of the most alarming trends
indicating egregious human rights
abuses has been the surge in ex-
ecutions, many conducted in public,
under the presidency of the moderate
Rouhani, particularly since the begin-
ning of :o:.
Iran is ranked number one, sur-
passing China, in leading the world in
executions per capita. Executed people
in :o: included human rights ac-
tivists, political activists and religious
ethnic minorities.
Te actual issue is that Mr. Rouhani
is another classical power-seeking
cleric who came from within the sys-
tem and fully backs it, and is complicit
in these human rights violations and
executions.
TW
I N BR I E F
n Casualty-free Afghanistan
Not a single U.S. soldier died in
Afghanistan during the month of
March. Tis was the rst month free
of casualties in more than seven years,
and only the third such month since
the war began. While no American
lives have been lost, the spilled blood of
both Afghans and internationals alike
still washes the streets of Kabul as the
Taliban carries out attack afer bloody
attack. Afghanistan is in the midst
of elections. In a nation as violent as
Afghanistan, the polling stations will
show just how free the people really
are to cast their votes and choose the
direction their nation will take. Sadly,
in the month leading up to the election,
we have been provided with a mosaic of
violent events that leave us with a clear
picture of just how bloody Afghanistan
remains. Here is a brief overview of
this macabre mosaic. Multiple terror-
ist attacks have occurred in Kabul in
the nal days leading up to the elec-
tion. On March:o, Taliban insurgents
opened re in the Serena Hotel, killing
eight civilians. On the same day the
Taliban attacked a police station in
Jalalabad, killing :o ocers and one
civilian. On March :8, the Taliban
attacked a U.S.-based charity in Kabul.
On March :, Taliban insurgents
dressed in burkas attacked the Inde-
pendent Election Commission head-
quarters. On April :, a suicide bomber
dressed as a policeman blew himself up
at the Afghan Interior Ministry, killing
six Afghan soldiers. Most of those at-
tacks took place in the month America
lost no soldiers. Once again, while no
U.S. troops have died, it should not
skew our perspective of the state of
Afghanistan today. While America
celebrates its successes in war-torn
Afghanistan, the Taliban celebrates
as well, as wave afer wave of attacks
destabilize the nation, slowly reverting
the land back to Taliban control.
Oil for Arms Exports
GERMAN FOREIGN POLICY | April 9
T
ui Givm. Navy will participate
in a large-scale maneuver in the
Gulf of Guinea. Te maneuver Oban-
game Express :o: is scheduled for
mid-April and is aimed at warding
o pirates, active o the West Afri-
can coast. According to the German
government, the maneuver will serve
to strengthen military cooperation
among the coastal states. Tis op-
eration conforms fully with Berlins
strategy of arming partner countries
in Africa with its weapons exports
and training their troops, to avoid the
costly intervention of German troops.
Te participating German arms
manufacturers see Ghana as a lucra-
tive potential market. Te oil depos-
its o the Ghanaian coast are to be
protected against enemy exploitation,
but rather than use these resources to
ght poverty within the country, the
foreign exchange revenue from their
sales are to purchase arms from West-
ern industries.
Putin Warns of Gas
Cut
FINANCIAL TIMES | April 10
V
i.uimiv PU1i warned that Russia
was poised to halt gas supplies to
Ukraineplacing European custom-
ers in jeopardyunless immediate
action was taken to resolve Kievs
unpaid bills.
In a letter to European leaders,
the Russian president said the state-
controlled Gazprom had a contrac-
tual right to force Ukraine to pay in
advance for gas supplies, and would
completely or partially cease gas deliv-
eries if further payment violations
occurred.
Te letter is the rst time Moscow
has so clearly threatened to cut gas
supplies to Ukraine, a key transit
route for :, percent of European gas
consumption.
It came as Kiev was still locked in
a stando with armed pro-Russian
separatists in eastern Ukraine, and
marked an escalation of economic
pressure ahead of a planned quadri-
lateral meeting next week between
the U.S., EU, Ukraine and Russia to
discuss an east-west tug-of-war over
the country following the departure of
its former president in February.
In an indication of the tension,
.1o warned on Tursday that a
Russian force of o,ooo troops on
the Ukrainian border was at high
readiness. Moscow has repeatedly
denied suggestions it is preparing for
an invasion.
Mr. Putins letter, which was sent to
leaders of the :8 European countries
that receive Russian gas via Ukraine,
follows an increasingly acrimonious
APRIL 11, 2014
5
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
dispute between Gazprom and
Ukraine.
Arseniy Yatseniuk, Ukrainian
energy minister, last week accused
Russia of attempting to grab Ukraine
through gas and economic aggression
afer the state-controlled gas company
almost doubled prices. Gazprom has
protested that it cannot supply gas for
free.
Mr. Putin lef open a possibility for
reconciliation, calling on European
countries to step in to help resolve the
dispute.
