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APRIL 4, 20141

THE TRUMPET WEEKLYTHE TRUMPET WEEKLYA P R I L 4 , 2 0 1 4

PA sets new conditions for peace 2

U.S. to reevaluate role in Middle East peace process 4

Apocalyptic Syrian battle for end of time 5

EU launches fullest observation program ever 6

Queen meets the pope 11

BY JEREMIAH JACQUES

D

V,On behal o the Communist Party and the people

o China, I would like to sincerely thank you or your

recent actions in Ukraine.When I saw Red Army troops marching into Crimea,

my memory flashed back to the Budapest Memorandumthe United States signed with the Ukrainians in . Inthat agreement, the Americans promised that i Ukraineoreited its nuclearweapons, then theUnited States wouldprotect it rom anyuture invasions.

Tis is the test,Isaid to my col-

leagues. I theAmericans let com-rade Putin invadeand annex Crimea,and they pretendthe Budapest

Memorandum neverhappened, then theyhave aded into geo-

political irrelevance.Te Ukrainians

cried out or America to honor its promise, but, Vladimir,you marched in there gung-ho! You pried Crimea back

into Russias embrace. And against you and your troops,Mr. Obama deployed only rhetoricand a set o sanctionssofer than tou.

It was a beautiul sight or these eyes o mine to witness.And one joy scatters a hundred gries.

You understand why I have presented my support oryou in this matter somewhat sofly, so ar. One o ourancient proverbs says a man cannot help shoots grow bypulling them up higher. It is not the correct hour to upsettoo many Westerners. But make no error, comrade: Iand. billion o my ellow communistsstand at your back.

O course, neither the Russian Bear nor the Chinese

Dragon currently has the military might to withstand opencombat against the United States. But we both have some-thing o which Washington is totally beref, as you have

proven. We have the willto fight. What does muscle matter,dear Vladimir, i it is never flexed? I thank you or provingthat Washingtons days o flexing its muscle and wielding itsbutterfly sword are ancient history. You have drawn the punc-tuation mark on the conclusion o Pax Americana.

As that eraends, you andI are ree toexpand ourterritories andour influencein a way that

we have neverbeore enjoyed.Mr. Obamadid nothingto stop yourom orceullytaking Crimea.My nation nowknows we canuse orce todominate the

disputes we have in the South China Sea.Regarding this topic, youll have to pardon me i I give

mysel a bow o congratulation since I eel that I may havepartially inspired your brave Crimean moves. I knowyou must have watched closely rom the Kremlin back inNovember when I declared a massive expansion o Chinasairspace into waters claimed by South Korea and Japan. Weused this action to intimidate two o our most significantneighbors, to punish two American allies, and to openlychallenge Mr. Obamas Asian pivot.

Washington could have declared Chinas claim to benull. Mr. Obama could have told Americas commercialairlines to act in solidarity with those o Japan, and deymy orders.

A Special Thank You

see THANK YOU page 12

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APRIL 4, 20142THE TRUMPET WEEKLY

MIDDLE EAST

PA Sets NewConditions for Peace

JERUSALEM POST | April 3

T P Authority hasset new conditions or agreeing toextend the peace talks with Israel aferApril, PA officials in Ramallah saidTursday.

wo o the new conditions includeIsraeli recognition o the pre-

lines as the uture borders o a Pales-tinian state with East Jerusalem as itscapital and the release o , morePalestinian prisoners, the officialssaid.

Te Palestinian Authority is nowdemanding that Israel release threesenior terrorists: Marwan Barghouti,Ahmed Saadat and Fuad Shobaki.

Te conditions also include a com-plete cessation o settlement construc-tion, the imposition o PA sovereignty

over Area C in the West Bank, a haltto Israeli military operations in PA-controlled territories, and reunionpermits or some , Palestinians.

Still other conditions includereopening the Gaza border crossings,lifing the blockade on the Gaza Strip,and permitting the return o Palestin-ian terrorists who were deported tothe Gaza Strip and Europe afer theysought shelter rom the in theChurch o the Nativity in Bethlehem

in .Te conditions were announced

during a meeting o Fatah leaders withchie negotiator Saeb Erekat inRamallah.

A Fatah leader quoted Erekat assaying that he relayed the new con-ditions to the Israeli side during ameeting in Jerusalem late Wednesday.Erekat and Majed Faraj, commandero the PAs General Intelligence Ser-

vice, held a nine-hour meeting with

America Under AttackMany authorities say America is going the way of ancientRomebut its worse than they fear. America is under attack

from a real but invisible army.GERALD FLURRY

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Justice Minister zipi Livni and U.S.envoy Martin Indyk.

Ziad Abu Ein, a Fatah official whoattended the meeting in Ramallahwith Erekat, said that i Israel accepts

these conditions and releases theourth batch o prisoners, then the PAwould agree to pursue the negotiationsuntil the end o the year.

Abu Ein said that the PalestinianAuthority is determined to pursue itsbid to join international institutionsand treaties despite a request romIsrael to delay the move so as to givethe Americans a chance to continuetheir efforts to achieve an agreementbetween the two sides.

Abu Ein and other Palestinian

officials said that the PA leadershipsgoal now is to seek membership in theInternational Criminal Court as a firststep toward prosecuting Israelis or

war crimes against Palestinians.

Putin Arms AssadBLOOMBERG | April 3

P V Putin, con-demned by or annexingCrimea, is now deying the U.S. inSyria by sending more and deadlierarms to help Bashar Assad score astring o advances against insurgents,military experts say.

Assads army, seeking to end athree-year civil war thats killed, people and displaced mil-lion, started using longer-range Rus-sian Smerch and Uragan rockets orthe first time in February, accordingto Janes Deense Weekly and Strator,a U.S. geopolitical research company.

Syria has also intensified the use oMiG- fighter jets with ground-attack capabilities, Strator said, citinganalyses o video ootage.

Russia is now doing everything toensure that Assad wins convincingly,Alexei Malashenko, a Middle Eastanalyst at the Moscow Carnegie Cen-ter, said by phone. I Russia can showits capable o carrying out its ownoreign policy, regardless o Americaswishes, it will be a major achievement
https://www.thetrumpet.com/key_of_david/1448https://www.thetrumpet.com/key_of_david/1448https://www.thetrumpet.com/key_of_david/1445https://www.thetrumpet.com/key_of_david/1442https://www.thetrumpet.com/key_of_david/1437https://www.thetrumpet.com/key_of_david/1437https://www.thetrumpet.com/key_of_david/1442https://www.thetrumpet.com/key_of_david/1445https://www.thetrumpet.com/key_of_david/1448

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or Putin.

