PART TWO OF 2016 IN REVIEW FOCUSED on Eastern Europe, Part Three focuses on major political events of 2016 in Western Europe.  Eastern Europe is experiencing a revival of Christian based political parties and in most cases a rapprochement with Russia.  Western Europe is also experiencing a revival of family-oriented, traditional-values oriented political parties skeptical of Europe and the continuation of the European Union correlated with an openness to Russia.

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ENGLAND

The United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP) an anti European Union or Euro-skeptic party emerged in the United Kingdom as similar parties emereged all over Europe, most prominently in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia Greece, Netherlands and France. UKIP was founded only a few years ago in 1991. In a short time UKIP comfortably won the 2014 European elections, received the third largest vote share in last year’s UK general election, and achieved its long-sought goal of an EU exit. With 22 members in The European Parliament, UKIP is the largest UK party in the European Parliament; it has 488 councilors active in UK local government and has placed six of its members on the Welsh National Assembly.

The UK story has extra merit since Nigel Farage, a founding member of UKIP was the first foreign leader to arrive on US soil to meet with president-elect Donald Trump.

In September of 2016 (then again in November, 2016) Farage was in the US to speak at a Trump rally before 15,000 in Jackson, Mississippi. Introducing him, Trump stated:

“On 23 June, the people of Britain voted to declare their independence — which is what we’re looking to do also, folks! —from international government.”

Mirroring the Trump introduction, Farage told the Americans gathered in Mississippi to ignore the polls and to “stand up and fight the establishment.”

“You can beat the pollsters. You can beat the commentators… Remember, anything is possible if enough decent people are prepared to stand up against the establishment.” He added: “We can overcome the big banks, we can overcome the multinationals.” Later he stated “I wouldn’t vote for Hilary Clinton if you paid me….So many political representatives are politically correct parts of the liberal media elite”

Farage spent years advocating for a UK  referendum to exit the EU (Brexit). His hard work paid off. By June 2016 the people of the UK voted to exit the EU.  Thereafter, Farage became something of a global celebrity among right-wing conservatives including Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen of France. Clinton loathes both Trump and Farage. She has characterized the two as

“…alt-right” figures who were (are) part of a “rising tide of hardline, right-wing nationalism around the world” (PBS News).

Mrs. Clinton

“… went on to name Russian President Vladimir Putin as “the grand godfather of this global brand of extreme nationalism” (PBS News).

In other words, Putin, Trump and Farage are a threat to globalists like Hilary Clinton. Unfortunately for Ms Clinton, the list in Europe alone, is growing larger year by year. It includes Victor Orban, President of Hungary; Andrzej Duda, President of Poland;  Igor Dodon, President of Moldova; Rumen Radev, President of Bulgaria; Vadim Krasnoselski, President of Transnistria; Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus; Lega Nord, the Euroskeptic political party on the rise in Italy; Alternative for Deutschland, the Euroskeptic Party on the rise in Germany; Gert Wilders in the Netherlands, and in France the National Front of Marine Le Pen who is poised to be the next president of France in just a few months.

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GERMANY

The rise of Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) came as one of the major political surprises of 2016. The party was founded in 2013, a year in which it surprisingly won 4.7% of the vote barely missing the 5% threshold necessary to sit in the Bundestag (the Lower House of Parliament that represents the people and elects the Chancellor aka the Prime Minister). A year later AfD managed to acquire 7.1% of the vote and 7 of Germany’s 96 seats in the European Parliament.  By 2016 AfD gained MP seats in ten of Germany’s 16 state parliaments and is poised to gain seats in next fall’s federal elections.

Speaking about the 2016 state results in the Eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the BBC reported

“Anxiety about immigration dominated the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania election on 4 September, enabling the AfD to take second place (almost 21%), behind the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD – 30.6%) but ahead of Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU – 19%).”

The Telegraph worded the Mecklenberg results this way:

“The anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party (AfD) surged ahead of Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) in initial projections with around 21 per cent of the vote.”

 

“Perhaps this is the beginning of the end for Chancellor Merkel,” Leif-Erik Holm, the AfD’s regional leader, said as the results became clear.”

Reporting on 2016 state elections in the capital, Berlin, Politico reported that Germany’s two leading parties, the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats, both suffered heavy losses while the AfD was catapulted into the state assembly.

According to Politico:

“Berlin’s voters have dealt the embattled chancellor another heavy blow. But what is most remarkable is the fundamental shift in the country’s party landscape and political process that this election heralds. Berlin is Germany’s political and social laboratory par excellence. It is a microcosm where the country’s major challenges play out as if under a microscope. So the stability and consensus that have long been Germany’s political trademark may soon be a thing of the past.

It seems that  Germany’s Euro-skeptic party is on the move making headway promoting a pro-Christian/Humanistic anti radical-Muslim values campaign. In May of this year, AfD adopted an anti-Islam policy that includes a section explaining why  “Islam does not belong to Germany”.

The developing trend (most advanced in Berlin) but in motion throughout most of Germany is clear: The age of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leadership based on liberal European values is being seriously challenged, perhaps coming to an end.

“The AfD’s rightward drift can be seen across Germany, but nowhere is it as clear as in the country’s eastern states. Supporters of eastern German AfD chapters are not looking for a conservative alternative on the political spectrum. They are interested in opposing and resisting the established political system.”

Whether or not the AdF will attain power in the fall remains to be seen; it is more of a long-shot than the National Front in France. But if Le Pen’s National Font pulls out the victory in the spring of next year and Chancellor Merkel’s CDU fails to fix the immigrant problem and address the surge in favor of protecting Germany’s cultural patrimony, AdF might be the beneficiary in more than one way in the fall.

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FRANCE

Perhaps the most dramatic story of 2016 is the meteor like rise of Marine le Pen’s National Front Party. In France, as elsewhere, the liberal agenda has become so extreme that there is a noticeable counter-current welling up from the reservoirs of the country’s deep cultural and spiritual patrimony coalescing  into a political current that is swiftly moving in the opposite direction, a counter current being led by the rising tide of a political party known as the National Front.

Emergence of Marine Le Pen and the National Front

Although the National Front (FN) was launched on October 5, 1972, it is part of a conservative tradition that has long opposed the social engineering masterminded by the radical doyens of the 1789 French Revolution and their liberal successors Consequently, the FN rejects both the revolution and its liberal legacy. Sensing the weakness of France’s various conservative constituencies, constituencies that represent its cultural patrimony, its historic national ethos, its spiritual traditions and its ancient moral precepts rooted in Christian faith and reason, leaders of the FN realized the importance of forming a national front, an umbrella party that united the conserving elements of France under one political banner.

Then on January 15, 2011, Marine Le Pen unexpectedly became the leader of the FN and since then has catapulted a municipal party into a national political power. The FN received nearly 5 million votes in the 2014 parliamentary elections and gained 25% of all the seats in parliament. Then in 2015 in the first round of regional elections, it placed first in half  of the 13 newly reapportioned regions ahead of every party in France. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, little Le Pen won 41% of the vote. News like this sent shock waves throughout Europe (as similar events were happening in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, but no one foresaw such an event in modern France, the Mother of Liberalism.

EU Globalists abhor FN, which has referred to the European Union as:

“…the last stage on the road to world government” and a  “puppet of the New World Order.”

The rise of Le Pen indicates an acute change in the political atmosphere, the result of widespread discontent with worn-out liberal rhetoric and a broad desire to respect French tradition, its cultural and spiritual legacy as well as the Christian identity of Europe. Consequently,

Le Pen admires Vladimir Putin and refers to him as a “defender of the Christian heritage of European civilization.”

Ms. Le Pen elieves that

“Russia is unfairly ‘demonized.’ She has claimed that the campaign against the Russian leadership is being conducted at the highest levels of the European Union with support from the United States.”