We believe it is vital to hold, with-
out delay, consultations at the level of
ministers of economics, nances and
energy in order to work out concerted
actions to stabilize Ukraines economy
and to ensure delivery and transit of
Russian natural gas, he said.
Russia is prepared to participate .
However, not in a unilateral way, but
on equal conditions with our Euro-
pean partners.
Mr. Putins letter not only delivered
a warning but also set out an extended
justication for Russias actions that
challenged the Western narrative of
the crisis.
In particular, he said Europenot
Russiawas to blame for Ukraines
economic turmoil, arguing that trade
imbalances with EU member states
had lef Kiev unable to pay its bills.
By contrast, Mr. Putin said Russia
had supported Ukraine by supplying
it with gas at cut-rate prices right
from day one of Ukraines existence
as an independent state, estimating
that in the last four years Russia had
subsidized the Ukrainian economy by
s,,billion through lower gas prices
and unpaid nes.
Ukraine stopped making regular
payments for Russian gas in August
:o:, and now has s:.: billion in over-
due debts to Gazprommeaning that
the price rises were stipulated in the
contract, he said.
Mr. Putin accused the EU of trying
to unilaterally blame Russia for the
consequences of Ukraines economic
crisis, and standing by as the coun-
trys nances collapsed. Instead of of-
fering Ukraine real support, he wrote,
there are only promises that are not
backed up by any real actions.
EMU Crisis as
Dangerous as Ever
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard,
TELEGRAPH | April 9
T
ui iUvozoi debt crisis is deepen-
ing and threatens to re-erupt on a
larger scale when the liquidity cycle
turns, a leading panel of economists
warned in a clash of views with Ger-
man ocials in Berlin.
Debts above :,o percent of cuv for
Italy and :,o percent for Greece are a
recipe for disaster once we go into the
next downturn, said Prof. Charles
Wyplosz from Geneva University.
Todays politicians believe the
crisis is over and dont want to hear
any more about it, but they have not
tackled the core issues of scal union
and public debt, he said, speaking at
Euromoneys annual Germany confer-
ence.
Ludger Schuknecht, director gen-
eral of the German Finance Ministry,
insisted that the debt-stricken states
of the eurozone are well on the way to
recovery, ending their EU-imv rescue
programs successfully one by one.
Tis optimism is sharply at odds
with the view of almost every foreign-
based economist attending the event.
Charles Dallara, former head of the
International Instititute for Finance
and chief negotiator for global banks
in Greeces debt-restructuring, said
little has be done to put the eurozone
on a viable footing, even if sovereign
bond yields in southern Europe have
fallen to record lows.
We should not be distracted
by what is happening in nancial
markets, and look at the underlying
economies in Italy and Spain. Te
pace of recovery is so slow and pain-
ful that is going to be challenging for
democracies, he said.
Tere has been too much belt-
tightening and not enough structural
reform. Credit is continuing to shrink
in the heart of the eurozone. What
is needed is a collective eort across
the entirety of the eurozone to boost
condence, with a new package of
scal measures and an end to austerity.
Imagine how powerful that would be,
he said.
Benn Steil, from the Council on
Foreign Relations, said Germanys
refusal to allow the eurozone rescue
fund (ism) to recapitalize banks
directly means there will be no back-
stop in place to prevent problems
spinning out of control if European
banks fail stress tests later this year, as
expected.
Tis ignores the key lesson of the
U.S. stress tests, where government
capital lay in reserve to ensure the
stability of the system. Tere is the
potential for a fresh crisis if they an-
nounce the stress tests without the
ism being able to recapitalize banks,
he said.
Germany and the creditor states
are going to have to decide whether
they will accept scal transfers or
whether it is best to wind down the
project and let the eurozone unravel,
he said.
Mr. Steil compared Germanys
hardline stance with U.S. policy
towards Britain at the end of the
Second World War, when a prostrate
UK emerged with the worlds big-
gest debtsthough U.S. policy later
changed. We are hearing the same
language as in the :os. Te crisis
was all the fault of lax policies in the
debtor countries. It was precisely
the way the U.S. spoke when it was a
creditor, he said.

TW
I N BR I E F
n Polish prime minister: We may
join the euro for strategic reasons
Polands prime minister said that
his nation must seriously consider
joining the euro, for its own safety, in
an interview published in Polityka,
April. From a strategic perspective,
eurozone membership would be an-
other anchor grounding Poland in the
group of the most important Western
countries and improving our security,
he said. Sooner or later, we will have
to return to this discussion. Poland
suered far less from the recent
economic troubles because it was not
a part of the eurozone. However, fear
of Russia is forcing it to revaluate its
priorities. Watch for Eastern Europe
to move closer to Western Europe
and the EU in order to defend itself.
