Venezuelan Dictator Pays Homage to Fidel Castro

Venezuelan Dictator Pays Homage to Fidel Castro

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks in front of a poster showing Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.

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The situation is ominous—not just for Latin America, but also for the United States.

By Jack Wood • August 24

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro traveled to Cuba on August 15 to visit the tomb of former Cuban revolutionary and dictator, Fidel Castro.

Broadcast on the nation’s public television, Maduro and his wife placed flowers and bowed their heads in respect to the man who helped turn Cuba into the first one-party, socialist state in the Western Hemisphere.

Today, Venezuela stands on the edge of collapse. Its economy is in tatters, and food and medicine are running low. Citizens are rioting in the streets and clashing with the Maduro government. Venezuelans are suffering state-sanctioned killings and rampant drug cartel activity; they are also facing the possibility of a military coup. This is the context for Maduro making a special point to pay homage to Castro.

This visit was especially surprising considering the recent threats of military action coming out of the White House. Why did Venezuela’s president choose now as the time to make such a provocative act?

Maduro show of open respect toward the deceased Cuban radical is a statement to both Cuba and the world that Venezuela is willing to march to the tune of its northern neighbor’s drum.

In the last few years, it has become clear that Cuba’s best interests lie in keeping the failing Venezuela afloat. Its reasons are twofold: First, it has used Venezuela for decades as a “corridor to run Colombian cocaine to the U.S. and to Africa to supply Europe,” according to Mary O’Grady from the Wall Street Journal; second, Cuba relies heavily on subsidized petroleum from Venezuela’s vast reserves. Without Venezuela’s cut-price oil, Cuba’s economy would be severely impacted.

Thus, as long as Venezuela follows in step with Cuba’s lead, Castro’s successor (his brother, Raúl) has lent his country’s aid in the unfolding political nightmare. “As the crisis in Venezuela worsens, Cuba continues to throw its support behind the government in Caracas,” Astrid Prange wrote for Deutsche Welle.

The new Constitutional Assembly put in place by President Maduro has made Venezuela’s government extremely unpopular both internationally and at home. This state-ordered assembly grants the government power to rewrite the constitution, effectively paving the way for Maduro to waive the need to be reelected. Many in the international community have harshly criticized this move, yet Cuba is still offering Maduro strong support. Cuba appears to be leveraging that continued support in order to cause Venezuela to fall into line. Prange asked the question, “How much influence does Havana hold over President Nicolás Maduro?”

As the situation stands currently, Venezuela is one step away from a full military coup. But Cuba is taking steps to prevent it. In an article titled “Cuba’s Proxy War in Venezuela,” O’Grady reported:

More than a dozen high-ranking Cuban officers are said to be in Venezuela, along with thousands of Cuban intelligence agents. Their job is to keep the Venezuelan army officers under constant surveillance to prevent the feared military uprising to restore democracy.

More recently, O’Grady reported that for every Venezuelan officer, there is at least one Cuban “minder” watching over his or her shoulder for signs of sedition.

Such mistrust and oversight seem like tactics ripped from the pages of a dystopian novel. Yet Cuban influence does not end there.

Lately, groups of protesters have been subjected to horrendous beatings by mobs of government-sponsored ruffians. O’Grady wrote:

The idea of using civilian thugs to beat up Venezuelan protesters comes from Havana …. Castro used them in the 1950s, when he was opposing Batista, to intimidate his allies who didn’t agree with his strategy. Today in Cuba, they remain the standard fare to carry out “acts of repudiation” against dissidents.

Venezuela’s government appears to be using the same counterrevolutionary tactics of its northern benefactor, which indicates a maniacal cooperation between the two nations.

This situation is ominous—not just for the future of Central America, but also for the citizens of the United States. Cuba’s close involvement in the affairs of other Central and South American countries is a dangerous scenario. Cuba has posed a significant threat to the U.S. for the last 50 years.