Recalling BREXIT, Le Pen has proposed a FREXIT:

“The Brits have chosen their destiny and decided to leave the European Union. They made the choice of independence… I will hold a referendum (if elected president)  on France’s EU membership because you have the right to speak out… Yes, my friends, it is possible to change things.”

As part of this change, Le Pen has not only indicated  a desire to work with President Putin, she has also manifested her preference for Donald Trump and went as far drawing similarities between herself and the president-elect. Comparing herself to Trump she stated:

“We are similar because we are not part of the establishment, we are not part of the system, and we do not depend on anybody and we don’t take orders from anyone.”

PART ONE OF 2016 IN REVIEW FOCUSED ON THE RISE OF RUSSIA and its relationship to prophecies about its conversion made by the Virgin Mary at Fatima in 1917. Part Two will highlight the corollary Fatima Message about a promised “Era of Peace” contingent upon the conversion of Russia and its relationship to the global shift, focused on Eastern Europe, away from liberalism toward traditional family oriented moral values that exploded around the globe in 2016 and is expected to continue resounding throughout 2017.

Repeating what was said in Part One on this matter, the Virgin Mary appeared on the 13th of six consecutive months to three children Jacinta, Francisco Marto and Lucia Santos and confided several messages to them.  In July of 2017, just prior to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, She told the children:

”If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.

Nonetheless, Our Lady promised an end to the wars and persecutions and a definitive victory associated with “triumph” of Her Immaculate Heart:

”In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world” (Fatima, July,1917).

The consecration was finally made sixty seven years later. On March 25, 1984, Pope John Paul II in union with bishops throughout the world consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as requested at Fatima. However, by that time the communists had already spread their errors (atheism, materialism, socialism) around the globe, so much so that the effects are still being felt today. Nonetheless, a significant change is underway in Russia and around the world. Russia’s unexpected conversion is throwing a monkey wrench into liberal foreign policy initiatives – the entire global system is being thrown off of kilter by what the Russians are doing; no one expected it. The liberal regime had expected Russia to be a player advancing the global agenda. Instead to everyone’s surprise, Russia has taken an about face and is reasserting its Christian identity.

Since March 1984 a long chain of events has occurred validating the Virgin Mary’s Message and the power of the consecration, which John Paul II said was “for all times.” 

“Before you, Mother of Christ, before your Immaculate Heart, I today, together with the whole Church, unite myself with our Redeemer in this his consecration for the world and for people, which only in his divine Heart has the power to obtain pardon and to secure reparation.”

 

“The power of this consecration lasts for all time and embraces all individuals, peoples and nations. It overcomes every evil that the spirit of darkness is able to awaken, and has in fact awakened in our times, in the heart of man and in his history.”

Some of the immediate events following in wake of the consecration are listed below, for the complete list go to New Era World News:

May 13, 1984
Feast Day of
Our Lady of Fatima
An explosion at the Soviets’ Severomorsk Naval Base destroys two-thirds of all the missiles stockpiled for the Soviets’ Northern Fleet. The blast also destroys workshops needed to maintain the missiles as well as hundreds of scientists and technicians. Western military experts called it the worst naval disaster the Soviet Navy has suffered since WWII.
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/11/world/soviet-naval-blast-called-crippling.html

 

April 26, 1986
Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident

 

May 12, 1988
Vigil of Our Lady of Fatima
As thousands prayed the Rosary at Fatima, an explosion wrecked the only factory that made the rocket motors for the Soviets’ deadly SS 24 long-range missiles, which carry ten nuclear bombs each.
http://www.patriotheadquarters.com/russias-k-project-emp-threat/

 

Nov 9, 1989
Fall of Berlin Wall

 

Nov-Dec 1989
Peaceful revolutions in Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania

 

Year of 1990
East and West Germany are unified

Solidarity brings end of Communism in Poland – Walesa elected President  -Catholic renewal begins

 

December 8, 1991
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
The Communist Era vanished when the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and Byelorussia announced its formal dissolution on Dec. 8, 1991, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary
http://www.apostoladomundialdefatima.org/html/consacration_imm_heart_of_mar.html

 

Dec. 25, 1991
Christmas Day
Communist flag of USSR taken down for last time from atop the Kremlin. Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigned as President of USSR
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1225.html

 

January 1, 1992
Feast of the Mother of God
Russia is reborn as a sovereign nation
http://www.apostoladomundialdefatima.org/pdf/Consecration_Fatima_ALO__corrected_.pdf

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GLOBAL EVENTS OF 2016 INDICATING MOVE AWAY FROM LIBERALISM TOWARD FAMILY AND CHRISTIAN VALUES

POLAND

Russia is being converted and helping the world to achieve peace, but it was Poland that stepped forward to take the lead in a Christian revival that is sweeping Europe and reaching around the globe. Russian citizens have not risen in defiance, their leaders have, but not the nation. In 1989 it was the audacious Poles who gathered in solidarity; Poles united in love of God and homeland encouraged each other to heroically stand face to face with their communist overlords. Poles were the first among nations to stand firm; Poles united in solidarity led the nations of the world against Communism. It was the same courageous Poles who took the lead in 2016 against all the forces seeking to destroy their patrimony as a Christian nation. At the end of 2015 Poles rose up in vast numbers to set the tone for the New Year, 2016, by sponsoring a series of gallant spirit-filled patriotic marches throughout the country spearheaded by Father Jacek Miedlar  who vehemently urged his countrymen that the time had come to rise up against Islam and the liberal forces trying to destroy the Church and obliterate the Catholic identity of Poland and Europe. Father Miedlar  blazoned:

“Dearly beloved, the enemies of the homeland and the enemies of the Church are furious today because they see a huge, enormous army of patriots, army of nationalists, and army of supporters who have ‘God, Honor, and Fatherland’ in their hearts and are ready to give their lives for them. But I am more than convinced that leftist propaganda is trying its best to destroy us, to destroy the Church, to destroy the Polish nation. We cannot let them do it.!”

Miedlar did not encourage violence and hatred but the Gospel massage of peace and love, the same message that was the  road to the Solidarity victory back in 1989:

“We don’t want to fight with the hammer of hate they [the left-wing] want to push in our hands…. We want to fight with the sword of truth. With the sword of love! With the word of the Gospel! With the Sword that is Jesus Christ, our living Lord and Savior.”

https://youtu.be/Hakb6S0IpgY

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Then, moved by love of God and nation, Poles gathered at the voting booths throughout the country in October of 2016 to elect Catholic leaders from the Law and Justice Party (PiS) to lead the nation forward. PiS swept the table unexpectedly winning the presidency and an outright majority in the parliament (SEJM). The party now wields more clout over Poland than any government since the end of communist rule a quarter century ago” (http://www.politico.eu/article/poland-pis-politics-kaczynski-tusk/).

The Prime Minister of Poland Beata Szydło, also the Vice Charman of PiS, supports anti-abortion legislation, as does the new Polish President, a devout Catholic, Andrzej Duda. PiS Party leaders proceeded to endorse a total ban on abortion with support from the Church. Jarolaw Kaczyński, Chairman of PiS told reporters that

“In these (moral) matters, as a Catholic, I follow the teachings of the bishops.”

Then, in December of 2016, the President and Prime Minister of Poland gathered with the Primate and Polish Episcopate of the Catholic Church to recognize and name Jesus Christ the King of Poland. They gathered at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow to celebrate 1,050 years of Christianity in their nation. Together, Church and State leaders implored Jesus to reign over Poland, over its people and political leaders as Sovereign Lord – Christ the King. The consecration was repeated in churches throughout Poland. The people united under the leadership of the Polish episcopate and statesmen raised their voices :

“Immortal King of Ages Lord Jesus Christ, we Poles stand before you to acknowledge your reign, surrender to your law, and entrust our homeland and the whole nation to you.”