APRIL 11, 2014
6
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
To read more about this, see Trumpet
editor in chief Gerald Flurrys lat-
est article, Te Crimean Crisis Is
Reshaping Europe!
n EU launches advanced Earth-
monitoring satellite
Te EU launched its Sentinel-:a satel-
lite from French Guiana on April, as
it began the rollout of its advanced
eet of Earth-monitoring satellites.
Once the Sentinel-:as sister satellite,
the :b, is launched, the pair will be
able to give radar images of anywhere
on the Earth within three to six days.
Teyre part of the EUs Copernicus
project which aims to give the EU an
extensive view of the Earths surface.
Tere is no Earth observation project
as big as this, said Prof. Anne Glover,
the EUs chief scientic adviser. How-
ever, any system designed to study the
Earth in detail for scientic reasons
is also very useful militarily. Te
publicity for these launches focuses
on the environment, global warm-
ing and disaster response, but the
EU admits, in the small print, that
these satellites have intelligence and
even military applications. Space is
an important theater for any aspir-
ing military. Watch for the EU to
continue to expand on this frontier.
For more details on Europes space
program, see our article Te Quiet
Space Race.
ASIA
Decoupling Trade
From Dollar
INFORMATIONCLEARINGHOUSE |
April 8
R
Ussi. u.s just dropped another
bombshell, announcing not only the
decoupling of its trade from the dollar,
but also that its hydrocarbon trade will
in the future be carried out in rubles
and local currencies of its trading part-
nersno longer in dollars .
Russias trade in hydrocarbons
amounts to about a trillion dollars per
year. Other countries, especially the
nvics and nvics-associates (nvics.)
may soon follow suit and join forces
with Russia, abandoning the petro-
dollar as trading unit for oil and gas.
Tis could amount to tens of trillions
in loss for demand of petro-dollars per
year (U.S. cuv about s:, trillionDe-
cember :o:,)leaving an important
dent in the U.S. economy would be an
understatement.
Added to this is the declaration
today by Russias Press 1vChina will
reopen the old Silk Road as a new trad-
ing route linking Germany, Russia and
China, allowing [it] to connect and
develop new markets along the road,
especially in Central Asia, where this
new project will bring economic and
political stability, and in western Chi-
na provinces, where New Areas of
development will be created. Te rst
one will be the Lanzhou New Area in
Chinas Northwestern Gansu Province,
one of Chinas poorest regions.
During his visit to Duisburg,
Chinese President Xi Jinping made
a master stroke of economic diplo-
macy that runs directly counter to the
Washington neo-conservative factions
eort to bring a new confrontation
between .1o and Russia (Press 1v,
April o).
Curiously, Western media have so
far been oblivious to both events. It
seems like a desire to extending the
falsehood of our Western illusion and
arroganceas long as the silence will
bear. Tis Economic Sea Change
may bring the empire to its knees,
without spilling a drop of blood. An
area of new hope for justice and more
equality, a rebirth of sovereign states,
may dawn and turn the spiral of dark-
ness into a spiral of light.
U.S. Response Worries
Japans Leaders
NEW YORK TIMES | April 6
W
ui Pvisiui1 Bill Clinton
signed a : agreement promis-
ing to respect the territorial integrity
of Ukraine if it gave up its nuclear
weapons, there was little thought then
of how that obscure diplomatic pact
called the Budapest Memorandum
might aect the long-running defense
partnership between the United States
and Japan.
But now, as American ocials have
distanced themselves from the Buda-
pest Memorandum in light of Russias
takeover of Crimea, calling promises
made in Budapest nonbinding, the
United States is being forced at the
same time to make reassurances in
Asia. Japanese ocials, a senior Ameri-
can military ocial said, keep asking,
Are you going to do the same thing to
us when something happens:
Te Crimea is a game changer, said
Kunihiko Miyake, a former adviser to
Mr. Abe who is now research direc-
tor at the Canon Institute for Global
Studies in Tokyo. Tis is not re on a
distant shore for us. What is happening
is another attempt by a rising power to
change the status quo. As an example,
he pointed to Chinas challenge to Japa-
nese control of the Senkaku Islands,
the uninhabited rocks in the East
China Sea that Beijing claims under the
name Diaoyu Islands.
[S]ome Japanese analysts said the
American response to the Crimea
crisis had not inspired condence.
Tey expressed fears that the Obama
administrations trumpeted strategic
refocus on Asia, which was welcomed
here, will weaken as the United States
commits more forces to counterbal-
ance Russia in Eastern Europe.
Te Crimea makes us feel uneasy
about whether the United States has
not only the resolve but the strength
to stop China, said Satoru Nagao, an
expert on security issues at Gakushuin
University in Tokyo. Between the Pen-
tagon budget cuts, and the need to put
Related: Will Russia Try to Crash the
Dollar?
