News and Prophecy Staff

Iran and the U.S. are “rattling sabers” once again in the Persian Gulf.  Tightened sanctions on Iran have resulted in military exercises and threats of retaliation if the U.S. brought its carrier group back to the gulf (which it has now done).  An Iranian general recently warned, “I recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf… we are not in the habit of warning more than once” (National Post, January 6, 2012).

“A group of scientists that tracks the likelihood of a global cataclysm says the world is moving closer to doomsday.  The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced Tuesday that it has moved its ‘Doomsday Clock’ to five minutes to midnight…”

In September 2011, in the wake of a plagiarism scandal that resulted in the stripping of his doctorate by his alma mater, Baron Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg resigned his position as German Defense Minister and left Germany for a self-imposed exile.  His plan was to spend two years in the U.S. on a type of “sabbatical,” in order to “rethink his political career” (Der Spiegel, September 6, 2011).   Now fast-forward just four months…

“Nigerian authorities were putting emergency measures in place on Thursday [22 December] to prevent an oil spill from a Royal Dutch Shell facility, the biggest leak in Nigeria for more than 13 years, washing up on its densely populated coast.”  The oil company used airplanes to drop dispersants on the slick before it reached the Nigerian shoreline.  “A U.N.

New intelligence suggests that Iran could have a nuclear bomb in a year or less. Because of this, U.S. policy toward Israel and Iran recently shifted.  Israel’s Defense Minister noted that “the mind-set in Washington was ‘different two years ago,’ and that the US position vis-à-vis Tehran’s nuclear agenda today mirrors the one held in Jerusalem.”  Further, “the Iranian threat is ‘militant and nuclear and only the naive still believe it is peaceful… [the US] completely understands this now.’”