 

“Humbly bowing our heads before you, King of the Universe, we acknowledge your dominion over the Polish nation, those living in the homeland and throughout the world. Wishing to worship the majesty of Thy power and glory, with great faith and love, we cry out: Rule us, Christ!”

 

In the presence of President Andrej Duda, Prime Minister, Beata Szydło, and other ranking state officials the bishops prayed: “We entrust to you the Polish people and Polish leaders. Let them exercise their power fairly and in accordance with Your laws.”

 

“Rule us, Christ! Reign in our homeland and reign in every nation — for the greater glory of the Most Holy Trinity and the salvation of mankind”

Then, inspired by these unprecedented events, at the close of 2016 again we find the Poles rising up in vast numbers, this time more staunchly identifying themselves as the “Bastion of Europe” the protector of Christianity on the continent and the first of nations conscious of their Christian identity, the first of nations to stand for their faith and protest against all the global forces seeking to obliterate that identity from the pages of human history. Poles are aware that their country has been called to a special mission by Christ the King.

At Fatima Our Lady promised and Era of Peace. Then in a series of approved apparitions that took place in Poland and that have the highest approbation of the Catholic Church, Jesus Christ revealed to a Polish saint, Saint Faustina, that a global change was coming and that the impetus for the change was to be the nation of Poland:

“I bear a special love for Poland (he said), and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming” (Diary, 1732).

https://youtu.be/dpC2_BUCTS0

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HUNGARY

Inspired by their Slavic brothers and sisters to the North, Hungary also rose in defiance of the liberal agenda to claim its Christian identity. The Hungarian corollary to PiS in Poland is Jabbok. Jobbik defines itself as

 “A principled, conservative and radically patriotic Christian party“, whose “fundamental purpose” is the protection of “Hungarian values and interests.”

According to Jabbok Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban .

“Brussels (the EU) can’t impose its will on Hungary (that is, its refugee policy or any objectionable neo-liberal policy). The choice was between Brussels (capitol of the European Union) and Budapest (capitol of Hungary), and people chose Budapest” (Hungary First).

In addition, amid harsh criticism from the West, Hungary crafted a friendly foreign policy vis a vis Russia, a foreign policy anathema to the EU.

Orban stated that,

‘We think that without cooperation with Russia, we cannot achieve our goals.” (Business Insider)

Hungary is in the vanguard with Russia regarding the protection of Christians around the globe. Orban has clearly indicated that Hungary will work in tandem with Pope Francis and the Catholic Church to aid persecuted Christians.  In fact, he regards Catholics as:

“the most vulnerable Christians in the world” (Vatican Radio).

Jabbok in Hungary, like PiS Poland, has a Christian vision for  Europe; Márton Gyöngyösi, a leader of Jobbik responsible for foreign policy, told POLITICO.

“As opposed to liberal values based on individualism, secularism, consumerism and multiculturalism, we support the defense of the nation state, its traditions, ethnic composition and Christian values.”

Consequently, both nations have been black balled by the Western media, which refers to anyone that disagrees with them as “Nazis”, “Nationalists” and other similar but increasingly worn-out epithets.

Expected vitriol came forth from liberal ideologues manifesting their biased anti-Christian sentiments and also manifesting the growing unity among Slavic nations, a unity which is an increasing challenge to the liberals, a challenge that is not going away:

“Both Poland and Hungary now offer a toxic ideological brew that is reminiscent of interwar Europe: anti-communism and anti-capitalism can be combined and justified in the name of a highly intolerant nationalism based on Christian values that conclusively define who is a true Hungarian or true Pole.

Orban is a strong proponent of democracy and human dignity, but he is opposed to what he refers to as “liberal democracy” (democracy with a neoliberal tinge) in favor of “illiberal democracy“, that is democracy without liberalism.  In short, Hungary under Orban has pivoted toward its Christian heritage in favor of traditional Christian values; it is increasingly opposed to EU liberalism in favor of a Democratic Christian Commonwealth

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SLOVAKIA

Uniting under the banner “We are reclaiming our country,” Civic Resistance groups in Slovakia clamored for change in 2016. Their voice resonated throughout the country where it sounded something like this:

“Following the collapse of communism, the state was grabbed by a new regime of corrupt politicians and corporate oligarchs (NEOLIBERALS) who were given a license to engage in theft of public property. Under the guise of “democracy” they have lied to the people and enriched themselves.’

Of course people who say such things are a threat to a well engineered social system built on liberal values. Consequently, they are often branded as lunatics, Nazis, Fascist, etc. by the neoliberal press supported by neoliberal political cronies. Unwelcome and thus lacking a seat in the Ministry of Propaganda, the People’s Party found a viable outlet in the social media from which they were able to successfully promote the candidacy of Marian Kotleba as Governor of the Banska Bystricia region in Southeast Slovakia.

The “People’s Party” or “Our Slovakia” then received 14 of the 150 contested seats or 8% the vote. The other pro-Christian party,  the Slovak National Party (SNP) won 8.6% of the seats in parliament.

The nascent Our Slovakia Party is headed by Marian Kotleba, who is opposed to further integration with the European Union and is skeptical about NATO membership; he has referred to NATO as a “terrorist organization”. According to Kotleba, the national election,

“Is the beginning of a new era for Slovakia. And as a result, we will save the country from where it was heading.” By this he was referring to the Western liberal agenda imposed after the collapse of communism, which favored foreign investment and liberal values over the interests the Slovakian people and their traditional Christian culture.

Kotleba, although maligned as a “Fascist” by Western pundits, rejects the Nazi label and suspects that it arises from his campaign against ingrained political and economic corruption and the kulturkampf against Christian values pursued by ideologues, who favors a neo-liberal agenda contrary to Slovakia’s indigenous patrimony.

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BULGARIA and MOLDOVA

In 2016 both Bulgaria and Moldova elected new presidents; both men are overtly open to relations with Russia. Rumen Radev, the new Bulgarian president decisively defeated the pro-Western candidate, Tsetska Tsacheva. Radev not only called for the EU to cease sanctions against Russia, he also announced his willingness to accept the Crimean referendum that made Crimea part of the Russian Federation. During his victory speech, Radev not only iterated his opposition to sanctions against Russia, he also commended President-elect Trump for “seeking increased dialogue” with Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

Likewise, the new Moldovan presidential Igor Dodon, is also pro Moscow.  He defeated World Bank employee Maia Sandu, who campaigned under an EU banner, for the presidency of Moldova. Since pro-Russian Dodon defeated  pro-World Bank and pro-European Union candidate, the election heralded a significant shift toward Russia and away from the European Union (EU). Russia and the EU have hotly contested Moldova, which seems now to prefer the former.

“Speaking to Russian television after the vote, President Dodan said Moldovans had voted for “friendship with Russia, for neutrality, for our orthodoxy, for the country’s union.”

Bogdan Bezpalko, Assistant Director of the Center for Ukrainian Studies at Moscow State University, stated

“It is clear that the population of the Eastern European states have become disenchanted with the ideology of ‘Euro-integration’; they want to resume normal and pragmatic relations with their neighbors.”

According to the French Daily, La Croix:

“Already deeply shaken by the Brexit, the European Union has suffered a new warning this Sunday, November 13, this time from the eastern margins of the old continent. Voters in Bulgaria and Moldova have elected to the presidency of their respective countries openly Russophile candidates, the Moldovan Igor Dodon and the Bulgarian Rumen Radev, who both campaigned in favor of a rapprochement with Russia.”