APRIL 11, 2014
7
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
more forces in Europe, can the United
States still oer a credible deterrence:
Specically, some analysts said they
feared China might feel emboldened
by the American response to Crimea
to try something similar in Senkaku/
Diaoyu. If Japan is attacked, and
the Americans decline to respond,
then it is time from the Americans to
pull out of their bases here, Mr.Mi-
yake said. Without those bases,
America is not going to be a Pacic
power anymore. America knows that.
Russia and China
About to Sign Holy
Grail Gas Deal
ZEROHEDGE | April 9
S
iviv.i wiixs ago we reported
that in response to ongoing alien-
ation of Russia by the West, Putin
was aggressively setting the stage
for Russias eastward expansion, set
to culminate with a holy grail gas
deal with China. We said that while
Europe is furiously scrambling to nd
alternative sources of energy should
Gazprom pull the plug on natgas
exports to Germany and Europe (the
imminent surge in Ukraine gas prices
by o percent is probably the best
indication of what the outcome would
be), Russia is preparing the announce-
ment of the Holy Grail energy deal
with none other than China, a move
which would send geopolitical shock-
waves around the world and bind the
two nations in a commodity-backed
axis.
Reuters added, reecting on the
recent trip of Rosnef executive chair-
man to Asia, that the underlying
message from the head of Russias big-
gest oil company, Rosnef, was clear: If
Europe and the United States isolate
Russia, Moscow will look East for
new business, energy deals, military
contracts and political alliances. Te
Holy Grail for Moscow is a natural gas
supply deal with China that is appar-
ently now close afer years of negotia-
tions. If it can be signed when Putin
visits China in May, he will be able to
hold it up to show that global power
has shifed eastwards and he does not
need the West.
Its time for an update. Accord-
ing to Itar-Tass, Russias Gazprom
and China are poised to conclude a
gas supply contract in coming weeks,
the rst in a series of energy projects
planned between the two countries.
Were working now to sign a gas
contract in May, said Deputy Prime
Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.
But waittheres more . Rus-
sia and China have agreed to jointly
develop gas elds in (Russias far
eastern) Sakhalin and east Siberia,
Dvorkovich said. We have discussed
co-operation in the coal sphere,
agreeing to develop deposits, supply
equipment and build electric power
plants as well as providing China
with additional electricity supplies.
Were nding mutually advantageous
decisions on certain projects that will
allow us to implement them in the
shortest period of time, Dvorkovich
added.
Bloombergs conclusion: Not only
is this probably music to Putins ears,
it also serves to ratchet up the ten-
sions. Just wait to see how ratcheted
up tensions will be once Russia and
China are nally locked into a bear-
hug of mutual codependence.
T
ui woviu did some serious eye rolling on Wednesday
afer North Koreas state-run news agency announced
that Kim Jong-un had been reelected by the nations par-
liament to continue on as the leader.
Te parliamentary session followed an election last
month for which ocials said :oo percent of North Kore-
ans in Kims district went to the polls, and not a single one
cast a dissenting ballot. Tats rightunanimous approval.
But dont forget that the voters had no choice in who
they voted for. Only one candidates name appeared on the
ballot for each district, so the only choice the voters have
is yes or no. Casting a no vote is tantamount to saying,
please toss me and my family members into a prison that
makes the Russian Gulag seem like a ve-star hotel. So the
election was not much of a nail-biter.
Afer the death of Kim Jong-il in :o::, Kim Jong-un took
up the reins, and many analysts thought the transition
would trigger a reversal in the countrys lunatic behavior.
Afer all, the young Kim Jong-un had received a Western
education, and was an outspoken fan of James Bond lms
and Michael Jordan. Optimistic Westerners said that what
little information was available about Kim suggested that
he might abandon the internal oppression and external
belligerency that had marked the reigns of his father and
grandfather.
But it is now clear that, under Kim Jong-uns rule,
nuclear North Korea is more aggressive, more unpredict-
able and more dangerous than ever.
Te world rolls its eyes when these reports emerge, but
no power is willing to bring an end to the suering the
Kim dynasty inicts on its people. Te reason for this lies
just west of North Korea and has a red ag adorned with
yellow stars. To understand more, read Why China Re-
fuses to Deal With North Korea.
Follow Jeremiah Jacques: Twitter
Vote Yes or Die
Jeremiah Jacques | April 10
Related: Asia Stands With Putin
APRIL 11, 2014
8
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
Warnings of Genocide
TELEGRAPH | April 6
B
. Ki-moo, the UN secretary
general, has said that foreign
troops in Central African Republic
were overwhelmed by a state of an-
archy and warned the country could
see a repeat of the Rwandan genocide.
During his visithis rst since the
violence erupted in DecemberBan
appealed for more help and said the
international community was at risk
of making the mistakes of the :
Rwanda genocide where some 8oo,ooo
died.
Te international community failed
the people of Rwanda :o years ago.
And we are at risk of not doing enough
for the people of the c.v today, Ban
told members of a transitional council
tasked with preparing the country for
elections by February :o:,.
