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France and Germany have functioned as the leading nations of the European Union for more than a decade. Both nations contribute significant financial resources to the EU. But a recent article in German Foreign Policy observed, “Merkel’s last Franco-German Ministerial Council meeting feigns harmonious relations. Yet Merkel had successively increased Berlin’s predominance over Paris.” In recent years, the gulf between the two nations has widened.

Look around the globe and you can pick your flavor of government. Yet can any form of human government protect us from the faults of human nature? Deutsche Welle reports that the democratic nation of Mexico has struggled for decades under corrupt government and the oppressive tyranny of rival drug cartels linked to the murder of 85,000 civilians and candidates for elected office in just the last three years (May 27, 2021).

As of this writing, more than 3.7 million COVID-19-related deaths have been officially reported worldwide since the pandemic began. This virus has held the world hostage for over a year. But, do you know what legal, deadly, disease-causing agent killed nearly 8 million people in 2019 and could kill just as many this year? If you guessed cigarettes, you are right!