Putin, who last year averted U.S.airstrikes on Syria by brokering achemical weapons accord, is seek-ing to prolong the rule o his closestArab ally, ignoring U.S. and EuropeanUnion calls or Assad to step down.

Te Russian strategy has actuallynot changed, its just that theyre nolonger hiding behind a diplomatic a-cade since Crimea, Oubai Shahbandar,an adviser to the Syrian opposition,said by phone rom Washington.

Te U.S. has inormation about an

increase in the quantity and qualityo Russian arms flows to Syria, Assis-tant Secretary o State Anne Pattersonsaid on March .

Russias confidence in Assads holdon power has increased as the conflicthas evolved in his avor, [ormer Rus-sian ambassador to Syria Alexander]Zotov said in an interview in Moscow.No one is talking about Geneva or now, Zotov said, reerring tothe next possible rounds o talks afer

Geneva collapsed in February.

Assads victory over insurgentswill change everything in the MiddleEast or Russia, [Fyodor] Lukyanov[head o the Council on Foreign andDeense Policy in Moscow] said byphone. Putin, who has rekindled So-

viet ties with Egypts new military rul-ers through multibillion-dollar armscontracts, railed against the NorthAtlantic reaty Organization or usinga UN-backed no-fly zone to oust thelate Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi

F days I have beencoming here to get oodassistance or me and my ourchildren. Every time, I get turnedaway and promised aid i I come

back the next day. But thesepromises are empty.

With that, the middle-agedwoman unscrewed the cap off thebottle, raised it above her headand emptied its contents. Shethen took out a lighter and sethersel on fire. Her our childrenlooked on.

One out o a ull reu-gees who have arrived in Lebanonafer fleeing the Syrian civil war,Mariam Abdelkader resorted to

the only means she could think oto get attention. Her sel-immola-tion at a UN registration center inripoli on March il lustrates thedesperate plight o Syrians escap-ing comparable horrors in theirhome country.

In the past months, millionSyrians have flooded over theborder into Lebanon, effectivelyincreasing the small countryspopulation by percent. By absorbing so many reugees, at

a current rate o , per week, Lebanon itsel is in dangero igniting.Until now, Lebanon has worked tirelessly to extinguish

tensions within its own ractured populace. However, whilethe UN is doing its part to eed and house many o theSyrians, the reugees are a lso flooding Lebanons workplacewith cheap labor, undercutting already poor Lebanesecommunities. Te severity o this reugee crisis in Lebanonwould be extremely difficult or any well-governed, finan-cially successul state to handle. Unortunately, Lebanon,

the country whose arms outreached the widest, has neitherthe leadership nor the unds to continue supporting the

reugees and provide or its own people at the same time.As the Syrian wildfire burns on, reugees will continueto blow over the mountains into Lebanon. Internationalagencies are desperately needed to mitigate the situa-tion on the ground. However, as much as they try to backburn, there are already enough embersfloating around inLebanon to set the country ablaze. Nonetheless, as we havereported in the rumpet,there is a positive outcometo thecoming civil war in Lebanon. Regrowth is on the way.

Follow Brent Nagtegaal: Twitter

Burned With FireBrent Nagtegaal | April 2
https://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11502.19.0.0/middle-east/syria/burned-with-fire-influx-of-syrian-refugees-threatens-lebanons-stabilityhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11502.19.0.0/middle-east/syria/burned-with-fire-influx-of-syrian-refugees-threatens-lebanons-stabilityhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11372.31330.0.0/middle-east/the-bloody-cedar-revolution-approaches-in-lebanonhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11372.31330.0.0/middle-east/the-bloody-cedar-revolution-approaches-in-lebanonhttps://twitter.com/dutchdingohttps://twitter.com/dutchdingohttps://twitter.com/DanMcNorton/status/451697727806517248https://twitter.com/dutchdingohttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11372.31330.0.0/middle-east/the-bloody-cedar-revolution-approaches-in-lebanonhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11372.31330.0.0/middle-east/the-bloody-cedar-revolution-approaches-in-lebanonhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11502.19.0.0/middle-east/syria/burned-with-fire-influx-of-syrian-refugees-threatens-lebanons-stabilityhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11502.19.0.0/middle-east/syria/burned-with-fire-influx-of-syrian-refugees-threatens-lebanons-stability

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in . Putin has gained the upper hand in

Syria .

The New Iran EnvoyFOX NEWS | March 31

F A hostage BarryRosen, held by student extrem-ists at the U.S. Embassy in ehran

or more than a year, said Monday itwould be an outrage and disgracei Washington gave a visa to one o themilitants recently named by Iran as itsnew UN ambassador.

Iran wants to send HamidAboutalebi to New York as its new UNambassador. He may be a -year-old

veteran diplomat, but it turns out thatAboutalebi was apparently a membero the hard-line Muslim student groupthat in took over the U.S. em-bassy in ehran or days and held

American diplomats hostage. Tis is a thumb in the eye o the

United States, charged ormer U.S.Ambassador to the United NationsJohn Bolton. Tis is really Irans am-bassador in America since they haveno direct diplomatic ties, and I thinkthat it is intended to show that this re-gime, despite some o the P.R. movesweve heard about it, is still the sameundamentally anti-American regimeits been since .

Under existing UN agreements, itappears that the White House mayhave its hands tied in trying to stopAboutalebi rom representing theIslamic Republic o Iran.

I Aboutalebi is allowed in andtakes up residence in Irans opulentFifh Avenue limestone mansion, hecertainly will be ehrans chie advo-cate in America, Bolton said.

U.S. to Evaluate Rolein Middle East PeaceProcess

WALL STREET JOURNAL | April 4

T O administration willreevaluate its role in ounderingMiddle East peace talks ollowingnegative steps by both Israel and thePalestinians that have brought thenegotiations to virtual collapse, U.S.

Secretary o State John Kerry saidFriday.

A clearly distressed Kerry, who hasspent the better part o his -monthtenure as Americas top diplomat try-ing to cajole the parties into talks, saidit is reality check time or the peaceprocess.

Speaking to reporters in Rabatbeore traveling to Casablanca or ameeting with the king o Morocco,Mr. Kerry said, We are going to

evaluate very careully exactly wherethis is and where it might possibly beable to go.

Noting the other pressing issues heis dealing withincluding Ukraine,Iran and SyriaMr. Kerry said, thereare limits to the amount o time andeffort that the U.S. can spend i theparties themselves are unable to takeconstructive steps.

He said it is regrettable that in the

last ew days both sides have takensteps that are not helpul and thatsevident to everybody.

Mr. Kerry said the talks arentopen-ended and its reality checktime and we intend to evaluate pre-cisely what the next steps will be.

Why the MediaDoesnt Cover JihadistAttacksTHE BLAZE | April 1

T human rights trag-edy o our timeradical Muslimpersecution o Christians, includingin Palestinian-controlled areasisdevotedly ignored.

In , percent o the MiddleEast was Christian. oday, less than percent is.

Far rom helping these Christianvictims, U.S. policies are actually

T down a Syrian warplane on March that itclaims was violating urkish airspace. Te action enragedthe Syrian government and put additional strain on relationsbetween urkey and one o Syrias main supportersIran.

Military aggression has been present along the border

or years, and urkey has remained relatively detachedrom the goings-on in Syria. However, the longer the civilwar lasts, the more opportunity or urkey to be suckedin. Another way urkey has been working against Ira-nian and Syrian interests is by aiding the rebels. urkishPresident Recep ayyip Erdoan has supplied the FreeSyrian Army with weapons throughout most o the civilwar, but plays an even more important role in being a saehaven or rebels wanting to enter or exit Syria. Many othe crossings into urkey rom Syria are out o Assadscontrol, and they a llow rebels to have easy access into andout o the fighting.

urkeys porous border and its willingness to supportthe more moderate o the rebel actions are in direct op-position to Irans interests. Te urks intervention in Syriais just one reason urkeys relationship with Iran is deterio-rating. Ankara is currently allowing the Kurds o northernIraqwho run their own semi-autonomous regiontosell oil through urkey. Te Iraqi government sees this asthe Kurds smuggling oil out o Iraq, and has promised

to punish both Kurds and urks or agreeing to the deal.Iran is a strong supporter o the current Iraqi government,which is led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

As is the case with Syria, the urks are unlikely toendear themselves to Iran by aggravating one o ehransclosest Middle East allies. urkeys actions are uncharac-teristically bold, considering how heavily it relies on Iranor oilit imports at least , barrels o crude oil perday. For a decade, the relationship between urkey andIran has been based on strengthening trade and energyties. oday it appears as i urkey is willing to shake theoundations o that relationship.

Turkey Fights Syria, IranCallum Wood | March 30
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exacerbating their sufferings. Whether

in unisia, Libya, Egypt or Syria, andunder the guise o the U.S.-supported

Arab Spring, things have gotten dra-matically worse or Christians.

Tere, is o course, a very importantreason why the mainstream mediaignores radical Muslim persecutiono Christians: i the ull magni-tude o this phenomenon was everknown, many cornerstones o themainstream mediamost prominentamong them, that Israel is oppressive

to Palestinianswould immediately

crumble.Why? Because radical Muslim per-

secution o Christians throws a wrenchin the medias otherwise well-oiled nar-rative that radical-Muslim-violence-is-a-product-o-Muslim-grievancechie among them Israel.

However, i radical Muslims get aree pass when their violence is direct-ed against those stronger than them,how does one rationalize away their

violence when it is directed against

those weaker than themin this case,

millions o indigenous Christians?Te media simply cannot portray

radical Muslim persecution o Chris-tianswhich in essence and ormamount to unprovoked pogromsas a

land dispute or a product o griev-ance (i anything, it is the ostracizedand persecuted Christian minoritieswho should have grievances). Andbecause the media cannot articulateradical Islamic attacks on Christiansthrough the grievance paradigm that

C Syria kills hundreds o thousands o peopleand spreads unrest across the Middle East. Iranianorces battle anti-Shiite fighters in Damascus, and theregion braces or an ultimate showdown.

I the scenario sounds amiliar to an anxious world

watching Syrias devastating civil war, it resonates evenmore with Sunni and Shiite fighters on the rontlineswhobelieve it was all oretold in seventh-century prophecies.

From the first outbreak o the crisis in the southern cityo Daraa to apocalyptic orecasts o a Middle East soakedin blood, many combatants on both sides o the conflictsay its path was set , years ago in the sayings o theProphet Mohammad and his ollowers.

Among those many thousands o sayings, or hadith,are accounts which reer to the conrontation o two hugeIslamic armies in Syria, a great battle near Damascus, andintervention rom the north and west o the country.

Te power o those prophecies or many fighters on

the ground means that the three-year-old conflict is moredeeply rootedand ar tougher to resolvethan a simplepower struggle between President Bashar Assad and hisrebel oes.

Syrias war has killed more than , people, drivenmillions rom their homes and lef many more dependenton aid. Diplomatic efforts, ocused on the political ratherthan religious actors driving the conflict, have made noheadway.

I you think all these mujahideen came rom across theworld to fight Assad, youre mistaken, said a Sunni Mus-lim jihadi who uses the name Abu Omar and fights in one

o the many anti-Assad Islamist brigades in Aleppo.Tey are all here as promised by the prophet. Tis is thewar he promisedit is the Grand Batt le, he told Reuters,using a word which can also be translated as slaughter.

On the other side, many Shiites rom Lebanon, Iraq andIran are drawn to the war because they believe it pavesthe way or the return o Imam Mahdia descendent othe prophet who vanished , years ago and who willreemerge at a time o war to establish global Islamic rulebeore the end o the world.

According to Shiite tradition, an early sign o his returncame with the Iranian revolution, which set up an Is-lamic state to provide fighters or an army led by the mahdito wage war in Syria afer sweeping through the MiddleEast.

Tis Islamic revolution, based on the narratives that wehave received rom the prophet and imams, is the preludeto the appearance o the mahdi, Iranian cleric and parlia-mentarian Ruhollah Hosseinian said last year.

He cited comments by an eighth-century Shiite imamwho said another sign o the Mahdis return would be abattle involving warriors fighting under a yellow bannerthe color associated with Lebanons pro-Assad Hezbollahmilitia.

As Imam Sadeq has stated, when the (orces) with yel-low flags fight anti-Shiites in Damascus and Iranian orces

join them, this is a prelude and a sign o the coming o hisholiness, Hosseinian was quoted as saying by Fars news

agency. We have here mujahideen rom Russia, America, the

Philippines, China, Germany, Belgium, Sudan, India andYemen and other places, said Sami, a Sunni rebel fighterin northern Syria. Tey are here because this [is] what theprophet said and promised, the Grand Battle is happening.

Both sides emphasize the ultimate goal o establish-ing an Islamic state which will rule the world beore totalchaos.

Hundreds o thousands o people will be killed. Tewhole region will be shaken rom the Arabian Peninsula toIraq, Iran and Jerusalem, according to some texts.

Saudi Arabia will collapse. Almost every country in theMiddle East will ace unrest. One statement says bloodwill reach knee-level.

Abu Hsaasan, a -year-old pensioner rom south Leba-non, said he once thought the prophecies o the end o dayswould take centuries to come about. Tings are movingast. I never thought that I would be living the days o theImam. Now, with every passing day I am more and moreconvinced that it is only a matter o ew years beore heappears.

Apocalyptic Syrian Battle for End of TimeREUTERS | April 1

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works so well in explaining the Arab-Israeli conflict, their main recourse isnot to report on them at all.

I mainstream media were to reporthonestly on Christian persecution atthe hands o radical Islamists so manybedrocks o the lefist narrativecurrently dominating political

discourse would crumble, first andoremost, the idea that radical Islamicintolerance is a product o griev-ances, and that Israel is responsibleor all jihadist terrorism against it.

TW I N B R I E F

n Israel wants Persia backAt the turn o another Iranian newyear on March , some Israeli o-ficials took advantage o the oppor-tunity to recall Irans history with

the Jews in an effort to oster peace

and bring about a return to a rela-tionship that existed , years ago.

Te Jewish people, and the Persianpeoplethe Iranian peoplehave a

very long history, and were going tohave a longer uture, Israeli PresidentShimon Peres said. Our history is ahappy history, the relations between

your people and our people are morethan good. Tere certainly is a longhistory between the two nations. Agreat king in Persia named Cyrusaided the Jewish people in theirrelocation back to Judea ollowing years o exile in Babylon. But plentyo sand has blown across the desertsince the days o Cyrus the Great. Terelationship between Jews and Ira-nians today bears little resemblanceto its ormer glory. Cyrus the Greathas been replaced with Khamenei the

Dictator, and Persia has been replaced

with Iran. oday, Iranian leaders callor the complete annihilation o thenation o Israel. While the names

Persia and Iran are interchange-able, their respective meanings areenlightening. Iran means land o theAryans. Te Nazi party recognizedthe Iranian people as the pure-blood-

ed descendants o the Aryan race, andofen spoke o the close ties that thetwo nations supposedly held throughthis bloodline. When war broke out,Iran was neutral, but the shah wasconsidered a riend o the Axis pow-ers. Tis pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic his-tory is still within living memory. YetPeres seems to ignore thatinsteadocusing on people who lived ,years ago. Peres can dream or a yearo peace, but ultimately, as recent his-tory and Bible prophecy show, Irans

dreams are radically different.

EUROPE

EU Satellite Project toMonitor EarthBBC | April 3

T S- spacecraf has beenput in orbit on a mission to map the

planets surace using radar. It will beollowed by a fleet o other satellitesalso called Sentinelsover the nextfive years.

Brussels is describing its Coperni-cus program as the biggest ever eortto characterize our world. When theull satellite system is operational, itwill be producing daily some eightterabytes o data to detail the state oEarths land surace, its oceans and its

atmosphere.Europeans nations have so ar

committed . billion ($. billion)to the project. But the vision orCopernicus is that it is unendingthat every Sentinel satellite is replacedat the demise o its mission, ensuringthere is continuity o inormationdeep into this century.

Once all the Sentinel satelliteshave been launched, the Copernicusprogram will be the most efficient and

ullest Earth-observation program inthe world, said European Commis-sion President Jos Manuel Barroso.

Tis investment will allow Europeto establish itsel at the oreront o

research and innovation in a cutting-edge sectornamely, space. Manyskilled jobs have been created andmany more are yet to come.

Formal entry into service is ex-pected in about three months time,although it is likely that the platormwill start imaging the Earth as earlyas next week to begin the process oinstrument calibration.

Radar has myriad uses, rom moni-toring shipping lanes or pollution oricebergs, to mapping land suraces

to track deorestation or the peror-mance o rice production.

Sentinel-a will test a new laser-based data-relay system that will be atthe heart o the Copernicus system. Tetechnology, developed by German en-gineers, will not only handle more datathan traditional downlinks but speedthe inormations receipt on Earth.

Te laser terminal will reduce theaccess time to data rom hours tominutes, explained European Space

Agency Director General Jean-JacquesDordain. In the case o natural catas-trophes, saving time will save lives.

Five urther Sentinel-themed mis-sions with different types o sensors

should be in orbit by . Tese will be a boon to climatestudies. But the EU hopes the datawill prove to be a powerul tool also tohelp design and enorce community-wide polices, covering diverse areassuch as fish stocks management, airquality regulation and keeping tracko waste disposal practices.

Copernicus is the EUs secondmajor space project afer the Galileosatellite-navigation system, which isalso in the process o roll-out.

Russia Could AchieveUkraine in 3 to 5 DaysREUTERS | April 2

R massed all the orces itneeds on Ukraines border i itwere to decide to carry out an incur-sion into the country, and it couldachieve its objective in three to five
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days, s top military commandersaid on Wednesday.

Calling the situation incrediblyconcerning, s supreme allied

commander in Europe, U.S. Air ForceGen. Philip Breedlove, said had spotted signs o movement by a

very small part o the Russian orceovernight but had no indication thatthis was part o a withdrawal to bar-racks.

military chies are concernedthat the Russian orce on the Ukraini-an border, which they estimate standsat , soldiers, could pose a threatto eastern and southern Ukraine.

R G has begun to tighten the noose onUkraine, raising the cost o gas deliveries by percentand threatening to claw back bil lions o dollars o previousdiscounts.

Te move came as military tensions between and

Russia continued to escalate on several ronts, belyingclaims that the worlds most serious geopolitical clash sincethe Cold War is subsiding.

chie Anders Fogh Rasmussen denied claimsby Moscow that Russia is withdrawing its , troopsconcentrated near the Ukrainian border. Tis is not whatwe have seen. Tis massive military build-up can in no waycontribute to a de-escalation o the situation, so I continueto urge Russia to pull back its troops, he said.

Te alliance suspended all practical civilian andmilitary cooperation between and Russia at aclosed-door session in Brussels. Polands oreign minister,Radek Sikorski, cal led or two heavy brigades with ,

troops to be sent to the Polish-Ukrainian borderas a show o orce. German fighter jets have been sent toLithuania to bolster air deense in the Baltics, where ten-sion is also high.

Markets appear to [be] operating in a parallel universe,betting that the worst is over. Te index o Russianequities has regained most o the ground lost at the outseto the crisis in late February, while yields on Russian dollarbonds have dropped basis points to . percent.

Gazprom said it had raised the price o gas or Ukrainerom to per , cubic meters, a tariff that maysoon jump to as the Kremlin ends the lease discount

or Russias Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, rendered null andvoid by the annexation o Crimea. Tis will push Ukrainesenergy costs to crippling levels, ar above average EU costs.Gazprom claims that Ukraine owes billion or unpaidgas bills, equal to percent o .

Te EU is drawing up emergency plans to cut depen-dence on Russian energy. It is searching or ways to unnel

gas to Ukraine at a viable cost i need be, but there are seri-ous doubts over whether this can be done quickly.

Bank o America said Europe has no viable means oreeing itsel rom Russian gas and said that risk o serioussanctions against Russia is ading in any case as Mr. Pu-

tin seeks to de-escalate tensions. It even issued a buycall on Gazprom, saying the stock is already priced orthe worsta loss o all sales to Ukraineand is now thecheapest stock in our universe, trading at . times itsprice-to-earnings (PE) ratio this year.

Market euphoria has been urther ueled by a report inRussian newspaper Kommersant suggesting that the U.S.and Russia are close to a ramework deal that would givethe Kremlin what it wanted, ratiying the seizure o Crimeaand agreeing to sel-government or the Russian-speakingareas o Ukrainea demand seen by Kiev as a ruse tobreak up the country.

Sources in Washington have denied the report. Te

White House shows no sign o sofening its position andhas authorized two sets o military maneuvers withUkraine this summer, Rapid rident and Sea Breeze. TeUkrainian Rada approved the joint exercises by a vote o:.

Te core dispute between Russia and the West runsdeeper than Crimea and has yet to be resolved. Mr. Putinsred line is a politically neutral Ukraine, outside the EUand the Western security apparatus.

Yet Ukraine signed an Association Agreement with theEU two weeks ago that not only binds the country into theWestern economy but also includes a military and oreign

policy alliance.Ian Bond, rom the Center or European Reorm, saidMr. Putin aims to reduce Ukraine to a vassal state bypushing or a loose ederation in Ukraine under his con-trol. He has upped the ante with a new strain o ethno-nationalism, laying a claim to all areas abroad deemed tobe historic Russia.

Gazprom Uses Gas to Tighten Noose on UkraineAmbrose Evans Pritchard, TELEGRAPH | April 1,

Te Russian orce has aircraf andhelicopter support as well as fieldhospitals and electronic wararecapabilitiesthe entire suite that

would be required to successully havean incursion into Ukraine, should thedecision be made, Breedlove said.

We think it is ready to go and wethink it could accomplish its objec-tives in between three and five days idirected to make the actions.

TW I N B R I E F

n EU plans mission to AfricaTe EU will send soldiers to the

Central Arican Republic (), aspart o , officials an-nounced on April . Te first soldierswill arrive by the end o April with the

rest arriving by May. Estonia, Finland,France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithu-ania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal,Sweden and the UK will take part,along with Georgia, which is not in theEU. Estonia, France, Georgia, Polandand Spain will send the bulk o thesoldiers, with Germany promising airtransport and Britain engineering andlogistical help. On the same day Ger-man Chancellor Angela Merkel andFrench President Franois Hollande

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gave a joint press conerence, wherethey both pledged support or the mis-sion and or each other. While France

and Germany have had some publicdisagreements over the last couple oyears, Arica has kept them unified.For the reason, see our article romthe April edition o the rumpet:TeLightweight.

n Cyprus calls on Germany to helpreunification

We have asked Germany or supportor the process o reunification, urk-ish Cypriot Foreign Minister Ozdil

Nami told Spiegel Online on April .As the rumpetreported on March ,

Cyprus is moving toward a landmarkreunification deal, motivated by thediscovery o large offshore gas deposits

south o the eastern Mediterraneanisland. We alluded to the orecastthat Cyprus would all heavily into aGerman-dominated European sphereo influence. However, we didnt predictthat it would be the urkish side oCyprus leading the overture towardEurope. One would naturally expectsouthern Cyprus to approach the Ger-mans or help in negotiations, as theyare already part o the European Union.Instead, it is urkish Cyprus, whose

policy is firmly dictated rom Ankara,asking the Europeans to get involved.

Tis reveals that urkey proper is ullybehind the reunification o Cyprus andis happy to receive German input. Tis

warming relationship between urkeyand Germanyis something the rum-

pethas orecast or years. Te oreignminister later opined that i both sidescould move quickly, reunification couldbe possible within a ew months.Continue to watch Cypriot affairs asGermany gets urther entrenched inmediating the process o reunification.Ten, ollowing successul Cypriotintegration, observe how Germany willnot give up its post, but rather continue

to be the dominant playerin post-unifi-cation Cypriot policy.

T G government is considering providing mili-tary support to Eastern European members, DerSpiegelreported on March . Te German Deense Minis-try is planning to provide six reconnaissance aircraf or airsurveillance over the Baltic states, and may also provide a

lead ship or an already existing naval orce.Six reconnaissance planes is hardly an overwhelming re-

sponse, and it will probably leave Eastern Europe wantingmore. However, it is a major step or this typically reluctantmilitary power, and one that has surprised many analysts.Moreover, German opinion polls are clear: the general pub-lic does not want any increase in German military activityin response to Russia.

Eastern Europe is turning to Germany or help aferRussias invasion o Crimea, orcing the nation to comeslowly out o its comort zone.

With the German public firmly against any kind o mili-tary conrontation with Russia, Germany has to take small

steps. But soon, in a limited way, German troops will be onthe ront lines o Europes deense against Russia. As East-ern Europe increasingly looks to Germany or protection,watch or Germany to step up to the roll. For more inor-mation, read Te Crimean Crisis Is Reshaping Europe! byeditor in chie Gerald Flurry in the May-June print editiono the rumpetmagazine.

Follow Richard Palmer: Twitter

German Air Force to Patrol Eastern EuropeRichard Palmer | April 3

ASIA

Japan Ends Ban onWeapons Exports

NEW YORK TIMES | April 2

T nation another stepaway rom its postwar pacifism, the

government o Prime Minister ShinzoAbe discarded a hal-century ban onthe export o weapons and militaryhardware on uesday .

Te decision, which had been underconsideration or years beore Mr. Abetook office, replaced the sel-imposedban dating back to the late s .

[]he move ormalizes a changethat had already begun in incremental

steps a ew years ago, as Japan createda growing number o exceptions toits export ban, known as the threeprinciples. Te principles were oneo the most visible pillars o Japans

post-World War renunciation o waralong with its pacifist constitution,which Mr. Abe has also said he wantsto revise.

Analysts said getting rid o theprinciples was partly aimed at increasing Japans regional influenceby offering its technologically so-phisticated deense hardware to othercountries locked in territorial disputeswith an increasingly assertive China.

Analysts described the decision as a

step toward Mr. Abes goal o turninglong-passive Japan into a more pro-active player in regional security.

American officials, who have longurged Japan to assume more o the

deense burden, have said they willwelcome a lifing o the ban.

Japan is reacting to a shifingbalance o power in the Asia-Pacificregion brought by a relative declinein American dominance and a rapidmilitary buildup by China, analystssay. One o Japans responses has beento build military ties with nationsother than the United States, includ-ing Australia and India.

Japan has already been
https://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11399.31452.163.0/europe/france/the-lightweighthttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11399.31452.163.0/europe/france/the-lightweighthttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11473.31584.0.0/the-gas-deal-that-could-reunite-cyprushttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11473.31584.0.0/the-gas-deal-that-could-reunite-cyprushttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11503.19.0.0/middle-east/turkey/update-cyprus-calls-on-germany-to-help-reunificationhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/4366.30849.99.0/world/why-turkey-mattershttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/4366.30849.99.0/world/why-turkey-mattershttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/10543.29811.154.0/europe/cyprus/do-you-realize-what-happened-in-cyprushttps://twitter.com/NewsBureauNerdhttps://twitter.com/NewsBureauNerdhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/10543.29811.154.0/europe/cyprus/do-you-realize-what-happened-in-cyprushttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/4366.30849.99.0/world/why-turkey-mattershttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/4366.30849.99.0/world/why-turkey-mattershttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11503.19.0.0/middle-east/turkey/update-cyprus-calls-on-germany-to-help-reunificationhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11473.31584.0.0/the-gas-deal-that-could-reunite-cyprushttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11473.31584.0.0/the-gas-deal-that-could-reunite-cyprushttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11399.31452.163.0/europe/france/the-lightweighthttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11399.31452.163.0/europe/france/the-lightweight

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supplying civilian coast guard shipsto the Philippines, which is lockedin a dispute with China over controlo uninhabited islands. Experts saiduesdays move would make it easieror Japan to provide military equip-ment to help not only the Philippinesbut also Vietnam and Indonesia en-

orce their claims. Tey said the deci-sion may also be an early step towardJapans eventually taking a more directrole that could include orming mili-tary alliances with Southeast Asiancountries or dispatching Japanesewarships to jointly patrol contestedwaters.

Russia in S-400 TalksWith China

BERNAMA.COM | March 31

R China are in talks overpossible delivery o air deensemissile systems S- rium toChina, but it is too early to say aboutdeadlines or launching delivery andits amount, Director o the Federal

Service or Military-echnical Coop-eration Alexander Fomin told Russiasnews agency Itar-ass on Monday.

Consultations still continue, Iwould say so. Dialogue is on, henoted.

Publications also noted that thetwo countries were negotiating supplyrom two to our S- divisions toChina, Itar-ass said.

China Benefits FromUkraine CrisisGiorgio Cafiero, HUFFINGTONPOST | April 1

A West and Russia ace off overCrimea, China is well positioned toexploit a strategic opportunity given

the escalating tension between Wash-ington and Moscow. As has becomeChinas modus operandi in the chessgame o oreign affairs, Beijings calcu-lated silence on the Ukrainian crisisis based on several geopolitical issues:[One o which is] the China-Russiaalliance .

[H]aving stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Russia on the Syriancivil war, China vetoed three UnitedNations Security Council resolutionson the basis that Syrias sovereigntywas threatened by Western powers.

China was placed in a difficultposition when Russia was accusedo violating Ukraines sovereignty byinterering in Crimea. Fearul o beingaccused o moral hypocrisy, China didnot want to be seen as overtly sup-porting Moscow, but at the same time,

China was not eager to align with theWest against the Kremlin, given Rus-sias growing importance to Chinasoverall oreign policy.

Te emerging China-Russia alli-ance thereore serves as a counter-balance to the U.S. while advancingChinas commercial, energy andmilitary interests. Across their shared, mile border, China and Russiahave increased bilateral trade seven-old since .

Following Russias actions inCrimea, China joined other Asianpowersincluding India and Japanby neither condemning nor condon-ing the Kremlin. Beijing respondedwith careully construed ambiguity.

China was siding in Putins avor,since the annexation was a ait ac-compli.

As the West attempts to isolateand punish Russia, Moscow will haveeven more reason to turn to its Chi-nese partner, with respect to energy

exports to China, the solicitation ooreign direct investment into Rus-sia, and a military alliance against theWest.

Beijings support or Moscow vis--vis Crimea will likely remain nu-ancedand Moscow will understandwhy. By pursuing a relatively neutralstance on Ukraine, analysts willhave less reason to accuse Beijing oreacting to U.S. and Russian interer-ence in weaker nations affairs with a

double-standard. [C]hina will likely continue to

maintain a studied neutrality andsilence in terms o Ukraines utureand let Russias relationship with theWest grow increasingly cold. Chineseleaders will exploit the rising tensionbetween Washington and Moscow

when the time is right. In that regard,President Xi is every bit as talented achess player as Vladimir Putin.

Chinese MysteriesSTRATEGY PAGE | April 1

T C deense budget increased

again this year by over percent to billion. Some U.S. intelligence ana-lysts believe the real deense spendingis now closer to billion. Like othercommunist nations the Chinese keep alot o military stuff outside the deensebudget, so their actual deense spend-ing is much higher.

Official Chinese deense spend-ing has more than doubled in the lastdecade. Tis has triggered an armsrace with its neighbors. Russia is in

the midst o a new military upgradeprogram that would increase deensespending by a third and devote over billion into the next decade tobuying new equipment. Japan, alreadypossessing the most modern armedorces in the region, is increasingspending to maintain their qualitativeedge. A decade ago China and Japanspent about the same on deense, butnow China spends more than threetimes as much. Even India is alarmed.Spending only a third o what China

does, the Indian generals and ad-mirals are demanding more moneyto cope. India and China are actu-ally devoting a lot o their additionalspending to just bringing their troopsup to date. Both nations have lots ogear that was new in the s ands. Tey dont expect to be as up-to-date as the U.S., which spends over billion a year, but theres plentyo newer, much better and ofen quiteinexpensive equipment to be had.

Related: Dont Worry, Putin, Asia HasYour Back

Related: Russia Joins China in ProvokingU.S. Ally

Related: Is Japans Military Secret Aboutto Come Out?
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Meanwhile, the big mystery is figur-ing out what the Chinese military is upto with all this unofficial spending? For example the Chinese Coast Guardis not part o the deense budget but itis known to be undergoing enormousexpansion. Hundreds o new coastguard ships are being built .

o outsiders, it looks like the Chi-nese are preparing or something omi-nous. Tis is reinorced by the increas-ingly aggressive Chinese attitudestowards its neighbors over ownershipo uninhabited islands (ofen just rock

outcroppings that are barely visible atlow tide).

TW I N B R I E F

n Russia warns Ukraine againstNATO integrationRussia warned Ukraine uesdayagainst moving closer to , say-ing Kievs previous efforts to inte-grate into the deense alliance had

undesirable results. [Past attempts]led to a reezing o Russian-Ukrai-nian political contacts, a headachebetween and Russia and toa division in Ukrainian society,said Russias Foreign Ministry onthe same day that oreignministers were convening in Brus-

sels. Russias increasingly assertiveposturing toward Ukraine and otherormer Soviet states is increasinglyworrisome to European powers. Tisworry will act as a catalyst to EUunification and rearmament.

ANGLO-AMERICA

Enlightened FooleryVictor Davis Hanson, NATIONALREVIEW | April 1

P O talks aboutVladimir Putin as i he were aPennsylvania clinger who operateson outdated principles, who is drivenby ear, and whom unortunately thepost-Enlightenment mind o evenBarack Obama cannot always reach.

Obama said in [a recent] inter-view that Vladimir Putin was willingto show a deeply held grievance aboutwhat he considers to be the loss o theSoviet Union.

Is that any surprise? Why wouldPutin not show a deeply held griev-ancegiven that Russians enjoyed armore pride and influence when theyhad ar more territory and power thanthey do now?

The 21st Century WasntSupposed to Be Like ThisTHE TRUMPET DAILY | April 1

STEPHEN FLURRY

So much knowledge and technologicaladvancementyet evils multiply. Why?

Obama went on: You would have

thought that afer a couple o decadesthat thered be an awareness on thepart o any Russian leader that thepath orward is not to revert back tothe kinds o practices that, you know,were so prevalent during the Cold Warbut, in act, to move orward with

urther integration with the worldeconomy and to be a responsible inter-national citizen.

Who would have thought that?Only a nai.

Does Obama believe in a lineartrajectory o history, in which mansnature is constantly improved withgreater material bounty and ever moreeducation, until we reach the apparentpresent utopian state, where integra-tion with the world economy andbeing a responsible internationalcitizen must logically preclude mostaggression?

Tat oreign-policy scenario, giventhe nature o man, is about as believ-able as an assertion that we st-cen-

tury Americans long ago transcendedth-century rough-and-tumblepolitics and government corruption,where once upon a time presidents liedbrazenly to the people, governmentbureaus went afer an administrationspolitical enemies, and Caliornia statelegislators were acing charges o gunrunning, bribery and raud. GivenBenghazi, the AP monitoring, the and scandals, and the serialnon-enorcement o settled law, Id say

Related: Asia: Region-Wide Arms RaceUnderway

Click to Play
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T Q has met Pope Francis or the first time dur-ing a five-hour visit to Rome, receiving a gif or PrinceGeorge rom the pontiff.

Afer lunch with President Giorgio Napolitano in theQuirinale Palace, the Queen crossed the iber or a private

audience with the pope, who gave her a blue orb decoratedwith a silver cross or her -month-old great-grandson.

Its or the little boy, the Pope said in his native Span-ish, as he pointed to the orba traditional emblem o thepower o Christian monarchs.

For centuries, royal dynasties have used orbs to repre-sent their dominion, while the cross on top o it symbolizestheir Christian aitha fitting gif or a child who will oneday be King and Deender o the Faith.

It sat on a silver base on which was inscribed, in English,the words: Pope Francis to His Royal Highness PrinceGeorge o Cambridge.

Tats very nice, he will be thrilled, said the Queen

. Ten, perhaps realizing that a heavy sphere topped by across with our sharp points was not entirely suitable or ababy, she added: When hes a little older.

In return, the Queen and the Duke o Edinburgh gavePope Francis a hamper o ood and drink produced on theroyal estates o Windsor, Sandringham and Balmoral, alongwith honey produced in the gardens o Buckingham Palace.

As the Duke held up a bottle o malt whiskey, the Queensaid: Its rom Balmoral, up in Scotland, to which thepope looked slightly taken aback beore smiling.

Te hamper also included Coronation Best Bitter anda haunch o venison rom Windsor Castle, cider, quince

jelly and Granddads chutney, rom Sandringham andshortbread rom Balmoral. It was or you personally, theQueen told the pontiff.

But a Vatican spokesman said the pope would probablydonate it to a charity or the poor in Rome, in keeping with

his message o compassion or those most marginalized insociety.

It was the first meeting o the Queen and Prince Philipwith Pope Francis, , since he was elected pontiff lastMarch.

Afer a brie introduction, the three had a privatemeeting which lasted minutes. Neither the Vatican norBuckingham Palace would reveal details o what they

discussed, but as respective heads o the Anglican Churchand the Catholic Church, ecclesiastical matters were almostcertainly touched on.

Te Argentine pope gave the Queen hersel a high-qualitycopy o a parchment decree rom , in which the [CatholicChurch] declared that King Edward the Conessor, the th-century monarch, should be made a saint o the UniversalChurch rather than be regarded as solely an English saint.

Its an ecumenical messagewe have the same tradi-tions, many o the same saints, said Federico Lombardi,the Vatican spokesman. King Edward is a saint or theCatholic Church as well as or the Anglicans.

Trough a translator, Pope Francis explained in Spanish

that King Edward, who is buried in Westminster Abbey, hadbeen made a saint in , nearly a century afer his death.

Oh he was canonized was he? the Duke o Edinburghexclaimed, while the Queen thanked the pontiff: Tats

very kind, how very interesting. Te visit to the Vatican was agreed amid assurances that

the [Catholic Church] would remain neutral on the conten-tious issue o the Falkland Islands.

Te pope recently had a lengthy meeting with CristinaKirchner, the president o Argentina, who has called on hercountryman to intercede in the dispute with the UK overthe British territory in the South Atlantic. As archbishop

o Buenos Aires, the then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergogliobacked calls or the islands to be ceded to Argentina. woyears ago he said that the Argentinean soldiers who died inthe war had been trying to deend the homeland, to reclaimwhat is theirs and that Britain had usurped the islands.

The Queen Meets the PopeTELEGRAPH | April 3

the present administration is closer toBoss weed than to a promised st-century transparent politics.

As ar as Putins pre-Enlightenment,pre-Harvard brain goes, I think hewould preer to humiliate the U.S. over

Syria, empower Iran to cause nuclearmischie in the Middle East, and taketwo steps orward absorbing ormerSoviet republics while taking one stepbackward as he assures Obama oneach occasion that he has no more ter-ritorial aspirations in Europe.

Putin is reading us all too well, andthereore believes that the West is sodistracted, weak, or sel-absorbed that itmost surely has no interest in Ukraineat all. Obama misses the point that it is

precisely because we have no demon-strable interest in Ukraineeven in themarginal sense o trying to help it re-tain its autonomyand because Putinhas read that attitude very well, that hehas decided to carve it up.

Why necessarily is the st centurydifferent rom, say, the th? Are politi-cians more ethical, and less inclinedto bully, to cheat and to lie? We shouldnot conuse material and technologicalprogress with moral progress.

[W]hen we compare a th-centurypogrom to a th-century Auschwitz,or what Athenians did to Melians withwhat Mao did to his own people, orwhat the / hijackers did with whata th-century anarchist did with a

bomb, or what racist Belgians did toth-century Congolese with whatCongolese did to Congolese in the stcentury, the modern world does notcome off too well. Europe between and was a ar less bloody and less

dangerous place than Europe between and .

[U]nless the U.S. shows extraor-dinary leadership, most nations inPutins path are likely to make the nec-essary arrangements or their survivaland assure him that their prior voteso outrage were mostly or show.

What is tragic in this crisis isObamas bewilderment that Putinsstill exist in his st century. Tey do,and will in the nd century as well.

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APRIL 4 20142THE TRUMPET WEEKLY

America could have demonstrated that i a nation unilater-ally tries to K.O. the status quo, then the West will counterwith a united, strong, multilateral response.

But instead the reaction rom the White House wasdelightul ly laughable! Tey told Americas commercialairlines to obey mycommand. Ten the administrationpolitely asked me to rerain rom enorcing my territory

grab too orceully. Mr. Obama lef South Korea and Japannaked in the Chinese typhoon.

It was a decisive moment or me, and I like to think ithelped to persuade you that this is Asias hour. Who willstop us, Vladimir?

But I humbly admit that it was your unilateral takeawayo Crimea that ramped Asian aggression up to the nextrung o the ladder. China couldnt be more grateul to youor proving what many here in Beijing have long suspected:Tat America has become a paper tiger. And that underpressure, it will old like origami.

Tank you or drawing back the silken curtain onWashingtons broken willor you and I, our governments,

our peoples, Americas allies and the whole world to see.Te kanji script is on the wall.

For years, China has yearned to shake things up anddemonstrate our superiority over our neighbors. Wevewished to begin by grabbing some disputed, resource-richislands, and also by putting an end to the childish aiwanbusiness. Afer all, you cant catch a cub without going intothe tigers den. Once we can set this precedent and consoli-date these interests, we eel there is no limit in southeastAsia that can keep us rom reaching our ull potential orpower. You have shown us that the time to pounce is now,and that when it comes to American allies and influence, it

is open season.We are weighing how the Japanese will respond aferthey outsourced their deense to the U.S. ollowing WorldWar . Te Philippines, aiwan and South Korea are in asimilar situation: Asians who are reliant on Washingtonsgunpowder and rice. But with the American battleship ullo holes and rapidly sinking, they are lef with two options:Bend a knee to Beijing, or gather their katanas or battle.

Already, with the Americans ocusingineffectu-allyon you and less on containing China, Japan is takingsteps in the direction o military sel-reliance. For Japanskatanas to be a real deterrent to China, o course, theywould have to include nuclear weapons. Te Japanese have

the potential to rapidly create a nuclear arsenal, but we areamassing the political, economic and military power topressure them into a scenario o our choosing, whether ornot they develop nuclear weapons.

However, I calculate that it will not have to come to waramong the Asians.

Afer al l, what is the long-term aim? Beneath their cow-ardly kowtowing toward the U.S., dont the Japanese andKoreans yearn to overthrow the world order that the Westcreated almost as much as do the Russians and Chinese?Dont they agree that the hour has come or the First Worldto experience some Tird World conditions? I suspect they

eel that they have burned incense to America or too longalready.

Ill tell you something now, Vladimir, which is not astatement any o my predecessors would have been able tosay to any o your predecessors: In order to vanquish theWestern order, China will submit to your leadership. Let usreplace the West with the East.

It is no secret that Beijing would ultimately like to see

the whole world remade in the Chinese image. As ourancient proverb says, Tere is only one pretty child in theworld, and every mother has it. But, or now, we will settleor taking the West down a ew rungs o the ladder. And weknow we cant do it as a solo effort. Another o our prov-erbs says that only when all contribute firewood can theybuild up a strong fire. And paper cant wrap up fire.

Afer your moves in Crimea, my colleagues and I deeplyrespect you, and believe that you could be the one to thawthe ice between China and Japan, between Korea and Ja-pan, between India and China.

I Beijings goal was only regional dominance, we wouldare on our own. But to have a real effect on theglobalpow-

er balance, China, Russia and other Asian nations must allcontribute firewood, and present a unified ront. And theChinese will let you be the shogun to lead that ront. Weare prepared to write your name on the wings o a dragon.

I believe that Ukraine was only an appetizer in the greatmeal you have planned. I couldnt resist chuckling when Isaw the White House report that it is skeptical that yourRed Army build-up on Ukraines border was or peaceulpurposes. Skeptical, Mr. Obama? Skeptical? Why ever or?His childish words make the bird in my heart sing andchirp. What a gif the American voters have given us withthis president. Not only is he systematically dismantling

the nations power, but his diplomacy is an endless sourceo entertainment or my colleagues and me.Ill be visiting you in May, and my hope is that we can

push Russo-Chinese relations soaring to unprecedentedheightsto the altitude o the black-ooted albatross! Iknow that because o thick tensions with your customersin the West, you are gazing eastward in this hour as neverbeore. You have just signed a major energy deal with India,and China is very thirsty or Russian oil and gas, too. TePeoples Republic also wants to buy your SU-s fighter jetsmore than ever. It is my sincere hope that, in light o recentevents, we can finally dislodge our long stalled negotiationsover these matters. Lets make it all happen in a timely

ashion, dear Vladimir. China is ready to do its part inbacking you. Lets make this the Asian century!

Respectully and with support,Xi Jingping, President of the Peoples Republic of ChinaP.S. I admit that I was slightly uneasy with the reeren-

dum tactic you used in Crimea. As you know, Beijing isworking to bring aiwan officially under our flag, so theidea o justiying separatism by popular reerendum is nota pleasant one to me. Nevertheless, I know you elt com-pelled to put on a bit o democracy show or the West, soI cant ault you or it.

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