Atrocity crimes are being commit-
ted in this country, he said. Ethno-
religious cleansing is a reality. Most
members of the Muslim minority have
ed.
UN Ashamed
BBC | April 7
T
ui UN is still ashamed over its
failure to prevent the : genocide
in Rwanda, UN chief Ban Ki-moon
has said.
He was addressing thousands of
people in the capital, Kigali, as Rwan-
da began a week of ocial mourning
to mark the :oth anniversary of the
genocide.
At least 8oo,ooo peoplemostly
ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus
died at the hands of Hutu extremists.
Te killings ended in July :
when the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a
Tutsi-led rebel movement, marched
into Kigali and seized control of the
country.
UN personnel in Rwanda during
the genocide showed remarkable
bravery, Mr. Ban told the crowd, ac-
cording to AP.
But we could have done much
more. We should have done much
more, he said.
In Rwanda, troops were withdrawn
when they were most needed, he
added.
One year later in Srebrenica, areas
proclaimed safe by the United Na-
tions were lled with danger, and in-
nocents were abandoned to slaughter.
Te shame still clings, a generation
afer the events, Mr. Ban said.
I
v I were Vladimir Putin Id invade eastern Ukraine this
week. Strike while the iron is hot. Never again will the
taking be so easy. Never again will the government in
Kiev be so helpless. Never again will the administration in
Washington be so inept, its threats so hollow. Never again
will the powers in Europe be so feeble and dependent.
Never again will Western monetary policy do so much to
prop up energy prices.
While Mr. Putin is at it, he might consider invading one
of the Baltic states. Barack Obama isnt about to ask Ameri-
cans to die for Estonia, where a quarter of the population
is ethnically Russian. Te U.S. president wants nation-
building at home, afer all. Let him have at it.
Even now, the West misses the point. We have con-
vinced ourselves that Russia is inherently weak; that its
economy would collapse if the price of oil were to fall; that
human and nancial capital are in ight; that its popula-
tion is shrinking (and frequently drunk); that the regime
has lost the support of an urban middle class disgusted by
endemic corruption. And so on.
All true. And all the more reason for Mr. Putin to strike.
Weve come to think of Mr. Putin as the embodiment of
ruthlessness. Hes that. But he also has a genius for self-
reinvention. Agent of Soviet communism turned political
patriarch of Russian Orthodoxy. St. Petersburg technocrat
turned Moscow strongman. Enemy of the oligarchs turned
godfather of the oligarchs. Law-and-order economic mod-
ernizer turned old-school Russian revanchist.
[T]he West could win a sanctions war with Russia, but
it would take an iron political stomach. Mr. Putin knows
Mr.Obama. He knows that the U.S. president has the di-
gestive fortitude of a tourist in Tijuana.
And thats why Mr. Putin should move quickly. Russias
chokehold on Europes energy supplies wont last forever.
Te easy Fed money that jacks up the price of commodities
wont last forever. Even Mr. Obamas presidency wont last
forever. On present course, Russia will get weaker, which
leaves Mr. Putin with two options: liberalize or conquer.
Te rst option would ultimately require him to step down
from power and put him at risk of legal prosecution. Te
second option gives him the chance to re-legitimize his
regime by whipping Russians into a nationalist frenzy and
stay in power till he dies in bed.
If you were Mr. Putin, which option would you choose:
Mr. Obama has a habit of underestimating his foes.
He thought al Qaeda was on the run. He thought Bashar
Assad would be gone by now. He thinks Iran will abandon
its nuclear programs in exchange for sanctions relief. He
thinks of Vladimir Putin as the kid with the bored expres-
sion, slouching in the back of the classroom.
News for the law professor. Tat kid is smarter than you
are. Hes bored because you bore him. Hes about to eat
your lunch.
Putins Moments
Bret Stephens, WALL STREET JOURNAL | April 7
LATIN AMERICA/AFRICA
Related: Central African RepublicThe
Denition of Catastrophe
APRIL 11, 2014
9
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
ANGLO-AMERICA
NSA Is Reading
Americans E-mails
After All
Andrew P. Napolitano, WASHINGTON
POST | April 9
L
.s1 wiix, Director of National In-
telligence Gen. James R. Clapper sent
a brief letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, Or-
egon Democrat, a member of the Senate
Intelligence Committee, in which he
admitted that agents of the National
Security Agency (s.) have been read-
ing innocent Americans e-mails and
text messages and listening to digital
recordings of their telephone conver-
sations that have been stored in s.
computers without warrants obtained
pursuant to the Constitution.
Tat the s. is doing this is not
newsworthy; Edward Snowden has
told the world of this during the past
:o months. What is newsworthy is
that the s. has admitted it, and those
admissions have far-reaching conse-
quences.