In his November 2015 article “Cuba: A Threat to America,” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry outlined the reason why this haven for Marxism and tyranny should be watched with extreme care. He noted how communism is one of the greatest threats to the American way of life and to the literal survival of the nation and its inhabitants. Although the Cold War is over, Cuba still holds the same ideals that carried it through the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. Mr. Flurry wrote:

You need to beware of what is happening in Cuba! This is a dangerous world. America is like a silly dove walking right into a deadly trap. Cuba isn’t dead. Communism isn’t dead. And Cuba is reemerging as a clear and present danger to the very existence of the United States!

For more information on why you need to watch the events happening in Central America today, read Gerald Flurry’s article “Cuba: A Threat to America.”

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The World Needs Justice

Open your eyes to the injustice around you—and reach out to our last and only hope for making it right.
By Joel Hilliker
Terrorist Attack in Spain—Look, Kittens!
A general view of a carpet flower with candles and notes of condolence is seen to pay tribute to the victim of the Barcelona terrorist attack on Las Ramblas street.
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By Richard Palmer • August 24

Listen to the Aug. 24, 2017, episode of the Trumpet Daily Radio Show.

Dutch police announced today that they had stopped yet another terrorist attack—this time at a rock concert in Rotterdam. In Spain, Twitter users were sharing pictures of kittens so that people wouldn’t have to see the dead bodies on the streets of Barcelona. But refusing to face reality is not a solution.

Elsewhere though there are signs of a shift in Europe. The terrorist attacks in Europe will keep getting worse until there is a response. TheTrumpet.comassistant managing editor Richard Palmer examines where this is leading and what this response will look like.

Also on today’s program, we discuss Anne Applebaum’s statement, “Germany must abandon its military reluctance and lead,” and why Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is listed as the third-most likely individual to be Germany’s next chancellor.

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The Fall of the British Royal Family

This has been a bad year for Britain and its royal family. And here is why it will get much worse—before it gets better than you can even imagine!
By Gerald Flurry
Iran Pushes Into the Atlantic
Marines of the Iranian Army
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Iran’s military strategy for the Atlantic could threaten America if it succeeds—and threaten Europe if it fails.

By Anthony Chibarirwe • August 24

Iranian naval officials have recently announced advanced plans to deploy warships in the Atlantic Ocean, following parliamentary approval for a $500 million spending package for the Iranian military.

On August 13, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari declared: “No foreign military official could even imagine that the Iranian naval forces might reach the Atlantic Ocean. No one saw it likely that Iranian forces could sail around Africa [through] the Suez Canal, but they proved to be capable of doing that. On cnn, the Americans drew a line from [the Iranian port city of] Bandar Abbas to the Atlantic and said Iran by no means was capable of entering the ocean and passing through it, but we reached the Atlantic, and we will go to the west of the ocean in the near future.”

In November 2016, Iran claimed to have reached the South Atlantic Ocean via South Africa with 44 flotilla, which included its Alvand and Bushehr destroyers. It appears that it is planning to reach the North Atlantic either via friendly host countries like South Africa, Venezuela and/or Cuba, or via the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.

The cnn video that Sayyari referred to last week was likely from 2011. In it, Sayyari himself is quoted as threatening to deploy Iranian naval ships into the Atlantic and establish “a powerful presence close to American marine borders” to reciprocate American presence in the Persian Gulf. At the time, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the Obama administration did not take Sayyari’s comments seriously, “given that they [did] not reflect at all Iran’s naval capabilities.” As cnn’s Brian Todd explained back then, Iranians would have to overcome massive maintenance and refueling challenges if they attempted to sail 9,500 miles from Iran to America’s East Coast via the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.

A lot has changed in six years, and Sayyari appeared to be reminding the world about that.

Six years ago, Sayyari served as navy commander in the Iranian administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which frequently spewed insanely bombastic and terrifyingly apocalyptic rhetoric that many thought did not match the Islamic Republic’s military capabilities.

Today, Sayyari still serves as navy commander, but in the administration of Hassan Rouhani, which has toned down some of the rhetoric, earned international legitimacy, acquired billions of American dollars, and beefed up Iran’s military competencies.

Sayyari bragged to reporters: “All equipment and facilities of the Navy are now home-produced, and in addition, Iran’s Navy is also self-sufficient in education and human resources.” Some of Iran’s domestic ships could be nuclear powered and capable of waging electronic warfare.

Sayyari has also indicated that Iran’s Atlantic exercises would involve the Sahand: Iran’s most advanced destroyer, which reportedly has 30 percent more stealth capability than any other domestically manufactured Iranian destroyer.

In the past few years, Iran has been increasing its presence in international waters to secure shipping routes and to protect its commercial vessels and oil tankers from pirates. It has expanded beyond its regional presence in the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, and it has deployed as far east as the Indian Ocean, the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea, and as far west as the Gulf of Aden, the Bab el-Mandeb, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea and possibly the South Atlantic. In February, Iran conducted its largest naval exercises, code-named Velayat 95, which is a reference to a religious doctrine about Iran’s theocratic authority. The exercises covered 2 million square kilometers from the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean to the Bab el-Mandeb in the Gulf of Aden.

Indeed, much has changed in six years.

But there’s also a lot that hasn’t changed. Sayyari’s announcement last week seemed to be a reminder to the world that Iran’s intent to confront America remains unchanged.

Iran’s leaders have said that its latest push into the Atlantic is a response to new U.S. sanctions on Tehran. When the Iranian parliament voted to increase defense spending by $500 million, about half of which was earmarked for ballistic missiles, lawmakers reportedly chanted, “Death to America.” President Rouhani threatened to revert to Iran’s pre-nuclear deal aggression, and Iranian military officials said that their country “faces an enemy that only understands the language of force” and that “they cannot speak to the enemy with another language.”

In recent weeks and months, Iranian drones and patrol boats have repeatedly endangered U.S. jets and ships in the Persian Gulf.
Beyond Psychological Warfare

It was plainly and painfully evident how unhinged and dangerous Iran’s leaders were during the presidency of Ahmadinejad. He spoke often about it. Sometimes he exaggerated the threat his military posed. Sometimes he understated it. It is quite common for Iranian leaders to lie about their military capabilities and then brag about that deception. They believe in the Islamic doctrine of Taqiyya—permissible deceit and lying toward non-Muslims. Al-Muhallab, an eighth-century Muslim authority, once declared, “You must use deception in war, for it is more effective than reinforcements.”

Deception or no, it ought to be plainly evident that Iran has been reinforcing its military and naval capabilities.

In a June 30, 2016, article titled “Iran Forges Ahead With Atlantic Ambitions,” security and defense policy analyst Abbas Qaidaari wrote for Al-Monitor:

To be clear, aspects related to psychological warfare are more important than the military aspect of the planned Atlantic Ocean deployment. Iran’s limited fleet is incapable of facing possible threats of much stronger naval fleets. However, the presence of a middle power such as Iran in the Atlantic Ocean could have a major psychological impact on its rivals, especially the United States. It thus appears that Iran, just as is the case with its missile program, is trying to use its navy to achieve the goals of its broader gunboat diplomacy. In other words, rather than passively seeking to decrease tension caused by the presence of foreign fleets in the Persian Gulf, it is trying to kick the ball in the other side’s court through these kinds of measures.

It remains to be seen if Iran is actually capable of reaching the Atlantic and going “to the west of the ocean,” as Sayyari threatened. But if the furthest the Iranian Navy can sail is the east of the ocean, those who will be most threatened by that deployment will be the Europeans.

So far, Iran poses a comparatively distant and indirect threat to the U.S. mainland. The threat it poses to Europe is more immediate and direct. Bible prophecy shows why this geopolitical reality is significant.

Consider the Islamic State. It was partially a reaction to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Islamic State does want to attack the U.S. mainland, and some few of its so-called “lone wolf” soldiers already have. But look at the Islamic State’s “lone wolves” among America’s allies in Europe. A threat by Islamists to America is also a threat to America’s allies in Europe. Iran’s threats to deploy to the Atlantic threaten Europe’s western coast as much as they threaten America’s east coast, if not more.

Daniel 11:40 states, “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.”

For over two decades, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has warned that Iran is the “king of the south” and a German-led Europe is the “king of the north” in this end-time prophecy.

Ultimately, it will not be the United States unleashing this whirlwind attack, which apparently will end Iranian terrorism once and for all. It will be Europe. Request Mr. Flurry’s free booklet The King of the South to see just how specific the Bible is about Iran’s future. Then watch Iran’s military activities in the Red Sea, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, and watch how the nations closest to those waters react.

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China Invades the Antarctic
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Beijing is pursuing strategic interests in the Southern Ocean.

By Callum Wood • August 24

China is invading Australian territory—in Antarctica. This was the conclusion found by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (aspi) on August 17. aspi warned that the Chinese buildup could threaten Australia, the United States and the world.
The Antarctic Treaty

The fears raised in the report stem from China’s disregard of the Antarctic Treaty. Signed in 1959, the treaty states that the Antarctic is for peaceful purposes only, with freedom of scientific observation. The agreement is that those observations should be made available to all and that there is to be no military buildup unless it is to support the scientists. All claims of sovereignty are put on ice—pun intended—while the treaty is in place.

Though it agreed to the treaty, China doesn’t quite interpret it the same way its fellow signatories do.

As the report noted, “China interprets Antarctic sovereignty as undetermined.” As such, China is working hard to stake its claim. It has done so by establishing new bases, making geographical discoveries, naming hundreds of new sites, and adding major increases to its budget at a time when Antarctic funding for other nations is melting away. These projects are tantamount to one big Chinese land grab.

The Chinese are claiming the region and simultaneously keeping it quiet. Chinese media outlets have been purposefully mistranslating Chinese President Xi Jinping’s comments. During a 2014 visit to Tasmania, Xi said he looked forward to working alongside Australia to “exploit” the Antarctic. But China Daily toned it back to “exploring.”

China is exploiting the treaty and the international community that is unwilling to stop it.
Military Buildup

The report noted various military buildups that China has begun, all of which it claims to be mere support elements for the scientists.

The Antarctic expeditions’ helicopter support is contracted to a Chinese military company. It uses a fleet of amphibious vehicles designed by People’s Liberation Army engineers that can be used for both peaceful and military applications.

China is exploiting the hazy military restrictions of the treaty. Furthermore, China has failed to disclose its military presence in Antarctica. Each year, nations must file paperwork explaining their presence in the region. China recently omitted details on its military personnel—despite parka-clad proof of their presence.

And it isn’t just snow boots on the ground that have dual uses. The polar research stations themselves can serve both peaceful scientific functions and military functions.

China’s BeiDou satellite system is the Chinese equivalent to America’s Global Positioning System. The aspi report stated:

China’s polar research stations play a crucial role in helping the People’s Liberation Army (pla) enhance its command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4isr) system capabilities, missile timing and missile positioning via the BeiDou satellite system.

Having the system available in Antarctica is crucial for expanding BeiDou’s satellite coverage. Many nations would be uneasy having such technology set up in their backyard. There is no such problem in Antarctica.

China established satellite receiving and processing stations at both the Changcheng and Zhongshan Station facilities in 2010 and at Kunlun in 2013.

China has even stated how important Antarctica is for its BeiDou system. In its 2012–2013 annual report, Beijing said Antarctica was invaluable for “preparing for the facilitation or interference of precision missile strikes and for targeting and communicating with various satellite systems.”

And as the aspi report noted, “China’s use of this technology during a conflict would greatly enhance its defensive capabilities in an air-sea battle in its near seas.”

The report further noted, “China’s military activities in Antarctica—along with those of the other major nuclear powers that use their Antarctic bases to control offensive weapons systems—have the potential to shift the strategic balance that has maintained peace in the Asia-Pacific, as well as in Antarctica, for nearly 70 years.”
Control

The aspi report made another alarming statement:

Any state that dominates the airspace of Antarctica—currently, only the U.S. can do so—could potentially control air access to all Oceania, South America and Africa. China is setting up an intercontinental Antarctic air route and can be expected to use pla Air Force planes in due course to expand capacity and build polar experience.

Don’t be fooled by Antarctic’s appearance on an average map. It is closer to crucial choke points than you may realize. An air base in Antarctica would be within reach of southern Australia, the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn. All three of these points have high levels of maritime traffic.

If China can establish a military presence close to these sea-lanes, it can break free of a reliance on gates and choke points around the Pacific.

In 2015, aspi executive director Peter Jennings said, “We should have no illusions about the deeper agenda—one that has not even been agreed to by Chinese scientists but is driven by Xi, and most likely his successors.” He continued, “A big driver of Chinese policy is to secure long-term energy supply and food supply.”

China wants the cross-arctic air and Southern Ocean trade route. While it controls many of the world’s pivotal sea gates, contingencies through the Antarctic are an essential backup.

The Antarctic Treaty was created as a Cold War instrument. U.S. naval dominance was established in the Asia-Pacific in the 1950s to defend a series of island chains against the spread of communism. A link formed from the North Pole to the South Pole. That link established U.S. control from the Bering Sea to America’s Amundsen-Scott Base in the Antarctic.

The Trumpet often writes on China’s efforts to challenge that regional power. One example is the South China Sea, where China is repeatedly ignoring international law in an attempt to control a major maritime passage. Why should the “undetermined” Antarctic sovereignty be any different? Expect China to continue to exploit the region for its own gain, both economically and militarily.

“Breaking the U.S. military’s strategic dominance in the Asia-Pacific would greatly enhance China’s security and enable it to gain the upper hand in multiple maritime territorial disputes,” the aspi report warned.

The Trumpet has issued its own warning—not based on what we see in the world but on what your Bible promises. Your Bible states that China will dominate key trade routes in our modern era. To see what the Bible says about modern China, request your free copy of Russia and China in Prophecy.

Read the prophecy in Deuteronomy 28. Herbert W. Armstrong prophesied for decades during the 20th century that the siege in Deuteronomy 28:52 symbolized the American economy sustaining heavy damage inflicted by foreign competition: “And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates.”

Those gates refer to strategic choke points in world trade, which today include the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn.

Mr. Gerald Flurry wrote, “Who has those gates? America and Britain have or had the gates, and we are going to be besieged in all of them. We have already virtually lost control of all of them. This is a prophecy for this end time.”

That is why the Trumpet watches China’s rise so closely. Developments in Antarctica might appear to be a world away, but don’t shrug them off. When viewed through the lens of Bible prophecy, China’s activity to the south might directly affect you in the immediate future.

Germany’s Boring Election

By Richard Palmer • August 23

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Demonstrators rally for the removal of a Confederate statue coined Silent Sam on the campus of the University of Chapel Hill on August 22, 2017 in Chapel Hill North Carolina.
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How Can People Obsessed With the Past Know So Little About History?

By Stephen Flurry • August 23

Listen to the Aug. 23, 2017, episode of the Trumpet Daily Radio Show.

America’s radical left is carrying out an assault on the nation’s history. Its adherents are destroying statues of figures that make them feel uncomfortable, erasing events from textbooks that don’t fit their agenda, and physically attacking anyone who disagrees with them. They are obsessed with declaring their version of history, while they ignore the true and documented historical context and every other piece of evidence that doesn’t support their version of past events. On today’s Trumpet Daily Radio Show, we ask how people so obsessed with the past actually know so little about history.

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