FEBRUARY 14, 2014

1

THE TRUMPET WEEKLY THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
F E B R U A R Y 1 4 , 2 0 1 4
EU to seize pensions? 4
Did Germany just destroy the euro? 5
Why is Taiwan making nice with China? 6
Will no one challenge Obamas executive orders? 10
The Dow Jones looks a lot like 1929 11
BY ROBERT MORLEY
M
.v Amivic.s have virtually nothing saved for
their retirement. Tat is a fact. President Obama
emphasized this point in his State of the Union
speech and proposed a dramatic solution. He wants you to
trust your retirement money to the governmentso you
can be protected.
Today most workers dont have a pension, the presi-
dent told the nation. A Social Security check ofen isnt
enough on its own. And while the stock market has
doubled over the last ve years, that doesnt help folks
who dont have o:(k)s. Tats why tomorrow I will direct
the Treasury to create a new way for working Americans
to start their own retirement savings: myRA. Its aits
a new savings bond that encourages folks to build a nest
egg. MyRA guarantees a decent return with no risk of los-
ing what you put in.
Te presidents solution to the savings crisis: a myRA.
He describes it as a risk-free investment that comes with a
decent return. Why hasnt someone thought of this before?
Because that kind of investment doesnt existanywhere,
or ever! Tere is no such thing as a risk-free investment
and especially one that also comes with a decent return.
Where is the president getting this stu:
Here is how the plan works. Anybody who makes less
than s::,ooo household income can contribute to the
myRA. Contributions would be with afer-tax money. Once
The Government Is After Your
Retirement Accounts
see RETIREMENT page 12
U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his
State of the Union speech on Capitol Hill
on January 28 in Washington, D.C.
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
2
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
MIDDLE EAST
LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
such as al Qaeda plot to acquire wmu.
Cutting-edge methods of terrorism
develop in the Middle East.
Nineteenth-century diplomats
dubbed the Ottoman Empire the Sick
Man of Europe. Now I nominate the
whole Middle East as the Sick Man of
the World.
Iran Touts Launch of
New Missiles
CNN | February 11
I
v. is lauding the successful test-
ring of new missiles, including
one designed to destroy all types
of enemy military equipment, state
media said.
U.S. ocials say theyre paying
close attention.
Te Iranian Defense Ministry said
The Sick Middle East
Daniel Pipes, NATIONAL REVIEW
ONLINE | February 10
M
.i.uiis vU so deep in the
Middle East (minus remarkable
Israel) that outside powers cannot
remedy them. Heres a fast summary:
Water is running out. A dam going
up on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia threat-
ens to cut Egypts main water supply
by devastating amounts for years.
Syria and Iraq suer from water crises
because the Euphrates and Tigris riv-
ers are drying up.
People are also running out. Afer
experiencing a huge and disruptive
youth bulge, the regions birth rate is
collapsing.
Poor schools, repressive govern-
ments, and archaic social mores
ensure abysmal rates of economic
growth. Starvation haunts Egypt,
Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan.
Vast reserves of oil and gas have
distorted nearly every aspect of life.
Eorts at democracy and politi-
cal participation either wither, as in
Egypt, or elevate fanatics who cleverly
disguise their purposes, as in Turkey.
Eorts to overthrow greedy tyrants
lead to even worse ideological tyrants
(as in Iran in :,) or to anarchy (as
in Libya and Yemen). One commonly
roots for both sides to lose.
Middle Eastern life suers from
acute biasesofen ocialbased
on religion, sect, ethnicity, tribe, skin
color, nationality, gender, sexual orien-
tation, age, citizenship, work and dis-
ability. Slavery remains a scourge.
Middle Eastern states spend
outsized amounts of their wealth on
intelligence services and the military,
creating redundant forces to check
each other. Even terrorist groups
N
o oi emitted gasps of astonishment when Syrian
President Bashar Assad missed the second deadline
for the removal of his vast stockpile of chemical weapons.
February , was supposed to be a momentous day: Te last
shipments of Assads deadly arsenal would be loaded onto
ships in the port of Latakia to be taken out to sea for safe
disposal. As many anticipated, this didnt happen. Instead,
February , quietly slipped by, and Assad went on, not-so-
quietly, with his civil war. No surprises there.
Nonetheless, the missed deadline is signicant because
the United States still trusts Assad to follow through on
his promise! Assad has proven that he couldnt care less for
the removal of his chemical weapons. He blew o his rst
deadline, December ,:, when he was supposed to give up
approximately ,oo tons of his most toxic chemicals. But
:o: rolled around, and the trucks failed to roll in. Still,
many in the international community crossed their ngers
and hoped for the best.
As of February ,, Syria had successfully delivered a
measly percent of its disclosed chemical weapons. Te last
shipment came on January :,. From a declared stockpile of
roughly :,,oo metric tons of chemicals, Syria has delivered
two shipmentsapproximately ,: metric tons.
Its true that there have been no reports of Assad using
his chemical weapons since the attack on Aug. ::, :o:,,
but Syrians are still dying by the thousands. Over :,o,ooo
have died so far in the constant bloodshed between
Assads army and the increasingly radical rebel groups.
Assad isnt changing his ways, nor is he getting rid of his
chemicals.
Even if these chemicals are removed, there is a strong
possibility that Assad didnt fully reveal his stockpile to
UN authorities. An article from Londons Sunday Times
reported: Te Israelis believe that some of the weaponry,
mainly chemical warheads for missiles and artillery shells,
is now concealed deep in the Alawite enclavein west
Syria and along the coast around Latakia up to the Turkish
border.
So Assad still has most of his declared chemicals plus
those he could be hiding, negotiations are failing, and both
sides seem fated to ght it out until every building has been
leveled and every enemy killed.
Assad the Fearless
Callum Wood | February 11
Syrian President Bashar Assad
has failed to meet two deadlines
for removing his stockpile of
chemical weapons.
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
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THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
the new missiles include a laser-
guided surface-to-surface and air-to-
surface missile as well as a new long-
range ballistic missile that can carry
multiple warheads, Irans semi-ocial
Fars news agency reported.
Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen.
Hossein Dehqan said the long-range
ballistic missile can evade enemies
anti-missile defense systems and has
the capability of destroying massive
targets and destroying multiple targets.
Pentagon spokesman Adm. John
Kirby said the agency has seen the
reports.
Irans missile program continues
to pose a dangerous threat to [the]
region, and is an issue we monitor
closely, he said.
Kirby noted that UN Security
Council Resolution :: prohibits
Iran from undertaking any activity
related to ballistic missiles capable of
delivering nuclear weapons, includ-
ing launches using ballistic missile
technology.
Fars said it happened on Mon-
day, the eve of the ,,th anniversary
of the :, Islamic Revolution. Te
revolution signied the end of Irans
Western-backed monarchy under Mo-
hammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and the
beginning of an Islamic republic.
On Tuesday, Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani delivered a speech
celebrating the revolutionand
slamming the United States.
Te revolution started because
people didnt want to accept humili-
ation, Rouhani told his country. Is
it possible for the great revolutionary
people, it is possible for this nation to
accept humiliation by foreign powers
or America afer ,, years: It is as if
they have not recognized the great na-
tion of Iran. Tey dont have the right
understanding and knowledge of the
Iranian people.
Egypt Military Chief
Heads to Moscow
WASHINGTON POST | February 12
E
cvv1s .vmv chief headed to Mos-
cow on Wednesday in his rst visit
outside the country since the ouster of
its Islamist president and amid reports
of a s: billion arms deal that would
signicantly expand Russias inuence
with a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.
In Moscow, Field Marshal Abdel-
Fattah el-Sissi was scheduled to meet
Russian President Vladimir Putin and
speak at a joint press conference with
his Russian counterpart, Egypts state
news agency mi. reported.
According to the state-owned daily
Al-Ahram, the purpose of el-Sissis
visit was to conclude a s: billion arms
deal funded mainly by Saudi Arabia
and the United Arab Emirates. Gen.
Hossam Sweilam, a retired Egyptian
army general who maintains close
contact with the military, also said the
deal would be nalized in Moscow.
Te visit comes nearly three months
afer Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei
Shogiu visited Cairo.
Moscow has been trying to expand
its inuence in Egypt at a time when
Egyptian-U.S. relations soured in the
afermath of President Mohamed Mor-
sis ouster last July and the subsequent
crackdown on his Islamist supporters
that has lef hundreds dead and thou-
sands arrested. Te United States has
been Cairos chief foreign backer and
benefactor since the :,os.
Egypt has been the second-largest
recipientafer Israelof U.S. bilat-
eral foreign assistance, largely as a way
to sustain the :, Egypt-Israeli peace
treaty. Washington froze a large chunk
of about s:., billion in annual aid,
mostly for the military, in October.
I
v.i. Pvisiui1 Hassan Rouhani hit out on Tuesday
at Western assertions that a military solution to a nuclear
dispute with Tehran remained an option and pledged that
Tehran would press on forever with what he called peace-
ful atomic research.
In a speech marking the ,,th anniversary of the :,
Islamic revolution, Rouhani also attacked economic sanc-
tions imposed by the West as brutal, illegal and wrong
and said countries in the region had nothing to fear from
Iran.
Rouhani said Western ocials continued to argue that
if such eorts came to nothing, there was always the option
of using military force against its nuclear facilities.
I say explicitly to those delusional people who say the
military option is on the table, that they should change
their glasses. Our nation regards the language of threat
as rude and oensive, he said.
I want to expressly announce that the movement of the
Iranian nation toward the peaks of scientic and techni-
cal progress and advancement, including peaceful nuclear
technology, will be forever, he added.
In recent weeks Iranian ocials have repeatedly criti-
cized U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for speaking about
a potential military option, something his counterparts in
several other Western countries have continued to do.
Kerry told Saudi-owned al Arabiya television on Janu-
ary :, that if Tehran did not abide by the interim deal the
military option of the United States is ready and prepared
to do what it would have to do.
Rouhani said that if major powers approached Iran in
the nuclear talks seeking mutual interest, respect and coop-
eration, they would receive a positive and proper response.
If their approach was inappropriate, this would be harmful
to the region.
Rude and Offensive Threat of Military Action
CBS NEWS | February 10
The only way to win such a war is
to deal with the main source of the
terrorism, or cut off the head of the
terrorist snake. But neither the U.S. nor
Israel has the will to tackle Iraneven
though it is the key part of the axis of
evil in the Middle East.
Trumpet, November 2003
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
4
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
EUROPE
A
ii ov a sudden, Germany says it wants to be a grown-up.
Tere are people who use Germanys guilt in the
past as an excuse for withdrawal and laziness, President
Joachim Gauck said at the opening of the ,oth Munich Se-
curity Conference late last month. Tis restraint can lead
to a notion of being privileged, and if this is the case, I will
always criticize it.
Tese are remarkable sentences, a direct challenge to
Germanys post-war pacist edice.
Tey are of a historic piece with a famous speech by one
of Mr. Gaucks predecessors, Richard von Weizscker, in
:8,. Teno years afer Germanys capitulation in World
War iiMr. Weizscker said that the Germans should
regard themselves as a liberated people.
Now President Gauck is asking them for something more:
Feel good about yourselfand feel responsible for others.
Tough Mr. Gauck, as president, has no formal power,
he was not alone. A few minutes later, Germanys new
foreign and defense ministers said much the same in their
own speeches. Te foreign minister, Frank-Walter Stein-
meier, even repeated Mr. Gaucks rhetoric: German contri-
butions to international politics should come earlier, more
substantially and more decisively.
Ocials familiar with the speeches told me that
Mr.Gauck and Mr. Steinmeier had coordinated their
approach well ahead of Munich. Tey had also informed
Chancellor Angela Merkel. She chose to remain silent, but
she, too, will soon have to show her colors.
Tis is not what the world has come to expect from
Germany, nor is it something Germany is entirely comfort-
able with. Now, at least rhetorically, it may be taking
up a political role commensurate with its outsized global
economic power.
Ask the coalition partners how they imagine Germa-
nys new role, and the answers could not be more dierent.
Social Democrats will tell you a lot about strengthen-
ing civilian crisis prevention, rethinking arms exports and
generally being skeptical toward expensive defense projects.
In contrast, Christian Democrats will emphasize the
need to maintain and expand the capabilities of the Ger-
man Army, in technical as well as in legal terms.
Some even argue that the German Parliament should
grant the army units a general mandatethat is, permis-
sion to use force without Parliaments specic approvalif
they do so within .1o or European Union structures.
Tis last item is a necessary step if Germany is going to
help create the nucleus of a true European defense capabil-
ity and become, to use the fashionable German phrase, an
Ahnlehnungs partnerroughly, a shoulder to lean on.
Without unfettered leadership from Germany, European-
level military operations will be hobbled. Te multinational
European Union battle groups, for instance, have never
been used since their formation in :oo,, although they
could have been helpful in theaters like Mali or the Central
African Republic. Why not: Because Germany, whose size
gave it a virtual veto, never wanted them to be used.
Tat said, the basic structures for such a role are qui-
etly falling into place. On January :, the Dutch govern-
ment put :,:oo soldiers under German command as part
of a binational rapid-response force. Dutch soldiers, in
other words, are happily receiving orders from German
ocers. A similar agreement is currently being discussed
with the government of Poland. It is extraordinary to
think of this happening :oo years afer the outbreak of
World War i.
In fact, the Great War may contain the kernel of the
kind of military synergy Germany could foster today,
should Parliament step back. At the time, the German
Army consisted of the forces of four kingdoms: Prussia,
Bavaria, Saxony and Wrttemberg. During times of peace
they were under the control of the local rulers; in wartime,
like in ::, they merged to defend the German empire.
Germany could help lead the same sort of coordination
today, albeit under democratic, European terms, not impe-
rial ones.
Ms. Merkel is, by all accounts, far from pleased with the
message from Munich.
Can Germany Grow Up?
Jochen Bittner, NEW YORK TIMES | February 12
EU to Seize Pensions?
REUTERS | February 12
T
ui s.vics of the European
Unions ,oo million citizens could
be used to fund long-term invest-
ments to boost the economy and help
plug the gap lef by banks since the
nancial crisis, an EU document says.
Te EU is looking for ways to wean
the :8-country bloc from its heavy
reliance on bank nancing and nd
other means of funding small compa-
nies, infrastructure projects and other
investment.
Te economic and nancial crisis
has impaired the ability of the nan-
cial sector to channel funds to the
real economy, in particular long-term
investment, said the document, seen
by Reuters.
Te Commission will ask the blocs
insurance watchdog in the second half
of this year for advice on a possible
draf law to mobilize more personal
pension savings for long-term nanc-
ing, the document said.
Banks have complained they are
hindered from lending to the economy
by post-crisis rules forcing them to
hold much larger safety cushions of
capital and liquidity.
Te EU executive will also com-
plete a study by the end of this year on
the feasibility of introducing an EU
savings account, open to individuals
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
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THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
ULI DECK/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
whose funds could be pooled and
invested in small companies.
TW
I N B R I E F
n EU secretly funds drone project
Te EU has spent s,:,.: million devel-
oping surveillance drones, under the
guise of science research, civil liberties
group Statewatch reported on Febru-
ary ::. No democratic body is over-
seeing the project, nor did any grant
their approval. Last December, British
Prime Minister David Cameron
blocked plans for the EU to develop
and operate its own drones, however
that did not stop this program. Te
assurances sound all well and good,
but turn out to be hollow, said British
M.P. Bernard Jenkin. Te project aims
to develop drones for civilian airspace,
rather than military-style drones like
Americas Predator and Reaper drones.
Te project shows that when high pro-
le pan-European defense initiatives
are blocked, ocials will still try and
work under the radar to get what
they want.
n Switzerland rejects EU
immigration
Swiss voters decided to impose quotas
on the number of EU residents moving
to the country, in a referendum held on
February . Switzerlands agreement
to allow an unlimited number of EU
nationals to move freely to Switzer-
land, and vice versa, is a key part of its
relationship with the EU. It was part of
a whole bundle of agreements that spe-
cically states that if Switzerland rejects
one part, it rejects them all. But Swiss
voters were so fed up with unlimited EU
immigration that they chose to jeopar-
dize their relationship with the EU and
vote against all the major parties in the
referendumthough the vote was very
close, the winning side had ,o., percent.
Britain is hosting exactly the same
debate, where unlimited migration is
also one of the most disliked parts of
EU membership. Unpopularity of the
EU is growing across the Continent
Swiss voters, who can easily call for
referendaare the ones that can most
easily express their displeasure. Ulti-
mately, the EU will be whittled down
to an inner core of :o nations or groups
of nationsa core that will not include
Britain. For more information on what
to expect from the EU, see our article:
EU Membership: A Dening Moment
Approaches for Britain.
B
v 1ui summer of :o::, things were looking desperate
for the euro. Greece, Ireland and then Portugal had
been forced to ask the EU for a bailout. Ten it was the big
boys turn: Spain and Italy were next. It was so expensive
for them to borrow money that neither could keep going
for long. But a bailout of these nations would be hugely
expensive. Tere seemed no way for the euro to survive.
Into the breach stepped the new head of the European
Central Bank (icn), Mario Draghi, wielding what has some-
how become known as a big bazooka. If a government had
trouble borrowing the money it needed to keep going, he
promised to print an unlimited amount of money and lend
it (in a convoluted way) to the troubled government, in a
process called Outright Monetary Transactions (om1).
Draghi hoped that this bazooka would never need
to be used. If investors believed that the icn would never
allow a government to go bankrupt, then they would lend
money more easily.
It worked. Te euro crisis peaked in the autumn of :o::.
It has still been simmering away, never actually solved, but
Draghis move averted the immediate danger. Until last
Friday.
On that day, the German Constitutional Court, based
in Karlsruhe, issued a ruling saying that it considers om1
incompatible with primary law.
Te way the court made the ruling, however, has
thrown up a lot of confusion. Afer saying it was sure om1
was illegal, it referred the case to the European Court of
Justice (ic,).
Te ic, should have no trouble ignoring EU law and
ruling Draghis actions legal. But Germanys Constitutional
Court does not consider the ic, a higher court.
If the ic, says that everything is ne, that will trigger
a showdown with Germanys top court, and the ic, will
almost certainly be overruled. It might be much safer for
ic, to rubber stamp the courts decision.
Even in the months that it takes the ic, to consider the
matter, Draghis bazooka seems disabled. Te German
court has parked a tank on the lawn of the icn, the Tele-
graphs Ambrose Evans-Pritchard quoted an anonymous
expert closely involved with the case.
Te German courts ruling will probably be forgotten,
until the next crisis. At that point, investors will not have
the condence they once had in Draghis bazookaand its
condence-boosting was always its greatest strength. Te
icns attempts to create some kind of fudge that prevents
an economic emergency has been thwarted by the German
Constitutional Court.
A full-blown crisis is now inevitable, and that crisis will
force Europe to unite like never before.
Did Germany Just Destroy the Euro?
Callum Wood | February 12
Andreas Vosskuhle, Chairman of
the Second Senate of the Federal
Constitutional Court, opens a hearing
at the court in southern Germany.
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
6
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
Japan Tires of Saying
Sorry for Its Past
WALL STREET JOURNAL | February 11
I
1ui words of Nobumasa Akiyama,
a Tokyo academic and commenta-
tor, Japan is fed up afer all these years
with playing the role of a good loser,
the country that bowed its head afer
defeat in World War ii and accepted a
forever diminished status as a nation.
And that, he says, accounts in part
for the spectacular domestic political
success of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
who is striving to remove a post-war
stigma that hangs over a vanquished
people tired of being apologetic for the
past.
At its root, Mr. Abes campaign
to make Japan a normal country
involves an eort to rewrite the coun-
trys unique no-war constitution
imposed on it during the U.S. post-
war occupation. Hes boosting defense
spending, albeit minimally. And hes
become a high-prole diplomatic actor
in the region and beyond.
Japanese nationalists are sick of
Japan being treated as the good loser,
says Mr. Akiyama, a professor at the
School of International and Public
Policy at Hitotsubashi University. We
dont want to be losers anymore.
Teres no doubt that Mr. Abe is a
nationalist. And his pitch to restore Ja-
pans pride in its past, and condence
in its future, is resonating particularly
well with younger Japanese who dont
feel like carrying the burden of defeat
some ,o years afer the end of wartime
hostilities.
Such views, however, are part of
a historical narrative unashamedly
presented at a museum attached to the
Yasukuni war shrine, which Mr. Abe
visited last December afer about a
year in oce.
Tat visit shocked the region, called
into question Mr. Abes political
judgment in Washington, and opened
him to accusations from China that
he is an unrepentant militarist bent
on challenging the post-war peace in
Asia.
But it did him no real damage in
Japan. A recent poll showed that :
percent of Japanese supported Mr.
Abes visit to the shrine, while o per-
cent opposed it. Mr. Abe himself
articulates his mission to end Japans
status as a good loser in a slightly
dierent way. He has an expression for
C
ui. .u Taiwan held a landmark meeting on Febru-
ary :: to establish representative oces (equivalent to
embassies or consulates) that will enable closer coopera-
tion between the two sides. Te talk was the rst of its kind
since Taiwans establishment, and is the latest of many
signicant measures showing that reconciliation between
Taiwan and China is near.
Tension has saturated the relationship between Beijing
and Taipei since Taiwans establishment in :. But when
China-friendly Ma Ying-Jeou became Taiwans president
in :oo8, he began making conciliatory overtures toward
Beijing, and the cross-Strait frost began to thaw. Te two
sides of the Taiwan Strait should not quarrel, Ma said in
:o::. We should instead focus on encouraging and helping
each other grow in terms of the core values of freedom,
democracy, human rights and rule of law.
Ma explained that since people on both sides of the
Taiwan Strait share common ancestry, they should build
mutual trust and dispel their disagreements.
Te warming relationship between China and Taiwan is
bad news for the U.S. and other nations concerned about
Chinas ascendancy. For many years, Taiwan has been the
best location from which to monitor Chinas rise because of
both the islands advanced information technology and its
proximity to China. Shared language, ethnicity and culture
also allow Taiwanese spies to blend into Chinese society,
giving them a great advantage in their reconnaissance mis-
sions. But now Taiwan appears to be questioning its role of
being the eyes and ears for other nations. Reports say that
Ma has already halted the activities of some Taiwanese spy
agents operating in China, and is now planning to stop
sharing intelligence with the U.S. and its allies.
Te Trumpet has long predicted the China-Taiwan rec-
onciliation, which is now gaining great momentum. How
could anyone fail to see that Taiwan is destined to become
a part of mainland China: editor in chief Gerald Flurry
wrote back in :8.
Te establishment of the representative oces may
become a key step toward fulllment of that bold geopoliti-
cal prediction. We can expect Chinas gentle approach with
Taiwan to continue until Taipei is oered something simi-
lar to the status Hong Kong currently holds. If Taipei were
to refuse Chinas increasingly bold advances, then Beijing
would probably respond with threats of forcebut under
Mas Beijing-friendly rule, such refusals are becoming less
and less likely. Follow Jeremiah Jacques: Twitter
Taiwan Edging Back Into the Chinese Fold
Jeremiah Jacques | February 13
[I]f the restrictions are lifted, would
Japan behave responsibly? Are the new
generations of leaders and citizens
repentant over the nations past atroci-
ties? Have the Japanese changed? [A]
dangerous number of modern Japanese
view their nations wartime atrocities
with pride. As the U.S. snubs history,
turns inward and ignores geopoliti-
cal shifts, the barriers established to
prevent another world war are being
systematically dismantled.
Trumpet, December 2013
ASIA
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
7
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
it that roughly translates as leaving
the post-war behind.
TW
I N B R I E F
n China to participate in U.S.-
Thailand military drills
For the rst time ever, Chinese troops
will participate in the Cobra Gold
military drills, with soldiers from the
United States, Tailand, South Korea,
Japan and other nations. China was
invited by the U.S. because Washing-
ton hopes Beijing will contribute to
the long-term stability of the region,
especially in anti-terrorist operations,
rescue operations, anti-smuggling,
anti-piracy and other areas, said
retired Peoples Liberation Army
Gen. Xu Guangyu. Back in December,
Chinese Communist troops conducted
exercises on U.S. soil for the rst
time. At that time, Trumpet columnist
Robert Morley explained why such
decisions are foolish on Washingtons
part: U.S. policymakers see these
military exercises as a way to foster
trust between nations. Tey see them
as a critical rst step in reducing the
chances of international accidents
and eventually turning these nations
from enemies to allies. But inviting
enemies into your house in an attempt
to make them friends, or even just to
learn more about their capabilities, is a
dangerous game.
LATIN AMERICA/AFRICA
Related: Is Japans Military Secret About
to Come Out?
UN to France:
More Troops
REUTERS | February 11
U
N Sicvi1.vv General Ban Ki-
moon said on [February ::] he
has asked France to consider sending
more troops to the Central African
Republic because the international
response to the crisis does not yet
match the gravity of the situation.
Ban said violence between Chris-
tians and Muslims continued to
worsen and he was gravely concerned
that the violence in the landlocked
former French colony could spiral into
a genocide.
Te sectarian brutality is chang-
ing the countrys demography, Ban
told reporters. We must do more to
prevent more atrocities, protect civil-
ians, restore law and order, provide
humanitarian assistance and hold the
country together.
Te international response must
be robust with a credible deployment
of force It must be swif if we are
to prevent the worst-case scenario,
said Ban, who is due to report to the
United Nations Security Council in
March on options for transforming
the current African Union peacekeep-
ing force into a UN operation.
I call on the European Union to ac-
celerate the deployment of its military
operation, he said. I spoke yesterday
with French Foreign Minister Laurent
Fabius and asked France to consider
deploying additional troops, Im urg-
ing other willing member states to
contribute as well.
Related: Germanys Africa Strategy
ANGLO-AMERICA
Power Grid Attack
Bafes Authorities
LOS ANGELES TIMES | February 11
T
uiv c.mi afer midnight, two or
more armed individuals so def that
they cut telecommunication cables in
an underground vault and outsmarted
security cameras and motion sensors
at the power substation in a remote
corner of Santa Clara County.
At daylight, vni agents began
pouring over time-lapse photographs
from the surveillance cameras. But
the photos revealed only staccato
muzzle ashes from a semiautomatic
weapon and sparks as shots hit rows of
transformers. Tere was not a face, nor
a shadow, of who was doing the ring.
Te shooters disappeared into the
gloom minutes before the rst police
car arrived.
Te military-style raid on April :o
knocked out :, giant transformers at
the Metcalf Transmission Substation,
which feeds power to Silicon Valley.
Te vni is still working the case, and
agents say they are condent it was
not the work of terrorists.
What they do not have is a motive,
ngerprints or suspects.
But theories are piling up. Was it a
modern-day Monkey Wrench Gang
bent on eco-terrorism: Was it a test of
the vulnerability of the U.S. electrical
grid: Was it a dress rehearsal for a
larger attack to come:
Was it an inside job by disgruntled
Pacic Gas and Electric Co. employ-
ees: Was it related to the bombing of
the Boston Marathon across the coun-
try only :, hours earlier: Was it aimed
at killing power in Silicon Valley, as
one ocial wondered, maybe some-
body trying to knock down service to
Google or something:
Utility ocials quickly rerouted
power around the site, and nearby
power plants picked up the slack, so
there was no major blackout. And no
one was injured. But it took utility
crews nearly a month to repair the
damage.
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
8
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Gods Unbreakable
Covenant With David
THE TRUMPET DAILY | February 13
STEPHEN FLURRY Its a promise God cannot and will not break!
ALSO SEE:
n Why Build a Coronation Chair for a 2-Foot Slab of Sandstone?
n Was Queen Victoria a Descendant of King David?
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Four Democratic senators on
Friday urged utility regulators to
beef up security at power plants and
substations around the nation. Tey
said the sophisticated attack was a
wake-up call about threats to crucial
infrastructure.
We ought to be hyper-alert, said
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), whose
district includes the substation. Tese
were pros.
Counter-terrorism ocials have
repeatedly warned of a potential
cyberattack that could disable or crash
electric grids, causing outages and bil-
lions of dollars in damage, and federal
authorities and utilities have rushed to
beef up their digital defenses. But the
assault :, miles southeast of San Jose
was decidedly low-tech.
Law enforcement sources and oth-
ers briefed on the investigation say
the gunmen red ::o rounds from a
high-powered rie and that nearly ev-
ery shot hit the transformers o yards
away in a :o-minute period.
Te transformers began to leak
tens of thousands of gallons of oil.
Tey overheated and shut down, but
did not explode.
Te attackers managed to disable
these transformers without blowing
them up and attracting attention,
Rep. Adam B. Schi (D-Burbank) said
on Fox News Sunday.
Ocials say the attackers brought
night-vision scopes for their weapons,
used heavy wire cutters to snip ber-
optic cables in a below-ground bunker
and knew the specic manholes to
open to reach the right cables.
Te team briey disabled the ::
emergency system and phone lines.
Tey set o a motion detector by the
fence before leaving, but the facil-
ity sits beside U.S. :o:, a convenient
escape route.
Tey were clearly knowledgeable
about the layout of the substation and
its communication systems, said one
federal ocial, who, like others, was
speaking condentially because the
investigation is continuing.
Sources said investigators had
found no ngerprints on the shell cas-
ings, no matchable boot prints and no
tire tracks from getaway vehicles.
A four-minute black-and-white
surveillance video, which the Santa
Clara County Sheris Oce posted
online, shows little more than a line
of trees and ashes of light along a
chain-link perimeter fence, possibly
including a waving ashlight.
No phone calls, e-mails or letters
have claimed responsibility, at least
none that are credible, one ocial
said.
Everything now plays into mo-
tivation, an vni ocial said. You
know what happened but not yet who
might have done it. So a couple of key
thoughts come into play. How sophis-
ticated were they, and what was their
intent here:
Authorities are fairly certain that
the assailants in California were not
drunk hunters or bored teenagers on a
late-night lark.
Tey knew what they wanted to
target, they had an objective and car-
ried it out, said Jon Wellingho, who
was chairman of the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission at the time of
the shooting. You dont learn from a
video game how to target an AK-, in
those kinds of conditions as precisely
as these people did.
Obamacare Enrollment
Rate Slows
WEEKLY STANDARD | February 13
O
Wiuisu.v, the Department
of Health and Human Services
announced that enrollment in the
Obamacare private exchanges in-
creased by :,:o,o,: in January. In
December, uus reported :,,88,ooo
enrollees in the month of December.
Tat suggests a drop-o of approxi-
mately ,oo,ooo, or : percent.
Yet this underestimates the true ex-
tent of enrollment drop-os. Te uus
reporting period for December was
four weeks . Te reporting period
for January was ve weeks . Tis
suggests that in December, enroll-
ments averaged ,,ooo per week,
compared to ::,ooo in January, or a
percent drop-o in new enrollees.
It is clear by now that the admin-
istration will not reach the original
cno estimate of , million enrollees by
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
9
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
Lin, now a professor at Peking
University and a leading adviser to the
Chinese government, said expanding
the basket of major reserve currencies
the dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen
and pound sterlingwill not address
the consequences of a nancial crisis.
Internationalizing the Chinese curren-
cy is not the answer, either, he said.
Te concept of a global super cur-
rency tied to a basket of currencies
has been periodically discussed by
world leaders as well as endorsed by
:oo: Nobel Memorial Prize-winner
Joseph Stiglitz. A super currency
could also be tied to a single cur-
rency, but the interconnectedness of
world nancial markets and concerns
about the volatility that can occur as
a result of the system being tied to
one currency have made this idea less
popular.
the deadline at the end of March. Te
real question is: How far short will
they fall: If Februarys enrollment rate
matches that of January, the admin-
istration will be able to claim :o,ooo
more enrollees in the current reporting
period, for a grand total of about .:
million. Tat is oo percent of the initial
cno estimate with a month to go be-
fore the end of open enrollment.
One thing is for sure: Te total
enrollment of ,., million reported
by uus is an overestimate. At this
point, industry insiders estimate that
about :o percent of people whom uus
claims are enrollees have not paid
their premiums. Meanwhile, hard
data from a handful of states sug-
gests that the number of non-payees
may be larger. If the insiders are right,
then the real level of enrollment right
now is just :.omillion, which puts the
administration at just ,8 percent of
the original target with two thirds of
the enrollment period now nished.
Replace Dollar With
Super Currency
CHINA DAILY | January 30
T
ui Woviu Banks former chief
economist wants to replace the U.S.
dollar with a single global super-
currency, saying it will create a more
stable global nancial system.
Te dominance of the greenback
is the root cause of global nancial
and economic crises, Justin Yifu Lin
told Bruegel, a Brussels-based policy-
research think tank. Te solution to
this is to replace the national currency
with a global currency.
I
1ui ongoing saga of the Aordable Care Act, oddly
referred to by Democrats as the law of the land even as it
is amended at will by presidential at, we are beginning to
understand the extent of its war on jobs.
First, the Congressional Budget Oce triples its estimate
of the drop in the workforce resulting from the disincentive
introduced by Obamacares insurance subsidies: : million
by :o:,, :., million by :o::.
Democratic talking points gamely defend this as a good
thing because these jobs are being given up voluntarily.
Nancy Pelosi spoke lyrically about how Obamacare subsidies
will allow people to leave unfullling jobs to pursue their
passions: Tink of an economy where people could be an
artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about
keeping their day job in order to have health insurance.
Nothing so lyrical has been written about work since
Marx (in Te German Ideology) described a communist
society that makes it possible for me to hunt in the
morning, sh in the afernoon, rear cattle in the evening,
criticize afer dinner.
Pelosis vision is equally idyllic except for one thing: Te
taxes of the American factory workergrinding away duti-
fully at his repetitive mind-numbing jobwill be subsidiz-
ing the voluntary unemployment of the artiste in search of
his muse. A rather paradoxical position for the party that
poses as tribune of the working man.
In the reductio ad absurdum of entitlement liberal-
ism, White House spokesman Jay Carney was similarly
enthusiastic about this Obamacare-induced job loss. Why,
Obamacare creates the opportunity that allows families
in America to make a decision about how they will work,
and if they will work.
If they will work: Pre-Obama, people always had the
right to quit work to tend full time to the study of butter-
ies. Its a free country. Te twist in the new liberal dispen-
sation is that the buttery guy is to be subsidized by the
taxes of people who actually work.
In the traditional opportunity society, government
provides the toolseducation, training and various incen-
tivesto achieve the dignity of work and its promise of
self-improvement and social mobility. In the new oppor-
tunity society, you are given the opportunity for idleness
while living parasitically o everyone else. Why those
everyone elses should remain at their jobshey! I wanna
dance, too!is a puzzle Carney has yet to explain.
And thats why we have learned to tie welfare, for exam-
ple, to a work requirement. Otherwise, beneciaries could
choose to live o the dole forever. But Obamacares war
on jobs goes beyond voluntary idleness. Te administration
is now conceding, inadvertently but unmistakably, Obam-
acares other eectinvoluntary job loss. On [February :o],
the administration unilaterally postponed and weakened
the employer mandate, already suspended through :o:,, for
yet another year.
But doesnt this undermine the whole idea of universal
health coverage: Of course it does, but Obamacare was so
structured that it is crushing small business and killing
jobs. It creates a major incentive for small businesses to cut
back to under ,o employees to avoid the mandate. Your
business becomes a er by either ring workers or reduc-
ing their hours to below ,o a week. Because that doesnt
count as full time, you escape both the employer mandate
to buy health insurance and the ne for not doing so.
Pelosi insisted we would have to pass the law to know
whats in it. Now we know.
Obamacares War on Jobs
Charles Krauthammer, WASHINGTON POST | February 13
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
10
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
Arguments in favor of a global
currency resurfaced during Octobers
U.S. budget impasse, which forced the
government to shut down.
It is perhaps a good time for the
befuddled world to start considering
building a de-Americanized world,
a Xinhua News Agency commentary
said on October :. Te piece argued
that creating a new international
reserve currency to replace reliance on
the greenback would prevent govern-
ment gridlock in Washington from
aecting the rest of the world.
In March :oo, Chinas central
bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan,
called for the creation of a new super-
sovereign reserve currency to replace
the dollar. In a paper published on the
Peoples Bank of Chinas website, Zhou
said an international reserve currency
disconnected from individual nations
and able to remain stable in the long
run would benet the global nancial
system more than current reliance on
the dollar.
Pierre Defraigne, executive director
of the Madariaga College of Europe
Foundation in Brussels, said of Lins
infrastructure proposal, It is excel-
lent, but the problem is how to imple-
ment these plans to link those coun-
tries that need such infrastructural
construction and those with enough
foreign reserves, by using an eective
global mechanism.
Urgent Buildup of
German Military
The massive demonstrations in the streets of Ukraine
gave the German people and their leaders an urgency
they have not had before about building up their military. GERALD FLURRY
Click to Play
P
visiui1 On.m.s State of the Union pledge to act
with or without Congress marks a milestone in presi-
dential usurpation of Congressional authority. Most mod-
ern presidents have used executive orders to change and
even create laws without Congressional approval. However
President Obama is unusually brazen, in that most presi-
dents do not brag about their plans to rule by executive
order in State of the Union speeches.
Sadly, his pledge to use his pen to implement laws and
polices without the consent of Congress not only received
thunderous applause from representatives of the presidents
party, some representatives have even pledged to help
Obama get around Congress by providing him with ideas
for executive orders. Te Constitutions authors would be
horried to see legislators actively aiding and abetting a
president taking power away from the legislature.
Executive orders are perfectly legitimate and even
necessary if, in the words of leading Constitutional Scholar
Judge Andrew Napolitano, they guide the executive
branch on how to enforce a law or complement and
supplement what Congress has already done. Te problem
is that most modern presidents have abused this power
to issue orders that, as Judge Napolitano puts it, restates
federal law, or contradicts federal law, or does the opposite
of what the federal law is supposed to do.
Political opponents of the president rightly condemned
Obama for disregarding the Constitution. However, it
was not that long ago that many of the same politicians
were labeling as unpatriotic or worse anyone who dared
question President Bushs assertions the he had the inher-
ent authority to launch wars, spy on Americans, and even
indenitely detain American citizens.
Partisan considerations also make some members of
the opposition party hesitate to reign in the president.
Tese members are reluctant to set a precedent of tying
the presidents hands that could be used against a future
president of their own party.
Te people must also insist that politicians stop viewing
issues concerning the separation of powers through a parti-
san lens and instead be willing to act against any president
who exceeds his constitutional limitations. Te key to
achieving this goal is to make sure the people understand
that any president of any party who would exceed constitu-
tional limitations is a threat to liberty, and any member of
Congress who ignores or facilitates presidential usurpation
is being derelict in his Constitutional duty.
Will No One Challenge Obamas Executive Orders?
Ron Paul, ZEROHEDGE | February 10
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
11
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
T
uivi .vi eerie parallels between the stock markets recent
behavior and how it behaved right before the :: crash.
Tat, at least, is the conclusion reached by a frightening
chart that has been making the rounds on Wall Street. Te
chart superimposes the markets recent performance on
top of a plot of its gyrations in ::8 and ::.
Te picture isnt pretty. And its not as easy as you might
think to wriggle out from underneath the bearish signi-
cance of this chart.
I should know, because I quoted a number of this charts
skeptics in a column I wrote in early December. Yet the
market over the past two months has continued to more or
less closely follow the ::8-: pattern outlined in that two-
months-ago chart. If this correlation continues, the market
faces a particularly rough period later this month and in
early March. (See chart, courtesy of Tom McClellan of the
McClellan Market Report; he in turn gives credit to Tom
DeMark, a noted technical analyst who is the founder and
cio of DeMark Analytics.)
One of the biggest objections I heard two months ago
was that the chart was a shameless exercise in afer-the-fact
retrotting of the recent data to some past price pattern.
But that objection has lost much of its force. Te chart was
rst publicized in late November of last year, and the cor-
relation since then certainly appears to be just as close as it
was before.
To be sure, as McClellan acknowledged: Every pattern
analog I have ever studied breaks correlation eventually,
and ofen at the point when I am most counting on it to
continue working. So there is no guarantee that the market
has to continue following through with every step of the
:: pattern. But between now and May :o:, there is
plenty of reason for caution.
One of the market gurus responsible for widely pub-
licizing this chart is hedge-fund manager Doug Kass, of
Seabreeze Partners and cnc fame. In an email earlier this
week, Kass wrote of the parallels with ::8-:: While invest-
ment history doesnt
necessarily repeat
itself, it does rhyme.
And, based on a
number of indica-
tors rather than just
this chart drawing
the ::8-: parallel,
he believes that the
correction might
have just started, he
said.
DeMark is even
more outspokenly
bearish.
You may still be
inclined to dismiss
this. But many more
were laughing last
November when
this scary chart be-
gan circulating. Not
as many are laugh-
ing now.
Trouble Lies Directly Ahead
Mark Hulbert, MARKET WATCH | February 11
T W I N B R I E F
n England suffers wettest January
on record
A total of ,,8oo homes have ooded
over the last o weeks, as England
experienced its wettest January since
:,oo, part of an unprecedented series
of record-breaking wet weather. Te
country has faced an extraordinary
period of severe weather and ooding
since the start of December, with the
wettest December in ,o years in central
southern and southeast England as
well as the biggest east coast storm
surge in oo years followed by the
wettest January on record, wrote the
Environment Agency on February8.
Te Guardian reported that total costs
could hit s:.o, billion, according to in-
surance experts. During the past week,
8,o homes ooded. Te rain has not
stopped, and the ood seems certain
to continue. Te British Geological
Survey warned that even if the rain
stopped right now, so much water has
soaked into the ground, that water lev-
els would continue to rise. It estimated
that :.o million properties in England
and Wales are at risk of groundwater
ooding. Britain has gone from serious
drought to record rain in just a matter
of months. What is the cause for all
this unusual weather: For the answer,
read the cover article of our September
:o:, Trumpet edition, Are You Caus-
ing Climate Change:
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
12
THE TRUMPET WEEKLY
in retirement, withdrawals are tax-free.
If that sounds a lot like a Roth iv.,
thats because it is a lot like a Roth iv.
something that is already available to
folks who dont have o:(k)s, and that
the president is seemingly pretending to
be oblivious to.
Tere is a big dierence though. In
a Roth iv., you can invest in virtually anything you want.
You choose. With the presidents myRA, you only get one
investment choice. What is it:
You guessed it! Te only thing you can invest in is
government bonds.
As the Daily Progress reports, Never in the history of
retirement planning have the choices oered to workers
been more severely restricted or more inappropriate.
You cant make this stu up. Yet it gets better.
Te bonds in the myRA will be modeled on the govern-
ments Trif Savings Plan Government Securities Fund.
Guess how much the government fund returned in
:o::: :., percent. How about over the past three years:
,.: percent.
Tis is the great investment the president is oering:
Tis will solve the retirement crisis: Tat doesnt even keep
up with the rate of ination. And what if interest rates start
rising from their historic lows: Investors will get massacred.
For comparison purposes, the Total Bond Market
Index appreciated :o.:o percent over the past three years.
Te Dow Jones Industrial Index went up ,, percent.
Ten there is the fact that if it was a private company
oering this plan to investors, it would be illegal! And
whoever was sponsoring it would go to jail. But this is a
government that is increasingly showing itself to be above
the law, so it can apparently do whatever it wants.
Te myRA violates multiple duciary standards re-
quired by the governments own legislation.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act laws are de-
signed to protect investors from plan managers who might
use investor money for their own advantage. For example,
investment administrators cannot use investors money to
make loans to themselves or to businesses they are associ-
ated with. Yet this is exactly what the myRA does.
Additionally, a private company would have to identify
potential conicts of interest and both communicate and
address them. President Obama did neither.
So why would the president of the United States pro-
mote such a terrible investment that would be illegal if
anybody else oered it:
It gets down to this: America has largely eeced the
Chinese and Japanese for all it can, so now the govern-
ment is turning to the last big pool of money lef to keep it
operating: retirement funds.
With the Federal Reserve saying it has to cut back its
money printing, the U.S. government will soon need to
come up with an additional s, billion per month to pay
its bills. For the past several years, the Federal Reserve
covered the entire U.S. decit with money printing.
Hence, the president knocks out two pelicans with one
stone: Look good to voters and nance the decitwithout
politically uncomfortable raising of taxes or spending cuts.
Sadly, in the end it is going to hurt most the group
of people the president purports to be helping. Te only
people likely to invest in such a plan are the poor and
middle class.
But there may be an even bigger motive revealed by the
myRA plan. And it gets back to the presidents ideology.
In :o:o, the Wall Street Journal wrote an article about
U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary J. Mark Iwry, the man
said to be behind the presidents myRA plan. Te article
described the governments plan to make people save
more by requiring companies to automatically deduct
employees wages, without the employees approval, to put
into an iv.-like account.
Te plan seems to be gaining traction.
On January ,o, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin unveiled leg-
islation to rebuild the private pension system. Te slight-
ly Orwellian-sounding Universal, Secure and Adaptable
(Us.) Retirement Funds Act of :o: calls for employees to
be automatically enrolled, paychecks to be automatically
deducted, and the money managed under the direction of
a board of independent trustees appointed by the govern-
ment. As of now, employees will be allowed to opt out
if they like. Te plan generally follows what President
Obama outlined in his FY:o: budget proposal.
Some people warn that this kind of legislation is just
a step toward government nationalization of retirement
accounts. But the beauty of it is that there may be no need
for outright conscationat least at rst. If you control
where the money is invested, what does it matter who
ostensibly owns it:
It does make you wonder what the governments true
motives are though.
Neither the myRA, Harkins bill, or any other govern-
ment proposal actually xes the underlying problem. You
cant get something from nothing. Most Americans live
paycheck to paycheck and are not investing enough for
retirementit is as simple as that. So unless people invest
a lot more, how can the government, which is also broke,
somehow magically turn those meager investments into
secure retirements:
It cant.
But if the government can get its ngers on the more than
s:8 trillion worth of retirement funds in America, it can
insure its own ability to borrow more money by investing
those retirement funds in secure government treasuries.
Tere is plenty of precedent: Argentina, Bolivia, Hun-
gary, Portugal, Bulgaria, Ireland, Poland, France.
Of course each of these countries was or is teetering on
the edge of economic collapse. But that is beside the point.
Or is it:
So where is America headed: Te presidents myRA
planwhich does nothing to solve Americas savings
problem, but uses retirement savings to prolong unsus-
tainable government borrowingtells you a lot.
Follow Robert Morley: Twitter
RETIREMENT from page 1
COVER: GETTY IMAGES
ROBERT MORLEY