Since the Snowden revelations rst
came to light last June, the s. has
steadfastly denied them. Mr. Clapper
has denied them. Te recently retired
head of the s., Gen. Keith Alexan-
der, has denied them. Even President
A
Us1v.ii. uoUsiuoiu debt has
reached a new recordat an as-
tounding :,, percent of annual dispos-
able income. Borrowing such massive
amounts to spend on unproductive
assets means economic disaster is vir-
tually guaranteed.
What is this big unproductive asset
costing so much money:
Houses. Big ones, tall ones, even small ones. And they
are all going up in price quicker than ever.
House prices rose at the fastest pace in :8 years in March,
according to the Guardian. Te average house in Australias
major cities index went up by :., percent in just the past ,o
days. Over the past year, house prices across the country rose
almost :: percent. In Sydney they are up over :, percent.
And the trend is showing no sign of slowing down, ac-
cording to Commonwealth Bank economist Gareth Aird.
Strong population growth, record low interest rates and
expectations of further house price appreciation are fueling
demand, he said.
Whoa. If what Aird says is true, you could hardly ask
for clearer signs that the housing market is a bubble. If ever
there was a reason not to buy a house in Australia right
now, those are two big ones.
Why are interest rates so low in Australia: Because the
underlying economy is stuck in a funk and the Reserve
Bank of Australia is using the only real tool it has to get the
economy goinglow interest ratesto encourage people to
borrow and spend more money.
But increasing debt to stimulate growth doesnt x
anything. Australias manufacturing industry is collaps-
ing. Soon Australia wont even manufacture vehicles
anymore.
Ten there is the risk of a major economic slowdown in
China. In March, for the rst time ever, China let a corpo-
ration default on its debt. Tis is a sign that Chinas highly
leveraged corporations are struggling and may no longer be
able to count on the government for a bailout. If China is
maxed out on debt, who will buy Australias iron, coal and
other raw commodities:
Japan may be in worse shape than China. On April :,
Japan increased its consumption tax from , to 8 percent. It
is the rst step toward raising it to :o percent as President
Abe tries to grab more money to pay for out-of-control
government spending.
Without China and Japan, what is lef to drive growth:
Internal consumption: Not with consumers already maxed
out with record debt.
Housing valuations are ashing red, says Barclays
chief economist, Kieran Davies. Will Australias housing
bubble burst this year: No one knows. But the bust is ap-
proaching. Aussies would do well to prepare for a period
of increasing hardship akin to what happened in America.
Follow Robert Morley: Twitter
Australias Housing Bubble Will Pop
ROBERT MORLEY
12-Month Average Home Price
Increase for Australian Capital Cities
SOURCE: RP DATA
1
.
7
%
0
.
9
%
APRIL 11, 2014
10
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
Obama has stated repeatedly words to
the eect that no one is reading your
e-mails or listening to your phone
calls.
Te ocial s. line on this has been
that the Foreign Intelligence Surveil-
lance Act (vis.) court has issued
general warrants for huge amounts of
metadata only, but not content. Meta-
data consists of identifying markers on
e-mails, text messages and telephone
calls. Tese markers usually identify
the computer from which an e-mail or
text was sent or received, and the time
and date of the transmission, as well as
the location of each computer. Tele-
phone metadata is similar. It consists
of the telephone numbers used by the
callers, the time, date and duration
of the call, and the location of each
telephone used in the call.
American telecommunications and
Internet-service providers have given
this information to the s. pursuant
to warrants issued by secret vis. court
F
ov uic.uis many of us in the hard money world have
speculated that cloak-and-dagger activity by large
nancial interests has played a large role in determining
performance in the gold market. Te focus of this alleged
manipulation is believed to be in the London market, and
has been widely referred to as Te London Fix. However,
those who have blown the whistle have been dismissed as
alarmists, gold bugs, conspiracy theorists or worse. But
recent revelations should bring us closer to the truth.
Like the London Inter Bank Oered [interest] Rate (ii-
nov), the London gold price forms a benchmark for the spot
price for major gold metal transactions throughout the world.
Te iinov scandal rocked the nancial world. But Germanys
senior nancial regulator declared possible gold manipula-
tion as worse than iinov. To get at the truth, it helps
to try to follow the international ows of gold, to see who is
buying, who is selling, and where the gaps may appear.
In :oo, Chinas central bank disclosed that its gold
holdings had increased by ,, percent from ooo to :,o,
tons, or metric tons.
With an annual production of some :8 tons, accord-
ing to Forbes Asia, China is the worlds largest producer.
But, like Russia, China exports no gold. If Chinas last three
years annual assumed production is aggregated, Chinas
:oo declared holdings of :,o, tons should have increased
since by some :,:8 tons, for a total of some :,,,8 tons.
Tis would make China one of the worlds largest holders.
But the story does not end there. China imports massive
Chinese Checkers With Gold
John Browne, SAFEHAVEN | April 10
God Helps Those Who
Help Themselves
THE TRUMPET DAILY | April 9
STEPHEN FLURRY
Success and accomplishment largely depend on
thorough preparation.