Journalist Roland Oliphant suggests that the election of two pro-Russian presidents “adds to mounting concern about Western unity following Donald Trump’s victory in the US election last week.“

La Croix of France concludes:

“These elections will ring anyway as a prestigious victory for Vladimir Putin and thunder in the European skies”

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ESTONIA

The EU and NATO have both been vigorously courting Estonia, the North Baltic State that borders Russia. Inn 2016 Prime Minister Taavi Roivas Reform Party received a vote of no-confidence from the Estonian parliament. Following the vote, the Center Party, a party that has a collaborative agreement with Putin’s United Russia Party, surfaced as the new coalition leader.

The Center Party’s agreement with United Russia states that the two share common goals and interests and should cooperate in the areas of information exchange relative to professional party building, legislative processes, financial professionalism, international relations, cultural exchange and work among youth. The agreement exists to deepen the “good-neighborly cooperation between Estonia and Russia.”

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TRANSNISTRIA

Following Moldova, its eastern neighbor Transnistria has also elected a pro-Russian president, Vadim Krasnoselski, who garnered 62% of the vote in the December 11, 2016 presidential election. Since 1991 Transnistria has sought independence from Moldova, which had affiliated itself with its western neighbor, Romania, a member of the United Nations and the European Union. Transnistria, which has a large Russian and Slavic population, remained committed to Russia, a move that helped it attain and retain its autonomy from Moldova in 1992.

Moldovan President Dodon has already indicated his willingness to pursue improved relations with Transnistria. Since Krasnoselski’s campaign included reaching a negotiated settlement with Moldova, the process (to be facilitated by Russia as peacemaker) should proceed steadily. However, since such a development is another blow to EU globalists, they can be expected to step up their game, promote internal dissent and rev up a furious propaganda campaign; these events are most certain in the short run.

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CONCLUSION PART TWO

To the extent that Russia can continue to promote Christian and family values while it slashes away at the amoral cultural tentacles of liberalism and simultaneously provide economic benefits and trade stimulus to Eastern European nations while propping up its infrastructure through investments from Russian-Chinese sponsored financial institutions, it might be able to counterbalance the effect of Western liberal propaganda. This is more likely at a time when EU institutions are experiencing unprecedented and severe cultural and political pressures that are wrenching them apart. The fractionalization of the European Union is further exacerbated by significant financial burdens necessary to prop up failing Mediterranean nations who rely on the European Central Bank in Germany to sustain their withering economies. The West will have to commit significant resources to this area (at a time that it is least able to do so), especially to Poland. If Poland and Eastern Europe unhinge from the EU, liberalism will suffer a near unsustainable blow.

Forecast: A tremendous outlay of liberal resources will be heading towards Eastern Europe as the Slavic nations one after another unhinge from EU influence.  Those already in separation mode include Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Moldova, Belarus, Transnistria and Estonia. The key is Poland, which has recently proclaimed Jesus Christ as its King. If Poland unhinges, it can be expected that all the Slavic nations, including Ukraine, will join in tandem to form an “Intermarium” consisting of East European nations geographically spread from the Baltic Sea in the northwest to the Black Sea in the southeast, a solid Christian block leaning towards Russia for military assistance and toward Eurasia for economic benefits, benefits expected from trade along the New Silk Road, the worlds largest infrastructure project underway connecting China to Iran, Iraq, Syria, the Caucus, Moscow, Warsaw and Berlin.

2016 HAS BEEN A HIGHLY UNUSUAL AND TUMULTUOUS YEAR, a year marked by increased terror and unexpected turn of events, a year in which a decade of US foreign policy blunders became manifestly apparent as one by one countries around the globe stood up and began to break the shackles of neoliberalism foisted upon them for decades, a year which saw the collapse of Global Liberal Hegemony accompanied by the unexpected rise of Russia to global prominence and their subsequent renunciation by Western media. Russia is now the enemy, not because they are Communist, but because they are reasserting their Christian identity and consequently opposing rampant liberalism. This change came as a surprise to many, forcing leading intelligence agencies such as Stratfor to significantly alter their intelligence forecasts about Russia bringing them into alignment with what New Era has consistently forecast all along.

At the end of 2015 Stratfor projected a gloomy future for Russia, whom it predicted was in a state of imminent collapse

In Feb of 2015 the intelligence group insisted:

“It is unlikely that the Russian Federation will survive in its current form. Russia’s failure to transform its energy revenue into a self-sustaining economy makes it vulnerable to price fluctuations. It has no defense against these market forces.”

” Russia, the declining power, will increasingly lose the ability to protect its maritime interests.

As late as October, 2016 Stratfor concluded:

“10 years ago… Russia was clearly at the height of a boom, rebuilding itself into a stable and robust power. Today, the country is quickly descending into the next, less pleasant stage. The strategy that revitalized the country is becoming less effective…. Though still assertive, Russia is no longer acting from a position of strength.”

 

“This is not to say Russia is on the brink of collapse, only that the country is entering the next phase of its historical cycle, in which the state is highly vulnerable yet increasingly aggressive. Putin will therefore be acting from a position of survival instead of strength.”

 

“Though we forecast the decline of Russia, Russia poses danger in the short term, particularly with its back against the wall economically.”

Stratfor made an Interesting about face in its most recent Annual Report in which it forecasts a reemergence of Russia rather than an imminent collapse. According to the December 26, 2016 report:

“2017 could herald a new phase for Russia’s standoff with the West.”

In the past three years Russia has expanded its domestic production and consumption and weathered the battery of sanctions meant to cripple its economy; it has also placed its military and technological capabilities on international display.  By referendum vote it acquired Crimea and the countries of Bulgaria,  Moldova, and  the contiguous region of Transnistria have indicated a rapprochement toward Russia and away from NATO and the EU.

Due to the rise of patriotic parties throughout Europe, parties favoring restoration of traditional family-oriented and Christian values, Europe faces the prospect of fragmentation as nation after nation reasserts its national identity and raises its voice against liberalism.  Thus, Stratfor notes that 2017 could be the harbinger of a neoteric chapter in Russian-Western relations.

“Mounting tensions have exposed cracks in the united Western front against Russia. The Brexit vote revealed deep rifts in the European Union, and Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election may portend a break in Washington’s policy toward Moscow.”

Stratfor correctly notes that

“Elections across Europe in 2017 — in France, the Netherlands, Germany and possibly Italy  — could further widen the divides in the Continental bloc and challenge the future of European integration.”

Moreover, recent success in Syria should help Russia in negotiations with the new Trump administration and with newly elected political leaders throughout Europe.

“These changes will enable Russia to recoup some of its influence in the former Soviet periphery. Given the upheaval in the European Union, the bloc (EU) will be hesitant to move forward with proceedings to accede new members in 2017.”

In addition, countries of the former Soviet Union that are “already aligned” with Moscow (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) “will probably redouble their cooperation with Russia in the coming year,” and the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization “could become  more active in 2017 after languishing over the past two years.”

President Vladimir Putin delivered his Annual Address to Russian Federal Assembly (December 1, 2016) in which he highlighted the health of the nation in the face of the global regime arrayed against it. Speaking about liberalism and attempts to erode traditional and family values in Russia, Putin stated:

“The people of Russia have shown convincingly once again that they can rise to the difficult challenges and protect and defend their national interests, sovereignty, and independent course….We need friends. But we will not allow our interests to be infringed upon or ignored. We want to and will decide our destiny ourselves and build our present and future without others’ unasked for advice and prompting.”

 

“Two years ago…we found ourselves facing sanctions that were an attempt to get us to dance to another’s tune and ignore our own fundamental national interests.”

 

“Colleagues, the basis of our entire policy is to take care of people and increase human capital as Russia’s most important resource. Therefore, our efforts are aimed at supporting the traditional values and the family, at [implementing] demographic programmes, improving the environment and people’s health, and promoting education and culture.”

Linked to this these ends, Putin is determined to promote morality, which he has made one of the two primary goals of education.  Speaking about education, he stated:

“School education meets two basic goals that Academician Dmitry Likhachev listed: to give knowledge and to foster morality. He rightly believed that morality is the basis that determines the viability of society: its economic, public, and creative sustainability.”

Shifting to the economy and attempts to cripple Russia by sanctions, Putin noted Russia’s sustainability and unexpected growth in the IT, agricultural, vehicle and machinery sectors. Russia, which is often presented as unable to feed its own people has passed the United States as the number one exporter of wheat in the world. Russia now exporting more grain than arms.

According to Bloomberg:

“Last season, Russian topped the U.S. in wheat exports for the first time in decades and is expected to extend those gains to displace the EU from the top spot this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Investors from local farmers to billionaire tycoons are pumping money into the business.”

“Russian wheat has crowded out U.S. supplies in Egypt, the world’s biggest buyer, and is gaining footholds in some other countries, such as Nigeria, Bangladesh and Indonesia. That’s four decades after the Soviet Union turned to U.S. shipments of wheat and corn to offset shortfalls in its own harvests. Over the last decade, Russia has been the biggest single source of growth in wheat exports, vital to meeting surging global demand.”

Speaking about the other sectors experiencing growth, Putin stated:

“We have seen a slight overall decline in the automotive industry, although trucks have shown an increase of 14.7 percent, light commercial vehicles, up 2.9 percent, and buses, up 35.1 percent. In railway engineering, there is a 21.8 percent growth, and freight cars are up 26 percent. Agricultural machinery and equipment have shown very good momentum, 26.8 percent. The light industry is also demonstrating an upward trend.”

 

“We have ensured macroeconomic stability, which is very important, and have maintained financial reserves. The Central Bank gold and currency reserves have not decreased, but have even grown. Whereas on January 1, 2016 they totalled $368.39 billion, now they stand at $389.4, almost 400 billion. Here, too, we can see positive dynamics.”

 

“Agricultural produce exports bring in more revenue today than arms exports. Only recently, we would probably have scarcely imagined such a thing possible. I have already spoken publicly about this and can say it again here today. Incidentally, as far as our arms exports go, we are still a serious contender on this market. Our exports came to $14.5 billion in 2015, and our agricultural produce exports came to $16.2 billion. This year, we expect a figure of $16.9 billion.”

 

“The IT industry is one of the most rapidly developing sectors, which is heartening. Russian IT companies have doubled their exports over the past five years…. Our IT exports were almost zero only recently, but they have risen to $7 billion now.”

Putin also cited the growth of profitability in the banking sector

“This year, Russian banks have regained their profitability. The sector’s profit for the 10 months of last year was 193 billion rubles, and rose almost four-fold, to 714 billion rubles for the same period this year.”

He closed by noting by acknowledging that the sanctions have had an effect but that Russia is weathering the storm”

“While overcoming the current difficulties, we have created a foundation for further movement forward. We never stopped working on the development agenda, which is extremely important. That is, we did not get bogged down in some trivia of the day, like dealing with survival issues, but we thought about the development agenda and contributed to it. This agenda is coming to the forefront today.”

With elections of Euro-skeptic and pro-Russian candidates set to take place in France, Germany, England and perhaps Italy in 2017 coupled with changes underway in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova and Bulgaria, as well as a Trump administration scheduled to assume the reigns of US power in January, 2017 could be a banner year for the Russians, quite a change from the imminent doom of the 2016 forecast. Russia’s unexpected successes in 2016 apparently nudged Stratfor to re-evaluate its projections, at least for the short-term.

The rise of Russia should not have been a surprise to anyone well versed in theopolitics, especially when the theopolitcal analysis involves a major political actor such as Russia as does a theopolitical analysis that includes the Message of Fatima. New Era Intelligence Reports have been focused Russia throughout the year as  incident after incident pointed to the demise of global liberalism and the corollary conversion of Russia promised at Fatima.

Russia under Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev was a key player in the move toward globalism. With Russia on their side, liberal elites were certain to score a global victory, but much to their chagrin, Russia pulled away from the US and EU globalists. After March 25, 1984, when John Paul II made the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as requested at Fatima, an unexpected political and theological current began to push back against the tide of liberalism. When it became apparent that Russia was no longer a member of the globalist team, a relentless media campaign was launched against Putin.  However, in Russia and then in other nations of Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, and then Western Europe and even America change, sometimes almost imperceptible change, was occurring. By 2016 the Christian renewal in Russia and elsewhere became so obvious that only the most hardened hearts could deny the changes that were actually taking place in Russia under Vladimir Putin, the type of changes anathema to the liberal regime.  These include, as Putin stated in his annual address, a reversion away from the liberal path, on which Gorbachev and Yeltsin had placed Russia, and a turn towards traditional family values and the renewal of Christianity in Russia.  The fruits of this movement are listed on a Newera page entitled “Is Russia Becoming Christian, Decide for Yourself“. This list includes events such as declaring the Baptism of  Prince St. Vladimir as the National Holiday of Russia, marking Her identity as a Christian nation; other fruits include the outlawing of homosexual propaganda aimed at minors, the introduction of Christianity into the public schools, prohibitions against abortion, and enforced defense of holy places such as Orthodox and Christian churches.

Russia is still in the ascendant mode and will remain in that mode until complimented and then surpassed by a resurgent Europe to be discussed at a later time in 2017. Today, this is the type of cultural event occurring on Red Square at the Kremlin (see video), the type of event anti-Christian globalists abhor and attempt to keep out of the news.

This is the Type of Cultural Event Putin is Sponsoring at the Kremlin

Fatima and the Russian Connection

When Our Lady appeared  to Sister Lucia in the Convent of St. Dorothy in Tuy, Spain (June 13, 1929), she came with a message whose seeds she had planted during Her third visit of July, 13, 1917 when She told the three children about (1) World War II and the means to prevent it (2) the consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart and (3) First Saturday Communions of Reparation. She told Lucia that God would provide a sigh that a new world war was ready to break out.

“When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war (World War II), famine, and persecutions against the Church and the Holy Father.

To prevent this, Our Lady told the children that sometime in the future She would come back to ask for the consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.

“To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.”

 

”If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.

Nonetheless, Our Lady promised an end to all this and a definitive victory associated with Her Immaculate Heart:

”In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world” (Fatima, July,1917).

Twelve years later when Our Lady appeared to Lucia at Tuy, (June 13, 1929) and announced the following, Lucia knew exactly what She was talking about:

“The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the bishops of the world, to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it  by this means” (Tuy, 1929).

It took another 55 years for the consecration to be made on March 25, 1984. By that time the communists had spread their errors (atheism, materialism, socialism) around the world, so much so that the effects are still being felt today. It will take a long time to undo them, but anyone closely observing global events can tell that a change, a significant change, is underway in Russia and around the world. Russia’s unexpected conversion is throwing a monkey wrench into liberal foreign policy initiatives – the entire global system is being thrown off of kilter by what the Russians are doing; no one expected it. The liberal regime had expected Russia to be a player advancing the global agenda.  Instead to everyone’s surprise, Russia has taken an about face and is reasserting its Christian identity.

https://youtu.be/XfSPgO-4uJA

TO BE CONTINUED

Tomorrow, New Era News will provide a a recap of 2016’s major political events highlighting the global shift away from liberalism and the emergence of Christianity assisted by the conversion of Russia..

ALTHOUGH THE US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION scandal allegedly involving Russian hacking has resulted in the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and the closure of two Russian diplomatic compounds in New York and Maryland, the bigger news story is the Middle East peace process being conducted by Russia, Turkey, and Iran without US involvement.

Just before the Christmas break, on December 20, the Russian,Turkish, and Iranian foreign ministers gathered in Moscow to discuss the situation in Syria. As a result of the meeting, the three announced their willingness to facilitate future negotiations between Damascus and Syrian opposition groups.

According to the New York Times

“Russia, Iran and Turkey met in Moscow on Tuesday to work toward a political accord to end Syria’s nearly six-year war, leaving the United States on the sidelines..”

 

“Secretary of State John Kerry was not invited. Nor was the United Nations consulted.”

 

“With pro-government forces having made critical gains on the ground, the new alignment and the absence of any Western powers at the table all but guarantee that President Bashar al-Assad will continue to rule Syria under any resulting agreement, despite President Obama’s declaration more than five years ago that Mr. Assad had lost legitimacy and had to be removed.”

 

“Andrew J. Tabler, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who studies Syria stated, “When the Turks, the Iranians and the Russians all agree on a process without the U.S. being in the room, you realize there is a problem for us.”

As a result of the meeting, the three nations issued a document referred to by the New York Times as “The Moscow Declaration”.  Among its eight articles, the “Declaration” adumbrates:

1. Iran, Russia and Turkey respect the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic as multi-ethnic, multi-religious, non-sectarian, democratic and secular state.

2. There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict. The United Nations is essential in the efforts to resolve this crisis in accordance with UNSC resolution 2254.

3. The importance of expanding ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian assistance and free movement of civilians throughout the country.

5. Iran, Russia and Turkey express their readiness to facilitate and become the guarantors of the prospective agreement, being negotiated, between the Syrian Government and the opposition. They invited all other countries with the influence on the situation on the ground to do the same.

7. The Ministers take note of the kind offer of the President of Kazakhstan to host relevant meetings in Astana.

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RESULTS OF THE MOSCOW DECLARATION

The Moscow Declaration was promulgated on December 20; last night at midnight (December 29-30) the Assad government and the main Syrian opposition groups agreed to a nationwide cease-fire. Turkey’s Anadolu News Agency, reports that Russia and Turkey will jointly guarantee implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

Although other cease fire agreements brokered by the UN have been unsuccessful, Turkey and Russia previously negotiated a cease fire, in the first half of December 2016, that led to the successful evacuation of civilians and rebel fighters from the city of Aleppo. One rebel commander told Reuters: “This time I have confidence in its seriousness. There is new international input” (Turkey and Iran working with Russia)

Thus, this morning,Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told the press:

“I hope this cease-fire will turn into a sustainable peace that would prevent further bloodshed and the killing of civilians, innocents and children.”

The deal involves on one side the Syrian government armed forces, their allies and the Russian Federation. The other side includes rebel factions operating under the umbrella of the The High Negotiations Committee (HNC), which represents Syria’s opposition groups and the so-called Free Syrian Army terrorists backed by the United States intended to topple the Assad regime; they are now committed to pursuing negotiations in Astana.  According to “World Affairs Journal“

“The High Negotiations Committee (HNC), regarded by the UN as Syria’s main opposition body, confirmed the deal, which excludes jihadist groups. If the truce holds, peace talks will be held in Kazakhstan within a month.”

President Putin made it known that the agreement revolves around three major principles:

1. Ceasefire among all parties involved in the conflict
2. Measures to oversee the truce
3. An agreement to initiate peace talks

Although of major importance, Putin referred to the deal as “fragile”. According to the BBC, he also indicated that Russia would reduce its military presence in Syria, but  would “continue fighting international terrorism and supporting the Syrian government”.

Negotiations are expected to begin in January at Astana, the capital of  Kazakhstan.

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The Cease-Fire Includes Comprehensive Peace Talks in Kazakhstan’s Capital Astana

Russia, Iran and Turkey were instrumental in freeing Aleppo and are now poised to take the next step. During the Moscow meeting, December 19, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, agreed to call the major parties involved in Syrian combat to meet in Astana, Kazakhstan to begin a peace initiative. Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, supports the process and the opportunity to host the participants. Interestingly, the UN has announced that it too will conduct negotiations involving the Syrian government and opposition groups scheduled for February 8 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Reuters notes that, at the Astana meeting,

“The Syrian government will be negotiating from a strong position after its army and their allies, including Shi’ite militias supported by Iran, along with Russian air power, routed rebels in their last major urban stronghold of Aleppo this month.”

“Moscow’s air campaign since September last year has turned the civil war in Assad’s favour, and the last rebels left Aleppo for areas that are still under rebel control to the west of the city, including the province of Idlib.”

All sides are agreed that the terrorist groups such as ISIL/ISIS, Al Nusra and Daesh must be defeated.  The defeat of the terrorists has taken primary position. Even the Turks who had previously insisted that Assad must be removed have now shifted their emphasis to the Syrian Kurds living on the Syrian-Turkish border whom they consider to be a threat to the stability of Turkey. With every day that passes, it seems more certain that Assad will remain in power to be removed only by a free democratic election that represents the will of the Syrian people, something the United States as opposed but that Russia has insisted upon all along – the United States wants Assad gone.  The last time such an election was held in 2014, Assad won 88.7% of the vote.

https://youtu.be/Yetgi-8k0NQ

Since that time, and the fall of Aleppo, things have changed considerably.  Turkey watching Russia’s success and angered by the United States backing of the Kurds, which Ankara views as an existential threat, has continually distanced itself from NATO and the US; Turkey is now showing sure signs of a shift toward the Russian-Iranian-Syrian-Iraqi camp.

At the meeting in which Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to “the Moscow Declaration,” the United States was not consulted, nor was the UN envoy to Syria invited.

The United States is suffering an embarrassment and must save face vis a vis the Russians somehow. The fact is, the US is playing its foreign policy cards all wrong.  As the Russian Insider reports. “So much so that Assad whom the empire had marked for the trash bin in 2011 now looks certain to survive and defeat the jihad against the Syrian Baath government….Ankara has gone from working with the US and Saudia Arabia and Qatar to topple the Syrian government to talking with Iran and Russia how to find a political solution that ends the conflict.”

Turkey is quite simply refusing to serve as a US-UN puppet any longer.  Ankara views the fight against Kurdish militants as a more important objective than the UN-US objective aimed at the removal of Assad. Thus, according to Aaron Stein of the Atlantic Council:

“This is Turkey bending to Russia….This is putting a fine point on Turkey’s policy of ‘Assad must go’ no longer being the policy.”

Consequently, the clear forecast  includes the centrality of the Kurds and Kurdistan in the peace talks.  Alluding to the Kurds (but also including ISIS/ISIL-Daesh), Turkey’s Prime Minister stated:

“We will hunt them everywhere. We will follow them wherever they flee. This is no joke. We will continue our work for the peace and safety of our nation.”

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Participation of Kurds in Astana Process

The Kurdish problem cannot be comprehended unless it is realized that the Kurds are represented by several political-military groups. Kurds living in Turkey comprise roughly 22% of the Turkish population. They are represented by the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), a party that Turkey considers a terrorist organization, as does NATO, the EU and the United States. The PKK, although existing in Turkey, hopes to establish an independent state known as Kurdistan.

There are other Kurds living in Iraq and Syria.  Syrian Kurds are represented by the “Democratic Union Party” (PYD). The PYD was established in 2003 as a major opposition party to the Syrian government located in Northern Syria in an area contiguous with Turkey, thus an additional potential challenge for Turkey as well. In 2012 the PYD (in Syria) formed local militias or People’s Protection Units (YPG) to help Kurds cooperate for their own security and to assist the United States in its fight against ISIS.  The US armed the YPG through a broader group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).  The SDF includes Kurdish militia in Northern Syria – Syrian Kurdish militia (YPG) are being armed with American weapons. When the SDF was founded in 2015, The Economist described it  as “essentially a subsidiary of the Kurdish YPG. Likewise CNN reports that

“The United States has denied supplying the YPG with weapons but says it provides tactical support to the Syrian Democratic Forces, the umbrella group in which the YPG is the main component.”

Thus, Turkey is weary about any affiliations between the PKK (in Turkey) and the PYD (in Syria), especially since the PYD has established armed security units (YPG) that Ankara believes are armed, dangerous, and affiliated with the PKK in Turkey.

Not only are foreign relations with Turkey involving Kurds on the Turkish border a problem for the future, the future Syrian government will have to be extra creative when handling the indigenous Kurds who have exercised a degree of autonomy during the Syrian conflict unknown previously. In 2012 Assad essentially relinquished control of Northeast Syria to the Kurds. This area is home to the bulk of the country’s oil reserves (also across the border of Iraq’s oil reserves) and some of its prime agricultural lands.  As much as Syria, Iraq and Turkey might want to see them go away, the Kurds are certainly a player in Syria’s future as well as the futures of Iraq and Turkey.

To complicate the situation, another group of Kurdish militants known as the Peshmerga exist in Northern, Iraq also close to Turkey and Syria. Since the Peshmerga aided the US in its war with Iraq, they have long been considered a US ally.

Thus, Bilal Wahab Soref Fellow at The Washington Institute notes the strong toes between the US and Iraqi Kurds:

“As reliable on-the-ground partners to the United States, the Kurdish forces in Syria, like their brethren in Iraq, have gained a reputation as fierce fighters and a bulwark against the Islamic State (also called ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh). Indeed, the Kurdish fighters have often been portrayed as foot soldiers for the United States in Syria. In that regard, not only did the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Peshmerga defend the Kurdish population, they are also slated to be instrumental in the U.S. led coalition efforts.”

Clearly, the participation of Syrian Kurds (who have not yet been invited to participate in the Geneva negotiations) in the Astana Process is a crucial issue. Turkey remains adamantly opposed to Kurdish participation, while Russia continues to insist that the Kurds be included. Since the date of the meeting and list of participants has not yet been concluded, there is still time to include the Kurds.  It is hard to imagine a peace process in which a major party to the conflict such as the Kurds (a party with a long standing cultural tradition and historical roots in Northern Syria, Iraq, and Southern Turkey) is excluded.

Nonetheless, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced today that:

“The Syria’s Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) will not take part in the talks on Syrian settlement in Astana. As for its armed wing, the YPG, if they lay down arms and support the territorial integrity of Syria instead of forming a terrorist canton, they will be included in the country’s government. If they do not refuse terrorism… we will continue our struggle against them.”

Ankara simply desires a Turkey friendly region in Northern Syria. If Kurdish militants lay down their arms, as far as Turkey is concerned, they will be admitted to the negotiation table in Astana.

The other party whose presence at Astana is as yet undecided is the previously mentioned Syrian High Negotiation Committee (HNC) the umbrella group for Syrian opposition groups. What the World Journal failed to mention above is that HNC is a Saudi-backed and formulated umbrella organization.

The HNC has not been invited and it is highly unlikely, in spite of their self-proclaimed importance, that they will be invited.  The HNC was formed late in 2015; it has its headquarters in Riyadh home of Sunni radicalism, of Shariah Law and Wahhabi and Salafist ultra-extremism. The Saud monarchs rule their country with a tight fist. For centuries they have been locked in deadly combat with Shiite Iran and have been the prime supporters of jihad and terrorism in Syria.  It is hard to imagine a group supported by the Sauds involved in a peace process that will strengthen the hands of its enemies viz., Iran, Russia and Turkey. Moreover, the HNC plan for transition, drafted in 2016 and welcomed by the government of Great Britain, insist that President Assad must be removed from office within six months of any transition. This is contrary to the Syrian initiated democratic process envisioned by the Russians and the Syrian people themselves who voted overwhelmingly in Assad’s favor in 2014.

Moeover, according to Aljazeera News

“Chief opposition negotiator Riyad Hijab… said the HNC would reject any agreement struck by Russia and the US if it largely differed from the HNC’s terms.”

It is highly unlikely that a newly formed coalition of rebels headquartered in an enemy state will dictate terms to Russia, Iran and Turkey, esp. since their combined forces have been victorious thus far deep into the war.

The British, moreover, are working with leaders of the HNC to promote a liberal democracy (a type of democracy that is withering around the globe – not democracy per-se, but “liberal democracy”) in Syria to end what they call the  “tyranny of the Assad regime.”  According to the UK Government:

“The UK has and remains at the forefront of international efforts to address the Syria crisis. The UK’s membership of the UN Security Council and International Syria Support Group is used to call for adherence to the cessation of hostilities and full humanitarian access.”

The UK wants to help build a democracy in Syria, but Syrians do not want the UK; they would rather decide the future for themselves.

What makes the participation of HNC even more remote is the involvement of Turkey whom the Sauds have historically depended upon to balance power vis a vis Iran.  That scenario is now in jeopardy – a peace process brokered by Iran united to Russia and Turkey is anathema to the Sauds. Thus, it is extremely unlikely that either the HNC or the Sauds will participate or be offered a voice and certainly not a vote (if there is any vote) in Astana.

It appears that the Turks have already compromised with Russia and Syria on Assad.  Consequently, they have some wiggle room to resist Russia on the Kurdish question (see note 2 below). Turkey also faces an imbroglio with Iran. Ankara continues to insists that Hezbollah (an Iranian backed Lebanese shia militia that has supported Assad) vacate Syria. Turkey will probably get its way on this issue as well, as long as all three agree that Assad remains in power. Of the four issues: Assad,  Hezbollah,  HNC, and the Kurds, the latter seems the most difficult to resolve.

Nonetheless, the issue will be resolved by the Russians, Iranians and Turks. Under President Obama, the United States neocons are suffering a humiliating defeat, an international debacle far from their vision for a New American Century – The US is being taken out of the game and being placed on the bench by the Russians.  Putin is now calling the shots (see note 1 below).

“Russia has said the United States could join a fresh peace process once President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. It also wants Egypt to join, together with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Jordan and the United Nations” (Reuters, Dec 30, 2016).

Russian Secretary of State Sergey Lavrov stressed these sentiments in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin:

“I would like to express the hope that as soon as the administration of Donald Trump takes office, they will also be able to join these efforts [to settle the Syrian crisis] so that we could jointly work in this direction”  (CNN News).

President-Elect Trump has indicated his willingness to cooperate more closely with Russia.  He will face opposition from neo-conservative and neo-liberal statesmen and from ranking officials in the Pentagon and intelligence community.  Nonetheless, he has an opportunity to work with Russia and the global community toward world peace.  But to be successful he must resign himself to the reality that the vision for a liberal new American Century must be modified.  The age of liberal global hegemony is coming to an end.  Increasingly, the nations of the world are opting for national sovereignty and a restoration of traditional family values as the Era of Peace promised at Fatima continues to dawn upon the nations.

The United States can either adjust and cooperate or continue suffering one foreign policy embarrassment after another.

______________________
NOTE

1. New Era does not foresee Russia remaining in this position, but for the moment it is increasing its global prestige until complimented and surpassed by a resurgent Europe. 
2. The YPG, and its political counterpart, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), have also forged increasingly close relations with Russia, recently symbolised by the formal opening of a PYD representative office in Moscow

DURING CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY several significant events occurred that manifest the continued demise of global liberalism as the world continues to move toward an “Era of Peace” promised by the Mother of God at Fatima.

Following the demise of the Soviet Union, Republican think tanks, such as the American Enterprise Institute, crafted the “Project for the New American Century” (PNAC) to disseminate America’s economic-political-social agenda around the globe by means of war and “nation building” as if a victory over the Soviet Union signaled the moment for American hegemony, even if it was unwanted by many third world countries in Africa and Asia and newly developing nations in Eastern Europe. Nonetheless, according to the “neo-cons” (neoconservatives) , the so-called “developing nations” should thank America for interfering in their domestic affairs. They are so backwards and lost in darkness and ignorance that they must be “forced to be free through a program of “nation building” backed by the state as championed by Jean Jacques Rousseau, one of the classical patriarchs of modern liberal democracy. Liberal democracy in the name of “freedom”  has generated a hedonistic and materialistic world view foisted upon the nations as part of American foreign policy.

Cardinal Glemp, Primate of Poland during the Solidarity Era, foresaw and lamented the spread of Western Liberalism, what he referred to as “materialism.”

“We (Poland and the Catholic Church) have withstood the onslaught of ‘atheistic materialism‘, Communism is dead. However, I am not so sure that we can withstand the onslaught of ‘hedonistic materialism‘ (coming from the West).”

Since a materialistic world view has been promoted by American foreign policy, it should be no surprise that PNAC has morphed into the American Foreign Policy Initiative (ACPI). ACPI focuses on human rights, a robust military equipped to meet global challenges and global economic outreach.  Like PNAC, ACPI is committed to a belief in American exceptionalism and the need for American intervention around the globe.  Thus, according to the ACPI Mission Statement:

“In this new era, the consequences of failure and the risks of retreat would be even greater than before. The challenges we face require 21st century strategies and tactics based on a renewed commitment to American leadership. The United States remains the world’s indispensable nation — indispensable to international peace, security, and stability, and indispensable to safe-guarding and advancing the ideals and principles we hold dear.”

Neocon heavyweights William Kristol and Robert Kagan, who were both project directors of the PNAC, co-founded ACPI in 2009. Since then, American Foreign Policy has included such aberrations as usury, abortion, artificial birth control, homosexuality, gender confusion, and excessive tolerance resulting in a sin filled anti-Christian global culture funded by American dollars disguised as “foreign aid” intended to promote, peace, prosperity and, of course, freedom.

Ironically, none of these objectives (peace, prosperity, freedom-authentic freedom) have been achieved; the nations do not co-exist in peace, prosperity has not been forthcoming in those nations that are recipients of foreign aid, and freedom has been compromised by political interference and a whole host of addictions: chemical addiction, sex addiction, media addiction, food addiction, tobacco and alcohol addiction and a culture of dependency, which enervate and enfeeble human strength and ability to resist temptations leading to an explosion of erotic and irascible behavior. Although liberals set freedom on a granite pedestal to be honored as a goddess, few people can attain freedom in a culture wherein sin, death, and violence pervasively dominate the air waves in which her torch shines.

“Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin (not free)” (John 8:34).

Nor can peace be attained as long as neo-con war hawks (aided by their neo-liberal allies) continue their push for an “American Century”, a period of American global hegemony accompanied by the three pillars of economic, political, and social-cultural liberalism. Peace cannot be obtained in a world without God, in a world dominated by usury that works to the benefit of a few, in a world in which military power is used to disseminate materialism and hedonism upon weaker nations as if the world were an UNREGULATED jungle in which the will of the stronger pervades to the detriment of the weaker.

GF

SO, WHAT HAPPENED OVER THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY THAT SPELLS THE END OF LIBERAL HEGEMONY?

1. Weapons made in the United States found in Aleppo
2. Boko Haram defeated in Nigeria
3. Russia, Turkey and Iran Brokering Peace, US Excluded
4. Israeli Expansion Opposed in UN

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I Weapons Made in the United States Found in Aleppo

Neo-con globalists must have swallowed hard when, over the Christmas holiday, the Syrian army liberated Aleppo and were greeted not by fear and anxiety as the Western press would have its readers believe, but with thunderous applause from Syrian citizens accompanied by joyous celebration, which broke out in the streets of Aleppo, a city newly liberated from American backed terrorists euphemistically referred to in the press as “moderates”  and “freedom fighters”.  No one has been able to satisfactorily define just what in fact a “moderate terrorist” is, terrorists equipped by the United States and its allies to free Syria from its supposed despotic leader Bashar al Assad (see “Syrian Army Routes Terrorists Liberates Aleppo Can they Defeat Liberal Propaganda“)

Ironically, it is Assad who is freeing Syrians from foreign despotism; the Western backed terrorists were not armed and paid to free Syria, but to enslave it (see video below).

“It is a fact that since 2012, those so-called ‘moderate’ rebels in Syria had been absorbed into al-Qaeda groups or pledged allegiance to ISIS. For the past year, the moderates have been gone. So when the media only calls these groups freedom fighters, [while] these fighters have pledged themselves to al-Qaeda, and to ISIS, make no mistake – they are not looking to make Syria free. They are looking to enslave it, as they have so many other places” (see video).

In this regard, Ben Swann (WGCL-TV Atlanta) took mainstream media to task for its poor coverage of the Aleppo event. Swann demonstrated that the so-called ‘moderate rebels’ backed by the US are actually supporting the terrorists.

Swan reports that the CIA regularly delivered weapons to the Syrian rebels.” The Washington Post confirmed these deliveries, and also implicated the US State Department. The Post reported that the  “flow of material” marked “a major escalation of the US role in Syria’s civil war.” Swann states that through 2016, “weapons and funding from the West continued. In September of this year, 2016, the US delivered three thousand tons of weapons and ammo to fighters in Syria, including rocket launchers and anti-tank guided weapons systems.”

Anchor Ben Swann – WGCL-TV Atlanta

YHY

Aleppo Falls American Cache Located and Confiscated

https://youtu.be/hOt6ZORx2Ic

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II Boko Haram was Surprisingly Defeated by the Nigerian Army Announced Christmas Eve

Since 2009, Nigeria, one of the largest Christian countries in Africa, has been facing an insurrection from Boko Haram (BH), the radical Islamic State affiliate in Nigeria.  BH was founded in 2002 by a Muslim clergyman; translated BH roughly means “western culture is a sin”. Nigeria is a country steeped in traditional family values rooted in the natural law manifest in Christianity and Islam. Southern Nigeria is predominately Christian, while the North remains predominately Muslim and a breeding ground for radical Islam. Nonetheless, BH has been a nemesis to both Christian and Muslim cultures, which have consistently lost ground to the terrorists. In 2009 the extremely radical Abubakr took over the group and violence escalated.

Since 2009, BH has killed approximately 20,000 people and driven 2.3 million into exile. The United Nations confirmed the humanitarian crisis in Nigeria, reporting that up to “14 million people [are] in need of humanitarian assistance.” In 2014 hundreds of school girls were abducted from a government secondary boarding school in Chibok, Northeast Nigeria.

Prior to the rise of BH, Muslims and Christians lived alongside each other (as in Syria, Russia, Iraq etc).  Today, they fight alongside each other as members of the Nigerian army battling BH together.

Nigerian Catholic Bishop Emanuel Badejo confirms this coexistence prior to the rise of BH:

“I’m from the West of Nigeria, where the Yoruba culture is very strong. In the Yoruba culture there are many Muslims. In my particular area we are a minority of Christians living with a majority of Muslims, but we do wonderfully well together. In my diocese—and I think this is something that hasn’t gotten into the public media enough—I have 17 schools. Seventy percent of the students in my schools are Muslim children and even some of them — not that many, but quite a number — opt to convert to Christianity and their parents don’t have a problem with that. I am telling you the truth.”

Bishop Badejo has informed the world that BH is being used by the United States to advance the liberal agenda in Nigeria. According to the bishop, Nigeria is under the liberal threat of  “ideological colonization” that is seeking to destroy the family.

“It’s so bad, he says, that the “United States has made clear it will not help Nigeria fight the Boko Haram terror group unless the country modify its laws regarding homosexuality, family planning and birth-control.”

So BH is being being used as a battering ram to martyr Nigeria in the name of liberalism. Thus, when Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, made the Christmas Eve announcement that Boko Haram had been defeated, the world’s liberal elite took notice. The president announced: