It’s clear that to me now that Merkel’s priorities for what is left of her term in office are as follows:

1. Carve out an independent path for EU foreign policy from the US through the creation of an EU army, obviating the need for NATO and…

2. End US occupation of Germany.

3. Secure Germany’s energy future, which also secures its political future as the leader of the European Union, by stitching together the continent with Russian energy arteries — Nordstream 2, Turkstream.

4. Manage the shift away from NATO as a controlling force in Europe’s relationship with Russia which doesn’t serve Europe’s long term purposes.

Merkel will play both sides of the game for as long as she can but Trump and his merry band of Neocon psychotics are determined to stop Nordstream 2. They realize pipelines like these represent near permanent connections between Europe and Russia which deadens Trump’s desire to maintain the empire through controlling the flow and price of energy.

The threat of Russia is to US hegemony, not Germany’s. This is why Bolton, Pence and Pompeo were ignored and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was the toast of the conference. Russia has made it very clear it will look east to China, Iran and the rest of Asia if Europe continues to kowtow to the US.

This is why Germany is no longer interested in adding new sanctions on Russia and is now officially looking for new political solutions to the situation. Germany needs new growth opportunities now that a no-deal Brexit is upon them. This wasn’t that hard to see coming. Last summer’s garden summit between Vladimir Putin and Merkel set the stage for this shift in tone. I said at the time that I felt Trump’s belligerence was pushing Merkel into Putin’s arms.

The German politician proceeded to up the ante: “This is a toxic mixture, it endangers Europe’s security.” With that in mind, Europe must turn its head to Russia as “it is time for a European disarmament initiative.” Trittin is not the first German figure to raise concerns about Trump. Sigmar Gabriel, former vice-chancellor and foreign minister, has repeatedly labeled the US president “a threat to world peace” who wants “regime change” in Berlin.

Sentiments like these reflect what the German public makes of Trump’s policies. A 2018 poll revealed over three-quarters of Germans (79 percent) said they considered US President Trump to be a greater threat to world peace than his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. According to a 2019 survey by Civey, 85 percent of people in Germany saw US-German relations in a “negative” or even “very negative” light. Over 57 percent of Germans believed that their country should keep a greater distance from its ally across the Atlantic, while only 13 percent advocated closer ties.

The Bundeswehr currently has around 1,200 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, part of NATO's Resolute Support mission, though the whole operation was thrown into uncertainty in late December, when news reports from the US suggested that President Donald Trump was planning to withdraw around half of the US military's 14,000 troops in Afghanistan.

No timetable was laid out for the mooted withdrawal, though several German military experts, most notably retired General Harald Kujat, told the media at the time that a US withdrawal would render Germany's continued presence futile.

The deal to replace India's decades-old fleet of Soviet-era fighter jets is one of the largest contracts in the world right now. India is not expected to announce the winning bid until after a national election in May. Lockheed offered to move its F-16 production plant in Fort Worth, Texas, to India, if it wins the contract in a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Made In India" strategy to expand its Air Force and defense sector industry.

But hold on a minute, what about the White House calling for targeted investments in domestic manufacturing in the American industrial-base last October? How about the Pentagon saying it will reduce its over-reliance on foreign-made parts in American weapons? For Lockheed to even entertain a bid that shifts a large Texas production line of fighter jets to India is confusing, considering the protectionist position of the White House.

“The holy People of God look to us, and expect from us not simple and predictable condemnations, but concrete and effective measures to be undertaken,” Francis stressed Thursday in the Vatican, as nearly 200 clerics began debating ways to respond to the emergency.

The so-called Reflection Points, formulated by the various Episcopal Commissions and Conferences, seek to create specific rules for those wishing to enter the priesthood to make sure the candidates achieve “spiritual and psychosexual maturity” prior to being ordained into celibate service to God, through “psychological evaluations.”

The Pope’s document does not have binding power and was distributed on the first day of the conference so that the conversation among bishops can get rolling. Whether or not the “concrete” steps Francis has called for will be reflected at the conclusion of the historic summit is yet to be seen.

Here in the United States, Internet censorship has escalated dramatically, but over in China the government is cracking down on a much wider array of online and offline activities. If you fail to make a credit card payment, get into an argument in public or say the wrong thing on social media, you could suddenly find yourself restricted from conducting a whole host of normal economic activities.

The primary marketing slogan for this social credit system is “once discredited, everywhere restricted”… China’s social credit system rates citizens based on their daily behaviour, and this could range from their bank credit to their social media activities. With a tagline of ‘once discredited, everywhere restricted’, it vows to punish ‘untrustworthy’ citizens in as many ways as possible.

This system sounds like something right out of a George Orwell novel, and even entire businesses can be penalized. In fact, it is being reported that 3.59 million Chinese businesses were added to “the official creditworthiness blacklist” last year. On top of that, millions of ordinary Chinese citizens were restricted from flying and riding on trains last year for engaging in “untrustworthy conduct”…

In other words, the Chinese government is banning enormous numbers of people from engaging in normal economic activities because they did something that the government does not like. This sounds eerily similar to the economic restrictions that the Bible says will be imposed someday upon those that refuse to participate in the coming beast system.

This is what Revelation 13:16-18 says in the Modern English Version… He causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, so that no one may buy or sell, except he who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is a call for wisdom: Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast. It is the number of a man. His number is six hundred and sixty-six.

This social credit system may be making Chinese citizens safer and more secure, but in the process their entire nation is being turned into a dystopian hell from which there will be no escape. And unless we stand up and fight against this trend, it is only a matter of time before we have such a system too.

Pakistan has begun its logistics preparations for possible war with India, has put hospitals along the frontier on stand-by mode. Of course most Americans don’t even know that this is happening. Sadly, the truth is that most Americans couldn’t even point out where Pakistan and India are on a blank map of the world.

But Americans should at least be concerned that the US could soon be entering a new war. President Trump has repeatedly threatened to use the US military in Venezuela if the Maduro government does not step down peacefully, and that is definitely not going to happen. In fact, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino had said that if the US wants regime change in his country, they are going to have to do it “over our dead bodies”…

We live at a time of “wars and rumors of wars”, and over the last several decades the nations of the world have armed themselves to the teeth with weapons of mass destruction that would have been unimaginable in previous eras of human history. We literally have the technology to wipe ourselves off the face of the planet, and let us pray that cooler heads prevail before it is too late.

At least four cabinet ministers, almost a dozen junior ministers and many others on the government payroll are understood to be prepared to back the motion proposed by the Tory MP Sir Oliver Letwin and Labour’s Yvette Cooper, due to be debated on Wednesday. A senior source close to those plotting the rebellion said there was no way the members of the government would resign voluntarily and May would have to sack them.

Pro-Brexit MPs said the outcome of next week was unpredictable but, if it came to the vote, May would have to get rid of the rebellious ministers. One cabinet source said: “It would be a huge mistake not to sack them. It would be effectively conceding we had lost control of the party.”

Just last week, the top US Navy commander in the Pacific warned that China represents the “greatest long-term strategic threat to a free and open Indo-Pacific and to the United States." And the country's insistence on carrying on with its military buildup in the South China Sea, one of the most vital waterways for global trade, has angered the US and nearly all of its neighbors. But while the US public labors under the illusion that a military conflict with the Chinese is only a vague possibility somewhere off in the indeterminate future, for the island of Taiwan, China's increasing muscular military presence in the region is a daily threat that requires 24/7 vigilance, according to CNN.

As she struggles with waning poll numbers ahead of an election later this year, Taiwan's pro-independence leader Tsai Ing-wen claimed in yet another interview with a western media organization that the world is underestimating the growing threat posed by Beijing.

After President Xi claimed during a landmark speech early this year that Taiwan would eventually be re-unified with the mainland in an arrangement similar to that of Hong Kong or Macau - something the Taiwanese people popularly oppose - and threatened any meddling foreign powers (ie the US) who dare to interfere, Tsai said that China crushing Taiwan would be a "setback for global democracy."