Click to Play
amounts mainly via Hong Kong and Shanghai.
According to Forbes Asia, the China Gold Association
showed that Chinas gold consumption increased by :per-
cent over :o:: to :,:,o tons in :o:,. (China does not publish
ocial numbers so discrepancies range in the hundreds of
tons.) Adding these imports to Chinas domestic produc-
tion of :8 tons indicates that China accumulated at least
:,oo tons last year.
Furthermore, combining Chinas aggregate domestic
production and apparent imports indicates that she has
now over ,,,: tons. Assuming the U.S. still owns all the
gold held by the Fed, this would make China the worlds
second-largest national owner.
In addition to China and India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia
and Tailand increased their gold holdings in :o:,. As gold is
a widely recognized representation of wealth, this represents
a massive transfer of real wealth from West to East.
When, at the beginning of :o:,, Germany asked for the
repatriation of just ,oo tons of its holdings of ,,,o tons, the
Fed asked for a ve-year delayed delivery. By years end, the
Fed had sent Germany only , tons.
Although privately owned, partly by bankers, the Fed
is audited only partially. Could it be that a large portion
of the Feds published gold holdings of 8,:,,., tons is now
actually the property of other nations, like Germany:
Is China already the worlds largest owner as opposed
to holder of gold: If so, China, with a mature nancial
center in Hong Kong, already is further along the path than
most have predicted towards challenging the vital reserve
currency status and international credibility of the U.S.
dollar.
APRIL 11, 2014
11
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
judges. Tese warrants are profoundly
unconstitutional, as they constitute
general warrants.
General warrants are not obtained
by presenting probable cause of crime
to judges and identifying the person
from whom data is to be seized, as the
Constitution requires. Rather, gen-
eral warrants authorize a government
agent to obtain whatever he wants
from whomever he wants it.
Te s. argued that it was not ac-
cessing the content of these communi-
cations; it was merely storing meta-
data and then using algorithms to
determine who was talking to whom.
Tis was all done in secretso se-
cret that the president would lie about
it; so secret that Congress, which sup-
posedly authorized it, was unaware
of it; and so secret that the vis. court
judges themselves do not have access
to their own court records. (Only the
s. does.)
Mr. Snowden, in an act of great
personal sacrice and historic moral
courage, directly refuted Mr. Clapper
by telling reporters that the s. pos-
sessed not just metadata, but also con-
tentmeaning the actual e-mails, text
messages and recordings of telephone
calls. He later revealed that the s.
also has the content of the telephone
bills, bank statements, utility bills
and credit card bills of everyone in
America.
In his letter to Mr. Wyden last
week, Mr. Clapper not only implic-
itly acknowledged that Mr. Snowden
was correct all along, but also that he,
James Clapper, lied to and materially
misled the Senate Intelligence Com-
mittee, and that the s. is, in fact,
reading e-mails and listening to phone
calls without obtaining the second
warrant it has been claiming it obtains.
One wonders whether Mr. Obama
was duped by Mr. Clapper when he
denied all this, or whether the presi-
dent just lied to the American people
as he has done in the past.
One also wonders how the Obama
administration could do all this with a
straight face.
Congress could impeach Mr.Clap-
per, and the president would be
powerless to prevent it. If Congress
does that, it would be a great step
forward for the rule of law and delity
to the Constitution. If Congress does
nothing, we can safely conclude that
it is complicit in these constitutional
violations.
If members of Congress will not
Meaning of Passover
What is the signicance of Passover? How should it be kept?
Understanding Passovers true meaning is essential to your
eternal life.
GERALD FLURRY
Click to Play
impeach an ocer of the government
when they themselves are victims of
his crimes because they fear the politi-
cal consequences, do they still believe
in the Constitution:
2014 Crash Will Be
Worse Than 1987s
CNBC | April 10
M
.vc F.niv says the stock market
is setting up for a decline more
painful than the sudden crash of :8,.
I think its very likely that were
seeing, in the next :: months, an 8,-
type of crash, Faber said with a devi-
ous chuckle on Tursdays episode of
Futures Now. And I suspect it will
be even worse.
Faber, the editor and publisher of
the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, has
recently called for growth stocks to
decline. And he says the pain in the
Internet and biotech sectors is just get-
ting started.
I think there are some groups of
stocks that are highly vulnerable be-
cause theyre in cuckoo land in terms
of valuations, Faber said. Tey have
no earnings. Teyre valued at price-
to-sales. And this is not a good metric
in the long run.
To be sure, there are prominent
investors that disagree with Faber,
among them legendary stockpicker
Bill Miller, who said this week that
conditions for a bad market simply
dont exist.
But its not just momentum stocks
that Faber is wary of. He says that
investors are coming to a stark realiza-
tion.
I believe that the market is slowly
waking up to the fact that the Federal
Reserve is a clueless organization,
Faber said. Tey have no idea what
theyre doing. And so the condence
level of investors is diminishing, in my
view.
Tis year, for suremaybe from
a higher diving boardthe S&P will
drop :o percent, Faber said, add-
ing: I think, rather, ,o percent. Who
knows: But all Im saying is that its
not a very good time, right now, to buy
stocks.
APRIL 11, 2014
12
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
during an April 8 telephone interview. In his mental-
ity, there are no limits of power. If you are obsessed with
power, then if you see any obstacle, you try to destroy it.
Tat is what Putin is trying to do.
Like the nation of Ukraine, Mr. Pavilioniss native
Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union until its demise in
the early :os. Now, Lithuania is a member of both the
European Union and .1o, and its citizens have no desire
to return to the Russian fold. But since Putins annexation
of Crimea, many in the Russia-bordering nation fear that
their Western-alignment could be at great risk.
Tat fear was intensied last month afer some ,,,oo
Russian soldiers started tactical maneuvers in the Kalinin-
grad region, just miles from the borders of Lithuania and
Poland.
Pro-Russian demonstrators battle police as they try to besiege the regional
council building in Donetsk, April 6.
Mr. Pavilionis says the worry should extend beyond
Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and other parts of Eastern
Europe because Moscows aggression is not motivated only
by a desire to expand Russian power. Instead, he says it is
motivated perhaps even more by Putins desire to overturn
the Western global order that America has labored for so
long to build up and maintain. Its about the United States
really, he said. Russian leaders are attacking the West,
in which the U.S. is number one; they are challenging the
whole order of democracy and order that the U.S. worked
to build.
According to the ambassador, the solution to the prob-
lem is for the West to take a stand against Russia. Te good
news, he says, is that Putins aggression is making such a
stand possible because it is galvanizing European coopera-
tion. Paradoxically, Putin made a big strategic mistake in
invading Ukraine: It united Europe very much. It made us
think more strategically, and made us consider things that
we would not have a few years ago. Afer what hap-
pened, and afer seeing people die in the streets of Kiev
in pursuit of freedom, we said Europe must enlarge and
cooperate.
When asked about the role of Berlin in standing up to
Russia, Mr. Pavilionis said, Germany has become more
and more active in every front, and in a positive way.
He said Lithuanians and other Europeans hope that
Germany will take on even greater leadership roles in
light of the conict. We are trying to encourage Germany
to be more active in every sphere: energy, economy, also
military and politics. Berlin can do more. Since things
are becoming more like the :th or :oth centuries now,
we need to be brave. We need more strategy. If we employ
all instruments we have at our disposal, we can defend
against it.
Mr. Pavilionis does not feel that Germanys World
Warii legacy means modern Germans should be reluctant
to take action. In the EU, we have a lot of guilt, he said.
But .1o and the EU are real miracles, and we have to
preserve those miracles. We have to overcome old com-
plexes and guilt, and reconciliation is key. We European
states must wake up and reconcile; otherwise, they divide
and conquer.
He continued: Germany is now a role model of recon-
ciliation. And now we hope they wont be so shy. Tey are
the backbone of Europe, and they must spread their sup-
port around better than they have in the past.
Mr. Pavilionis said some of the problem was the result of
.1os failure, back at the Bucharest conference in :oo8, to
extend an action plan to make Ukraine, Georgia and other
powers members of the security alliance. Since then, he
said, we have been paralyzed. Russia can invade and oc-
cupy more easily now. We have to be clear, and draw a clear
line, and never let Russia encroach past that line.
Te ambassador said the Crimean crisis was part of a
larger shif the modern world is undergoing. We have new
military decisions arriving, he said. We are now seeing
democracies disappear from the map. Freedom is shrink-
ing in big numbers, and authoritarian regimes are on the
march. Freedom is being defeated, and the Russian inva-
sion is on a global scale. If we do nothing today, we will
regret it.
Sacrice, Mr. Pavilionis says, is at the heart of the
strategy Europe and the U.S. must employ to reverse this
shif. We had better sacrice something todaymaybe
some of our luxuriesbefore we have to sacrice it all
tomorrow.
He continued: Tey have global power in Russia, and
arms with an extended reach. We had better contain them
now before its too late. Do we have the guts to do it: [For-
mer U.S. President Ronald] Reagan once said, Freedom
is never more than one generation away from extinction.
Well, its our turn now to defend freedom.
We have to draw the line before the Russians move
tanks on top of it, he said.
Mr. Pavilioniss candid and frank comments about Rus-
sias aggression are representative of the view held by many
in Lithuania, Ukraine and beyond. Te Crimean crisis
truly is a global game changer. To understand what this
geopolitical sea change means for Russias neighbors to the
West, read Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurrys latest
article, Te Crimean Crisis Is Reshaping Europe!
Follow Jeremiah Jacques: Twitter
AMBASSADOR from page 1
COVER: ESTONIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY